Mama Mirabelle Goes Online

Monday, January 14, 2008
By: Ryan Ball

National Geograohic Kids Entertainment and PBS Kids have joined forces to launch a web destination for the popular animated preschool series Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies. Designed by NDi Media, www.pbskids.org/mamamirabelle provides an immersive virtual environment where children can interact with animals from around the world through wildlife videos from the award-winning National Geographic and BBC archives.

As kids enter the site, they receive a warm savanna welcome from Mama Mirabelle, an elephant voiced by songstress and actress Vanessa Williams. She presents each visitor with a special egg to care for during their time on the African savanna, which slowly hatches to reveal an animal. Preschoolers can select Max the elephant, Karla the zebra or Bo the cheetah to be their guide as they explore the kingdom by clicking on the animated animals to trigger the wildlife videos that explain the particular species’ behavior and its importance to the environment.

In addition to videos, the site offers a number of engaging games, including photo-shooting safari. The Fun Stuff section allows kids to watch an episode of the animated series and dance along to an animal video, play an interactive animal charades game or print out activities such as mask-making, card matching games and coloring sheets. Music videos based on preschool themes highlight rhythms, instruments and vocalists from around the world.

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