Personalized Tips, Educational Activities, Community Information and Local PBS Station TV Schedules Now Available at pbsparents.org
Leading Experts, Including Mister Rogers, Answer Parents' and Caregivers' Questions About Raising Children
ALEXANDRIA, VA (Sept. 26, 2002) -- PBS today opens the curtains on its largest Web site launch in years, PBS Parents (www.pbsparents.org). PBS Parents combines the significant resources of PBS and local public television stations across the country, to offer features, advice and thousands of educational activities dedicated to helping both parents and caregivers raise children who are ready to learn.
The PBS Parents Web site also features expert counseling from trusted PBS personalities and national leaders in child development. Answering parents' questions in the site's debut month is one of America's most beloved figures -- Mister Rogers.
One of the most notable highlights of the PBS Parents site is a comprehensive activity search tool, correlating thousands of fun and educational games, booklists and projects. This search engine allows parents to seek information by learning theme and obtain activities that help children foster a variety of specific skills -- such as reading, math, or creative expression.
The PBS Parents site offers a number of ways to connect parents and caregivers to their local communities and local PBS stations. By entering their zip code on the site, visitors will have access to TV schedules from their local PBS stations, as well as updated community information. Users can learn when their local PBS stations are sponsoring children's events and parenting seminars in their communities, and link directly to local stations' Web sites.
PBS Parents also provides real-time PBS KIDS® television schedule information, giving site users activities directly related to the episodes their children are watching at that moment on local PBS stations. For example, if the BETWEEN THE LIONS' "The Chess Mess" episode is airing on the user's local PBS station, the PBS Parents site will feature a link to "The Chess Mess Read Along Story," a related Web activity. The site is continually updated to reflect the user's local public television schedule.
Additionally, PBS Parents offers a handy weekly e-mail newsletter detailing personalized programming information, community events, links to local PBS stations, activity ideas and parenting advice. Parents can also sign up for daily activity updates and get games, projects and more tied to the programs their children are watching on PBS KIDS each day.
Other features of the PBS Parents site include:
- Comienzo R‡pido--Spanish-speaking audiences can get an introduction to the site, as well as a list of Spanish resources throughout PBS Parents, pbskids.org and pbs.org.
- TV Program Info--Learn what each PBS KIDS program is all about, including characters, target age ranges, educational philosophies and more.
- Together-Time Tips--Producers of PBS KIDS shows and leading experts in child development have assembled ideas for parents, suggesting how to make the most of the time they spend with their children. Find out how kids grow with art, music, games and stories in age-by-age timelines.
- Parent Helpers--Solve life's little challenges, like settling down for bedtime or beating boredom, with these activity packages.
- Video Clips--Streaming video clips give parents suggestions on dealing with numerous parenting challenges, from going to the doctor to discussing death with children.
- Booklists--Written by the American Library Association. More than a dozen booklists, including books for kids and books for adults, organized around the topics on PBS Parents (Behavior & Development, Communicating, Disabilities, Health & Safety, Media Awareness, Reading & Language, School & Education, Work & Family) and others like multiculturalism and family reading.
- Media Literacy Resources--Discover how TV, computers, videogames and movies can shape children's development.
- ShopPBS for Parents--ShopPBS features a Parents' Boutique, offering products related to PBS KIDS shows and also to other PBS shows of interest to parents and caregivers.
- Parent Idea Box--Submit ideas and share with other parents the successes, challenges, and the joys of parenting.
The PBS Parents site is funded in part by a Ready To Learn cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.
PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 349 public television stations. Serving nearly 100 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet.
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Contact:
Kevin Dando, PBS
703/739-5073