Wiggletime~ New Website For Preschoolers

There’s a new virtual world for preschoolers and their parents to check out. Wiggletime.com, based on preschool favorite The Wiggles. Wiggletime.com is designed as a safe online environment for children to learn and play.

The website features interactive play for children, and helps you as a parent introduce your child to the Internet, without the risk of children communicating with strangers. The new website is also completely free of advertisements.

The Wiggles are big on getting children up and moving, so Wiggletime has  a “take a break” feature that encourages children to get up an wiggle every twenty minutes.

“We wanted to take our Wiggles Fan Club to another level. We just needed to make sure we were going to be able to provide children with an environment that was exciting, fun, educational and safe. WiggleTime.com certainly has all of the right ingredients to provide children with a fantastic Wiggles experience”

- Anthony Field (BlueWiggle).

Your children can visit some of their favorite Wiggle destinations including Wigglehouse, Dorothy’s House, Wag’s Kennel, Captain Feathersword’s SS Feathersword, or Henry’s Underwater World, while they’re learning and having fun.

Wiggletime.com has different levels of membership from free, to monthly and yearly subscriptions, visit the website to sign up and for membership details.

Images Wiggletime.com

TV Kart for Grocery Shopping Entertainment

The kids love it when we visit the grocery stores that have carts that are shaped like race cars, complete with steering wheels so that they can pretend they’re zipping around the store when we’re shopping. I was surprised, though, to come across these TV Karts when at another local grocery chain. These carts feature several different characters, including Barney, Bob the Builder, and The Wiggles.

Apparently, you toss $1 (US) in the machine, and then your child can watch a video of one of their favorite characters while you zip through your errands. One of the benefits listed on the Cabco Group website (providers of the TV Kart) is as follows:

Parents shop in peace while their children watch their favorite programs, or listen to songs and stories in the Karts

I can understand the appeal of it, but I think it’s going a bit far now. Do you agree? I mean, do our kids need to expect to be entertained everywhere they go? Wouldn’t it be better to emphasize good behavior and patience? Maybe it’s just me.

Even though the TVKart looks fun, here are the reasons that it wouldn’t be much use for me:

• There’s only room for one or two kids in the cart. I have three! How do I pick who gets to just hang out with mom and be bored? (Okay, so I don’t ever go to the grocery with all three. What’s your point? )
• The portion of the cart meant for the groceries themselves is awfully small. Really….if I’m on a trip where I need for the kids to be entertained, I’m on a trip that’s going to last longer than 5 minutes. The basket in that cart could be filled in about 2.
• The TV Kart itself cannot leave the store. So, once you’ve made your purchases, you not only have to wrangle your child away from the TV, you also have to transfer said child and your packages to another cart, return the TV Kart to the spot where you picked it up, and then go out to your car. Sounds like no fun at all for me.
• If my kids are actually being quiet and not asking me a billion questions through the store, I will take much more time to look around and will end up putting more in my cart (if the cart wasn’t so small) and I’d go way over budget.

Maybe I’ll have to give it a go, anyway, should I find myself at the store at some point with one kid. You know….for research purposes. Have any of you tried the TV Kart?

Am I hot stuff, or am I not?

I’ve been nominated for this week’s Hot Stuff Award at GNMParents. The post in question was my mention of Julie Aigner-Clark’s recognition in the State of the Union Address.

While I have nothing against the Baby Einstein products, I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever seen the videos, listened to the CDs, or played with the toys. I can see why Erica of GNMParents took my enthusiastic congratulations of Aigner-Clark as a promotion of her product.

In actuality, I was congratulating Aigner-Clark on harnessing her passion, sharing it with the world, and being able to make a living on it. Isn’t that the hope of us all? To be able to do what we love and find a way to support ourselves and our families on it? Isn’t that our hope for our children?

Since Aigner-Clark was mentioned in the speech, she has been blasted in several places for being recognized for doing nothing but creating videos for babies who should not be put in front of the TV. Since I’ve not seen the videos, I don’t have an opinion on them specifically. However, I have been known to throw a Wiggles video in on occasion (ha), and I’m sure neither Aigner-Clark nor I could be the first to be accused of using TV as a babysitter to TRY TO GET JUST ONE THING DONE. However, I also bottle-fed my eldest child, and still use disposable diapers, so maybe I’m not the one you’re looking to for child-rearing advice.

And, FINALLY, why has eveyone failed to mention the child safety video, The Safe Side – Stranger Safety, that Aigner-Clark produced with America’s Most Wanted guru John Walsh? Reading the text of the speech (you can find that portion here), it seems to me that this project was as instrumental in getting Aigner-Clark recognized in the presidential speech as her entrepreneurial spirit and success. I haven’t seen the safety video, yet (thanks for sending it, you know who!), but will give it a review when I do.

Anyway, I am proud to be nominated for the Hot Stuff Award, and will check out the other posts to see the company that I’m in. If you’d like to vote for me, head over to this post and vote in the comments. Thanks!

Video of The Wiggles on The View

The Wiggles made the rounds of American TV last week. Here’s a video of them on The View. They’re all so charming! I must admit that it’s a little weird hearing Sam sing Greg’s part although he has a great voice too. My son seems enjoys The Wiggles nonetheless.

Tags: the wiggles, wiggles, the view, rosie odonnell, children, kids, play, family, tv, parenting, fun, video

The Wiggles On Good Morning America

Looks like our favorite brightly-colored skivvied friends will be making an appearence tomorrow morning on Good Morning America. For many of us, I’m guessing that this will be our first opportunity to see Sam Moran included in a performance as the official bearer of the yellow skivvie, though we know he has been performing in Greg Page’s stead (and doing a wonderful job!) on and off for a while now.

Looks like I may have to set my alarm a bit early for The Wiggles‘ performance! Hmm…or that’s what the VCR is for.

ht: Bald Man

Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas

We’ve had the Christmas music playing through the house since the beginning of December. We only play it once a year, so might as well get a year’s worth of listening crammed into that month, yeah? The kids do enjoy it, but also like to hear something that was performed more with them in mind.

Enter: Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas. We picked up the Wiggles Christmas CD from the library a week or two ago when we went to visit Santa. The kids have had a ball listening and dancing to it, which is nice because it keeps them warm and toasty! I’d think the Wiggles would get warm doing all that dancing this time of year, though. Isn’t is summer now Down Under?

Kid K’nex

A good friend of mine gave my son a set of Kid K’nex when he turned three. That was one of the best parts of him turning three, he could get all the toys with all the little pieces! Though we do still have to keep them out of the hands of his little brother.

Anyway, my friend has a son who is five and who LOVES his Kid K’nex sets. She described them to me as similar to the wooden Tinker Toys of our youth, but with more shapes and pieces.

I wasn’t sure how my son was going to take to them. The case with the pieces just sat around for a week or so. Then one day I heard him so excited doing whatever it was he was doing. I walked in to find him and Bald Man making seahorses, fish, and other sea creatures. He calls the octopus they made “Henry” after the purple octopus from The Wiggles.

He really got a kick seeing the pictures in the idea book and helping his daddy make them with the plastic pieces from the box. I think he’s gonna love this gift for a long time to come. Thanks, friend!

Do any of you have experiences with Kid K’nex?

Farewell, Greg Page Wiggle

And with this, the closing of our unofficial Greg Page Wiggle Tribute day, I leave you with my favorite Wiggles tape (we actually have the VHS of this, and I don’t know how much longer it will last!), Wiggle Time. The songs are fun, the dances simple enough for my kids (and me) to dance along, and nothing beats Murray Cook and Captain Feathersword (Paul Paddick) cracking each other up at the end!

Thanks again, Greg, for all of the talent and joy you shared with our kids. Thanks for your part in teaching them good values, sharing good music, and just encouraging the joy of childhood. Thanks, also, for being a reminder to us adults that a followed passion can lead to success. And that, no matter how much success that passion leads to, family and health come first. We wish you all the best.

A Wiggly Christmas Book

In case you’re still stuck pondering Greg Page and his departure from The Wiggles, but your kids want you to get into the Christmas spirit, here’s a book for you! I’ve never actually seen this one, but their big activity book is one of my kids’ favorites.

Watching the interview that Hsien posted, I realized even more that there’s really hardly anything that the Wiggles logo doesn’t appear on. There’s even some Wiggly underwear. I’d think that’d get a might uncomfortable.

BTW-For more Christmas inspired reading, head on over to this article at A Readable Feast for suggestions. You can also try to win a keepsake journal if you participate in the holiday contest by December 4th!

Greg Page is an Elvis Fan

Hsien mentioned earlier that Greg Page is not only known as the (now former) yellow Wiggle, but that he has had success as a solo artist as well. The album mentioned earlier is performed by Greg Page and the TCB Band, which was Elvis Presley’s band. Apparently, Greg is the first Australian to perform and record with TCB.

I came across a fun interview with Greg at Elvis Australia from 2002. He shares a lot of his impressions of and adoration for Elvis Presley. There are also just some fun bits about The Wiggles and listening to Elvis on the road because Anthony Field had it constantly playing on road trips. It’s also mentioned that their only goal in the beginning was to release one children’s album. They’ve come a long way from that!

There was one sad bit in the interview. When asked about the longevity of The Wiggles, Greg replied:

We’ve always said that when the day comes that we don’t enjoy doing it anymore, then that’s the day that we hang up the skivvies!! We started this because of our love for music/education/children, so when we don’t have that passion anymore, that’s when we call it a day. (OR when our bodies just can’t physically keep up with the pace anymore – whichever comes first!!)

Thankfully, the passion lives on, and we haven’t lost The Wiggles, yet! Hopefully, Greg’s condition will still allow him to pursue his love and passion for music in his solo career.

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