PBS KIDS is ringing in the school year with an exciting line-up of new programming from award-winning series, and resources for families and teachers. Starting August 5, families from coast-to-coast can tune in together to fun and educational PBS KIDS programming, including the premiere of PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC: A Pinkaperfect Birthday, the first one-hour special from the series; back-to-back brand-new episodes of DINOSAUR TRAIN; and a special DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD “Family Week,” featuring the debut of five episodes.
“The start of the school year marks a crucial transition for children, families and teachers – and helping them prepare for the year ahead is vital to success in the classroom and beyond,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, Children’s Media and Education, PBS. “Our PBS KIDS programming supports children’s social-emotional development and school readiness needs with enriching content that is as entertaining as it is educational.”
Along with the themed programming, PBS KIDS will offer exciting new games for kids, parents, caregivers and teachers. Kids can explore different ways to dance and express themselves through movement in the sparkly, toe-tapping Pinkamagine Fashion Game, designed for one player or the whole family. Play with the Tiger family as they hide in silly places around their house in Daniel Tiger’s Hide and Seek, a fun way to remind children that people come back, even when they go away for a little while. And decorate train cars and discover the joy of helping others in Dinosaur Train: Dinocar Designer. Mixing creativity and consideration, this new game is a sticker-filled expressive experience for preschool-aged children. These games will be available on pbskids.organd the PBS KIDS Games App.
To help parents and caregivers build on the educational opportunities presented in these episodes and digital experiences, new resources such as Pinkalicious activity videos and printables and a family-oriented book list will be available on the updated PBS KIDS for Parents site. The site includes articles, tips, activities and materials connected to the back-to-school lineup, including a back to school hub page and relevant topics organized by program curriculum and target ages. Teachers can turn to PBS LearningMedia for collections of classroom resources, clips and activities connected to DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, such as the “Life’s Little Lessons” collection, as well as resources from PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC, and more. The site now includes features such as simple browsing by curriculum area, state/national standards and grade; improved search functionality; a refreshed look and easier access to local PBS station resources.
PBS KIDS Back-to-School Programming Episodes and Descriptions
Check local listings. Images and additional information are available on PBS PressRoom.
“PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC: A Pinkaperfect Birthday”
Premieres and streams August 5
Pinkalicious is excited for her most pinkaperfect birthday party ever! During the festivities, Pinkalicious receives a mysterious gift that makes her birthday wish come true – she can turn anything pink! But not everyone shares her love of a pinkafied world. Pinkalicious and Peter take a trip to Fairyland to find the gift-giver – the Birthday Fairy – hoping she can help restore Pinkville to its proper colors.
Other new PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC episodes include:
“Jumping for Joy/The Pinkatoo”
Premieres and streams August 6
“Jumping for Joy” – Peter thinks he’s too short to do fun activities as well as Pinkalicious or Rafael, so he makes shoes that let you jump really high! But he and Pinkalicious will need to learn how to jump properly if they’re going to make it to the park in time to play basketball.
“The Pinkatoo” -- Pinkalicious sees a pinkatoo, a rare music-loving bird that hasn’t been seen in Pinkville for 53 years! Now everyone wants to see the pinkatoo, too. Pinkalicious, Peter, Rafael and Jasmine set out to find that bird!
“Knights of the Pink Table/Musical Mix Up”
Premieres and streams August 7
“Knights of the Pink Table” – The Knights of the Pink Table are ready to go on a new quest! Peter wants to go too, but he’s not a knight. Even with help from Pinkalicious the Brave and Jasmine the Daring, how will he go from being the Squire of the Scooter to Peter the Courageous?
“Musical Mix Up” – Peter’s Kazoo Club is about to have its first meeting! But after a strange encounter with a sprite named Spritely, nothing in Pinkville sounds quite like it should. Pinkalicious and her friends will need to find Spritely and return all the sounds to their proper place so the kids can get kazoo-ing!
“Whale of a Song/Pinkabubbles”
Premieres and streams August 8
“Whale of a Song” – The Pinkerton family is going whale watching with Captain Jolly! While at sea they discover a lost baby whale. Will Pinkalicious’ whale song succeed in calling out to its mommy – one of Pinkville’s great pink whales?
“Pinkabubbles” – It seems like another fun-filled, bubble-blowing day in Pinkville – until Peter gets trapped in Pinkalicious’s huge bubble! Pinkalicious and friends chase Peter all around town. Will the Peter-bubble burst before they catch him?
DINOSAUR TRAIN
New episodes premiere and stream August 26. The PBS KIDS 24/7 channel and livestream will host a weekend-long marathon of Dinosaur Train, kicking off on Friday, August 23 at 7:00 PM as part of PBS KIDS Family Night and continues through 6:00 AM the morning of Monday, August 25.
“The Tiny-saur Train/ How Many Horns?”
“The Tiny-saur Train” – While Mikey Microraptor is visiting Tiny at the family nest, next-door neighbor Larry Lambeosaurus tells Mikey that he can’t actually be a dinosaur, since he’s so small, and all dinosaurs are gigantic. Tiny and Mikey decide to show Larry he’s mistaken. They take the Dinosaur Train to find the tiniest dinosaur of all – in Jurassic China.
“How Many Horns?” – Buddy and Tank Triceratops are best friends, and they share a love for comparing features. Tank, who has 3 horns, wonders why Mayor Kosmoceratops has 15, and Protoceratops has only 1. Buddy, Tank, and the other kids go on a quest to track down Ceratopsians with horns numbering from 1 to 15. In their travels, they end up meeting “the Queen,” an amazing Late Cretaceous Regaliceratops, who has a very decorative frill that almost rivals Kosmoceratops for number of horns!
“Mom Was a Kid Once”
“Mom Was a Kid Once” - Part 1 – After Shiny and Annie have a disagreement while exploring a local cave, Mom recalls a similar disagreement with her best friend, Tilly Pteranodon, when she was a kid. Tilly happens to be visiting that day and the kids get to meet her for the first time. Mom and Tilly have a great reunion, yet they have very different memories of what their childhood disagreement was about—except that it was about an adventure in a swamp and a swamp-dwelling creature. To clear things up, Mom, Tilly, Tiny, Shiny, and Annie go back to Mom and Tilly’s old neighborhood and the swamp.
“Mom Was a Kid Once” - Part 2 – Mom and Tilly (along with Tiny, Shiny, and Annie) return to their old neighborhood to explore the swamp where they used to play as kids and had a disagreement. The disagreement was about a swamp creature – was it a friend or foe? Mom and Tilly discover the creature, who is still there, is a friend! She is Goldie the Globidens, a marine creature who eats mostly shellfish. Mom recalls that she was scared of Goldie as a kid and that that was the crux of her disagreement with Tilly. But, that was then, and now their friendship is patched up and strong again – a good example for Shiny and Annie.
“Gilbert the Conductor/A Clubhouse of Their Own”
“Gilbert the Conductor” – The Conductor’s nephew Gilbert has been taking Conductor courses at the Troodon Academy, and has finally graduated to Cadet Conductor! The kids are thrilled – will Gilbert get his own Dinosaur Train to conduct? The answer comes when the Conductor gets sick and can’t do his job, including calling out the station stops! He appoints new Cadet Gilbert to run the Dinosaur Train until he gets his voice back. The strain of running the train by himself wears heavily on Gilbert, and our kids step in to help him run it. Gilbert learns it takes a team to get the job done and keep the train running. There’s big relief when the real Conductor gets his voice back and goes back to running things. No one’s more relieved than Gilbert!
“A Clubhouse of Their Own” – Our kids want their own clubhouse, separate from the family nest. They try out several locations – Tiny’s Tiny Place, Dad’s Thinking Tree, a large Don-made hole – but none of them are the right fit. Eventually, the kids (with the help of Mom and Dad), build their own clubhouse using natural materials.
“A Brand-New Species”
“A Brand-New Species” - Part 1 – The Conductor and the kids are out digging in a favorite fossil spot, out past the Big Pond. Buddy turns up something that the Conductor doesn’t recognize. It’s an excellent fossil – he guesses that they may have discovered a whole new Jurassic species! They all carefully finish digging out the beautifully intact theropod raptor skeleton and bring it to Troodon Town, where they can examine it at the Science labs at Troodon Academy. The experts agree: The Conductor and the kids have discovered a new Jurassic dinosaur!
“A Brand-New Species” - Part 2 – Buddy gets the idea to travel to the Early Jurassic and meet an example of their new discovery, a theropod they named "Buddysaurus." Unfortunately, since this is a brand-new-discovery, there is no train to the home of the Buddysaurus, nor a train station! The Conductor decides to take them all to the Early Jurassic, and hike from the nearest station to find this new theropod. And, they do! They discover that the theropod is actually called a “Dracoraptor.” Our kids invite him to come back to Troodon Town with them so they can present him to the Troodon Scientists.
“Don's Hole-iday/We’re Not All Dinosaurs”
“Don's Hole-iday” – When Don is told he can’t dig any more holes around the nest, he complains that he needs his own day just for digging holes—a hole-iday! The kids make up an imaginary holiday just for Don and recruit the Oryctodromeus to help dig all the holes Don could ever hope for.
"We're Not All Dinosaurs" -- The Pteranodon kids meet a new, small mammal friend, Adele Alphadon, and introduce her and their Big Pond friend, Cindy Cimolestes, to a new concept -- that not all Mesozoic creatures are dinosaurs. And that includes the Pteranodons! They live in a diverse world.
DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD: Family Week
“Margaret’s Birthday Buddy/ Margaret’s Birthday Party”
Premieres and streams September 16
“Margaret’s Birthday Buddy” – The Tiger Family is busy preparing for Margaret’s birthday party. Daniel struggles when the attention is not on him until he figures out that he can be a “tigertastic” birthday buddy and help make Margaret's day special.
“Margaret’s Birthday Party” – Margaret’s birthday party is underway, and Daniel is feeling left out. Daniel remembers he can be a “grr-ific” birthday buddy, so he leads Margaret and friends in a silly panda game and an original birthday song!
“Find What Makes Your Family Special/ Family Day”
Premieres and streams September 17
“Find What Makes Your Family Special” – Katerina wishes she had a baby sister like Baby Margaret to play with. She learns that even though she doesn’t have a baby sister, there are other wonderful things that make her family special.
“Family Day” – It’s Family Day at the Neighborhood Library! Daniel learns that each family is different and special in its own way, and the Tiger Family performs a special song.
“Daniel Likes to Be with Dad/ Daniel Likes to Be with Mom”
Premieres and streams September 18
“Daniel Likes to Be with Dad” – Daniel and Dad Tiger spend the whole day together searching for seashells, picking apples and even a special surprise. But when things don’t go as planned, Dad and Daniel remember that it doesn’t matter what they do, they just enjoy being together.
“Daniel Likes to Be with Mom” – Daniel is thrilled to spend the day with Mom—they even turn Mom’s old wagon into a Trolley together! Although the wagon doesn’t turn out perfectly, it doesn’t matter because they’re just happy to be with one another.
“The Family Campout/A Game Night for Everyone”
Premieres and streams September 19
“The Family Campout” – Daniel and Dad Tiger head to the “Dad and Me” Campout, joined by his friends and their dads. When Katerina arrives with her mom, she notices that she’s the only one who brought her mom. Henrietta assures Katerina that all families are different, and that’s okay.
“A Game Night for Everyone” – Daniel and Mom are on their way to “Mom and Me” Game Night when they run into O and X the Owl. O isn’t sure if he can go to Game Night without a mom, but Uncle X assures him that he has his uncle, who loves him very much, to bring him.
“Daniel’s Grr-ific Grandpere/ Making Mozies with Nana”
Premieres and streams September 20
“Daniel’s Grr-ific Grandpere” – Daniel Tiger is excited to spend the whole day with his grandpa — Grandpere! Whether they’re riding on Grandpere’s boat, sorting through his treasures or even just relaxing on the sandy shore, they love the special time they have together.
“Making Mozies with Nana” – Daniel Tiger spends the whole day with Jodi and her Nana. Jodi and Nana love the special things they do together, like baking sweet treats and even coloring.
About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers children ages 2-8 the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital media and community-based programs. PBS KIDS and local stations across the country support the entire ecosystem in which children learn, including their teachers, parents and community. Provided by stations, the free PBS KIDS 24/7 channel and live stream is available to more than 95% of U.S. TV households. Kidscreen- and Webby Award-winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including digital games and streaming video. PBS KIDS offers mobile apps to help support young children’s learning, including the PBS KIDS Video app, which is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Chromecast. PBS KIDS also offers parent and teacher resources to support children’s learning anytime and anywhere. For more information on PBS KIDS content and initiatives supporting school readiness and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
About WGBH
Public media producer WGBH is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest creator of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Pinkalicious & Peterrific and more than a dozen other primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. WGBH’s television channels include WGBH 2, WGBX 44, and the digital channels World and Create. WGBH Radio serves listeners across New England with 89.7 WGBH, Boston’s Local NPR®; 99.5 WCRB Classical Radio Boston; and WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR® Station. WGBH also is a major source of programs for public radio (among them, PRI’s The World®), a leader in educational multimedia (including PBS LearningMedia™, providing the nation’s educators with free, curriculum-based digital content), and a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired audiences. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards and Oscars. Find more information at wgbh.org.
About The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world-famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Recent credits include Julie’sGreenroom (Netflix), Dot. (Universal Kids /Hulu), Splash and Bubbles (PBS), Word Party (Netflix), Doozers (Hulu/ Sprout), and the Emmy®-nominated Sid the ScienceKid (PBS), Dinosaur Train (PBS), and Pajanimals (Universal Kids). Television productions include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller and the sci-fi cult series Farscape. Features include Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, as well as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask, and Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow. The Company is currently in production on the upcoming Netflix original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Projects in development include the highly anticipated film Fraggle Rock.
With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and post production facilities. The Company is home to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television, theme park and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state-of-the-art and vintage equipment. The Company’s Henson Alternative brand recently premiered The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (Netflix) and is currently touring Puppet-Up! – Uncensored, a live puppet improvisational show. Its feature The Happytime Murders, starring Melissa McCarthy, was released last summer.
http://www.henson.com
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www.twitter.com/hensoncompany
About Fred Rogers Productions
Fred Rogers Productions was founded by Fred Rogers in 1971 as the non-profit producer of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for PBS. In the years that followed, it not only created hundreds of episodes of this much-loved program, but also extended Fred’s values and approach to other efforts in promoting children’s social, emotional, and behavioral health while supporting parents, caregivers, teachers, and other professionals in their work with children. Fred Rogers Productions continues to build on Fred’s legacy in innovative ways through a wide variety of media and engages new generations of children and families with his timeless wisdom. The company’s highly-rated, Emmy Award-winning children’s series include Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peg + Cat, and Odd Squad, as well as Through the Woods. For more information, visit www.fredrogers.org or follow us on Twitter,Facebook, and Instagram.