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PBS.org Relaunches Popular Arthur Aardvark Kids Site

Everyone’s favorite aardvark has a new online look this season. Parents, teachers, and especially kids will want to check out the Season Six Arthur Web site at www.pbskids.org/arthur. Already considered one of the top children’s destinations on the Internet, the Arthur Web site has added a bevy of new features to the site and made the navigation even more kid friendly.

New features of the Arthur Web site include daily activities, improved site navigation, and pictures of the main characters (with links to their pages) to help pre-readers point and click on their favorite pages. If, after listening to Ziggy Marley sing the series theme song, you want to play a little “Elwingo” with your friends, just  click on the “games” navigation bar instead of going all the way back to the site’s homepage.

Visit http://www.pbskids.org/arthur to:

- Play Virtual Goose, an interactive, multi-level game for kids of all ages is a Web companion to the Season Six premiere episode, “Sue Ellen Gets Her Goose Cooked.”

- Send stickers to Baby Kate to get a fun, immediate response.

- Collect Arthur Trading Cards – they have pictures, interests, thoughts, and secrets for all 27 characters featured on the site.

- Organize a game of Elwingo! (Elwood City Bingo), an active viewing game designed to be played by a roomful of kids while watching any Arthur episode.

- Go Fetch! with Pal – a matching game played with character cards.

- Write a letter to Arthur online and get an instant “personalized” response.

- Build family bonds with You’ve Got To Be Kidding – a fun, interactive conflict resolution game for parents and kids to play together. 

- Watch music videos and listen to audio clips of four Arthur songs.

- Share your opinions about issues related to Arthur shows at Arthur’s Polling Station.

- Build your own alien with the interactive game, Buster’s Alien Flip.

Parents and teachers now have a place to call their own on the Arthur Web site. The “Grown-Ups” section includes:  TV listings with related activities; a Teacher’s Corner with activities for educators; a Librarian’s Nook; outreach pamphlets for parents (also available in Spanish); nationwide Arthur event listings; an index of favorite books; information about Marc Brown, the producers, and the series; a list of Arthur books, videos, and CDs; Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs); and a special place for feedback.

Arthur is produced for PBS by WGBH Boston and CINAR Corporation. Executive producers are Carol Greenwald and Peter Moss. Bill Shribman is the executive producer of the Arthur Web site. Funding for Arthur is provided by a Ready-To-Learn Television Cooperative Agreement for the U.S. Department of Education, through the Public Broadcasting Service, and public television viewers. Corporate funding is provided by Libby’s Juicy Juice, Post Alpha-Bits Cereal, and LEGO. Arthur is closed captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers by The Caption Center at WGBH Boston and described for blind and visually impaired audiences by Descriptive Video Service (DVS) at WGBH.

PBS.org, PBS’s award-winning site on the World Wide Web, produces high-quality Web 
programming as it pioneers the convergence of television and the Internet. PBS.org features more than 100,000 pages of content as well as companion Web sites for nearly 400 PBS programs and specials. In January 2000, Yahoo! put PBS.org at the top of its list of the best Web sites of all time. 

WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcasting producer. More than one-third of PBS’s prime-time lineup and companion Web content as well as many public radio favorites are produced by WGBH. The station also is a pioneer in educational multimedia and in access technologies for people with disabilities. For more information visit www.wgbh.org.

CINAR Corporation is an integrated entertainment and education company involved in the development, production, post-production and worldwide distribution of non-violent, quality programming and educational products for children and families. CINAR's Web site can be found at www.cinar.com