Stuart Brown

Tumble Leaf: Outdoor Play and Discovery via Amazon Kids

July 22, 2014 by Amy Jussel Leave a Comment

Update May 11, 2015 While Tumble Leaf continues to rake in multiple awards including five daytime Emmys, Amazon Studios Greenlights Six New Pilots for Kids. (mostly ages 6-11, one PreK) Here's hoping their original kids' programming stays on a winning streak for quality, as they have some heavy hitters involved in the sphere of creative talent (from Muppets and Marvel ties to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: EcoKids-Environment Tagged With: Amazon Kids Shows, Amazon Original Programming, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, applied science, Blue's Clues, Brain insights, brain plasticity, building brains, camping and outdoors, Children and Nature, Creative Galaxy, critical thinking PreK, developing children's brainpower, discovery through play, Dr. Alice Wilder, early childhood education, eco literacy, educational psychology, experiential learning, experiential play, Fred Rogers, free range kids, get-outdoors-kids, hands-on learning, Kelli Bixler, kids and nature, Kids programming, kids quality TV, maker movement, media and education, media-literacy, Nature-Deficit-Disorder, Outdoor Education, Outdoors Rx, play outdoors, power of play, quality kids TV, screen time, sensory play, STEM, streaming TV, Stuart Brown, summertime science, tots and tech, Tumble Leaf, TV alternatives, Wild Kratts nature

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building Through The Power of Play

November 29, 2012 by Amy Jussel 2 Comments

Nov. 29, 2012 Kuala Lumpur’s famous Petronas twin towers will now always look like ‘stacking cups’ to me, the Guggenheim Museum in New York upside down stacking rings, and Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium a cozy fort “blankets flung, stretched chair to chair”…As I close the picture book “Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building,” brought to life by author and illustrator Christy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Emerging trends & STEM, Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: A Celebration of Building, A+ schools, Art and architecture, award-winning kids books, building kids, building minds, Caine's Arcade, can't be unseen, Case for Make Believe, children's books, Christy Hale, creative thinking, defending pretending, Dreaming Up, early childhood education, ECE, eco art, Edweek arts as essentials, encouraging STEM, engineering, Environment-Kids, Forgiveness Garden, illustrations, imagination, Imagination Foundation, Institute of Play, Lee and Low, Lego, maker faire, multicultural kids books, National Institute for Play, nature of art, once you see it can't be unseen, open ended play, Our School Garden, play, positive kids media, reach and teach, recycled art projects, school gardens, ScrapKins, STEM building toys, Stuart Brown, teaching resources, The Power of Play, unstructured play

Lego Friends: Please Build on Possibility, Brain Plasticity

January 1, 2012 by Amy Jussel 37 Comments

April 28, 2016 "37 year old son of Lego billionaire takes the helm as Vice Chairman" Congrats, Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, now that you've inherited the Lego legacy, and named your daughter and five female cousins as 'most active owners' in the young generation family mix, I have high hopes we'll see some gender stereotypes disappear and brain plasticity triumph! Here's to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: 2012 Lego, beauty industry, brick box, Buildables, Case for Make Believe, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Cordelia Fine, corporate blunders, Delusions of gender, Does stripping gender from toys really make sense?, early child development, Empowering girls, gender equity, Gender Portrayal, girls-self-worth, Kids health, LadyFigs, Lego femininity, Lego Friends, Lego masculinity, Lise Eliot, media analysis, media mindfulness, media-literacy, nature vs nurture, neuroscience, neurosexism, New Moon Girls, Peggy Orenstein, pink brain blue brain, Play-Patterns-Kids, Pop-Culture, role play, science behind sex differences, sexism, Sexualization, spark change, SPARK! summit, stealth STEM, STEM for girls, stereotypes-girls, Stuart Brown, Tetris, Think Different, toy choice, toy marketing

“Bring Your Baby to Life With Your Wii Remote?”

November 2, 2009 by Amy Jussel 4 Comments

Nov. 2, 2009 Not sure which part of this creeps me out more, the fact that 21st century baby dolls have a Wiimote crammed up the wazoo to ‘bring the baby to life’ as a Wii system accessory, the passive pink gender cues for girls and total absence of boys as video parenting poppas, or the product picture being a dead-ringer look alike of my own offspring at that age. Ewww all … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: 21st century, Australia, Baby and Me, baby glutton, babydolls, balance board, Bebe Gloton, behavioral cues, boys, Case for Make Believe, CES, Consumer Electronics Show 2009, consumption, digital play, dolls, exergames, gaming, Gender, girls, health games, mommy bloggers, National Institute of Play, NextNow Collaboratory, Nintendo, Packaging-Girlhood, parenting, Pink Think, play, realism, simulations, Stuart Brown, Tech toys, totally wired, Toys, video games, Wii, Wii remote, wiimote, Wired

Using Digital Hide & Seek To Get Kids Outside: A Treasure Trove of Ideas

September 17, 2009 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

Sept. 17, 2009 “Childhood obesity may be a problem of epidemic proportions in many parts of the world, but several games are doing their part to help keep kids moving. We've already covered LocoMatrix, Swinxs and The Hidden Park, and now a new contender launched last month takes kids on a wifi-based treasure hunt outside,” says Springwise (one of my fave industry resources for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Counter-marketing, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, Nutrition & Wellness, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Aspyr Media, Case for Make Believe, Discover the forest, Gamine-Expedition, geocaching, iphone apps, Kids, Last Child in the Woods, LocoMatrix, nature, NCLI Coalition, Nintendo DS, outdoors, play, Richard-Louv, Sara-Grimes, Springwise, Stuart Brown, Susan Linn, Swinxs, The Hidden Park, Treasure World, wifi treasure hunt, youth