New preschooler series co-produced with Imagine Create Media premieres Father’s Day 2021
TVO and Imagine Create Media are thrilled to announce the Sunday, June 20, 2021 premiere of TVOkids Original Baby Baby on TVOkids, TVOkids.com and the TVOkids YouTube channel. Just in time to celebrate Father’s Day, these twenty, five-minute episodes will offer preschool viewers a peek inside the playroom to watch, listen and learn about the wonderful world of babies. The series is also a great way to prepare new or soon-to-be “big” brothers or sisters for a new baby in the house.
“We’re so excited to share Baby Baby with our younger viewers, not to mention parents and everyone curious about how babies experience the world around them,” says Marney Malabar, Director of Kids TV, TVO. “Learning and growing is at the core of what we do at TVOkids, and this new series does an incredible job of showing how that whole process begins, brought to life through these adorable young children.”
TVOkids Original Baby Baby is inspired by Roots of Empathy, a ground-breaking classroom program that has been adopted around the world with proven success in increasing empathy and social/emotional competence in children. Baby Baby encourages viewers to observe a baby’s development and label and talk about emotions, all while relating this to their own experiences and feelings.
“I am very excited to use Baby Baby with my students because it shows kids being kids, just as they are,” says series consultant and educator Sarah Beairsto. “It encourages viewers to notice and wonder, and is a perfect prompt to support rich conversations about interdependence and responsibilities in the classroom.”
The series is created by Eric Hogan and Tara Hungerford, and co-produced by Tracey Mack, Hogan and Hungerford of Imagine Create Media in partnership with TVOkids. Imagine Create Media are the creators behind the TVOkids series I Love (Prix Jeunesse winner) and Space Kids (Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence winner). The duo also created the internationally acclaimed CBC Kids series, The Gumboot Kids (Canadian Screen Award nominee, Kidscreen Award winner).
“It was incredibly gratifying to spend time with these wonderful babies and children,” says co-creator Tara Hungerford. “We can learn so much by simply observing little ones and allowing them to be their authentic selves.”
The Baby Baby soundtrack was written and produced by JUNO award-winning artist, Jessie Farrell. The soundtrack is available for streaming on all major streaming platforms. Season one also includes four music videos. A second season will go into production with TVOkids in the Summer of 2021.
Celebrate Father’s Day with the series premiere of TVOkids Original Baby Baby at 10:15 am ET on Sunday, June 21, 2021 on TVOkids, TVOkids.com and the TVOkids YouTube channel.