April 27th, I headed over the Jim Henson Company Lot for the 2017 Series Summit. I have driven my this lot so many times and have always wondered what was behind the gates. Well, I can tell you it is magical, whimsical and just as cool as you might think it would be.
Jim Henson Company hosted media and mom bloggers to give us an inside scoop to the latest kids programming they have. My little guy loves Dinosaur Train, so it was super cool to hear the back story on how Dinosaur Train was created and the educational emphasis they place on the 30 minute show. The creator of Dinosaur Train shared that he secretly was watching his son play with Thomas the Train and a dinosaur family, and then it dawned on him…why not integrate the two ideas??? Boom! Just like that the conception of Dinosaur Train had begun.
Jim Henson Co also shared that Dot the book had landed on the Executive Producer’s desk. She was intrigued by the artistry of the little girl on the front and so she read the book. She realized quickly, that Dot was ahead of the curve because she was existing and navigating through the today’s world of technology. She wasn’t against technology, she wasn’t for technology…she was just a little girl living in the modern world with technology. As the EP closed the book, she realized it was written by technology expert, Randi Zuckerberg. Soon after Dot became a part of the Jim Henson family.
At the Series Summit, we heard from a team of experts that work on their shows. Sid the Science guy has a heavy educational component to it. The goal is to encourage kids to become more interested in science and offer some additional tools and recipes on their website to help parents with science experiments they see on the show. They find that this show is co-viewed which is rare for most kids programming.
Our household’s new favorite show that we learned about was Julie’s Greenroom by Julie Andrews and friends. It is a fantastic show about performing arts workshops that Julie Andrews teaches with the help of her assistant Gus at their Wellspring Center for the Performing Arts. Julie Andrews is very committed to encouraging a love of the arts and is committed to making sure each show encourages just that. It streams on Netflix. Some of favorite guests have been Alec Baldwin and Sara Bareilles.
For more kids programming information by Jim Henson Co, check out their Henson Family Hub!