Little Pim Digital Downloads- Here, There, And Everywhere

You can watch it in a house. You can watch it with a mouse. You can watch them here or there. You can watch them anywhere! Okay, maybe Dr. Seuss wasn't thinking about Little Pim’s Digital Downloads when he wrote Green Eggs and Ham but I do share something with the whimsical author whose birthday was celebrated this month: a passion for educating and entertaining children. For our customers March is all about fun, learning, and…mobility! I’m pleased to announce that the Little Pim Digital Downloads are now available in all 10 of Little Pim languages.

The downloads will play on any Internet-connected portable player such as an iPod or iPod Touch. Download one 35-minute episode or enjoy a 10% discount when you purchase a complete language series.

My son Adrian loved being able to bring his favorite panda on a recent plane trip.

Oh the places you’ll go! More information please check our store.

What's your child's favorite Dr. Seuss book? Tell me in the comments!

Little Pim at Home

Language learning doesn't begin and end for me at the office. I grew up bilingual in French and English and am passionate about passing on le français to my two children- Emmett and Adrian. Here's a cute video I shot last week of them counting in French while playing in the kitchen one morning... Seeing them move effortlessly from French to English - even my little two year old - is the best confirmation that starting young makes a difference!

Little Pim and Julia Pimsleur Levine in the Media

Little Pim was just featured by two terrific media outlets this month: New York Metro Parents and Parent Guide. New York Metro Parents is an award-winning magazine in New York City that parents turn to for guidance on education, health, activities, and parenting tips. They interviewed me in an article entitled Language is a Family Affair.

Note: Clicking the image will open a new window to a larger version of the article (you may have to click on it again to make it full size).

Parent Guide is the oldest and largest local parenting publication in the country. They serve 18 counties, throughout New York, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and New Jersey, with ten different regional editions. They featured Little Pim in their "Don't Miss" section.

There's an App for that! Little Pim Word Bag

I'm proud to announce our first iPhone Application or App: Little Pim Word Bag! Now parents can help their toddlers or preschoolers learn Spanish or French words on the go using an iPhone or iPod Touch. By marrying beautiful graphic design, our signature music, and the always lovable Little Pim panda, Little Pim Word Bag has already become a favorite in the blogosphere. iAppFun, a popular blog that reviews apps as they are released had this to say:

"With great artwork, music and sound effects these Little Pim interactive "flash cards" are the perfect way to educate and entertain young language learners on the go."

Child Mode also reviewed the app:

"The clean and clear format makes this app fun and easy to use and it is also an excellent way to keep children occupied while on the go or during a trip. If you have an iPhone or iTouch, I highly recommend purchasing this for your children. It has become my toddler's favorite kids app out of the 10 I have downloaded!" The $1.99 sticker price for the app makes it an affordable way to support your child's language acquisition and the perfect compliment to our DVDs, CDs, and flash cards.

I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think.

Live From the American International Toy Fair

I'm blogging live from the American International Toy Fair! This huge four-day event draws companies from all over the world. The trade show features the newest and hottest products for children and is the largest conference in the Western Hemisphere. Thankfully, it's held in New York, so we don't have to travel to attend.

The response to Little Pim has been fantastic. Everyone loves the new characters Bob the Bobcat and Lola the Elephant. Our booth visitors are also really taking to the Deluxe Gift Sets.

We're located at convention center booth 5921. Please stop by and say "Hola, Bonjour or Ni Hao"!

Bringing Bob to Life

One of the most fun parts of making Little Pim DVDs is going to the recording sessions when we bring our animated characters to life. We recently recorded the voice of Bob the Bobcat, one of Little Pim's new friends. We all have a soft spot for Bob, an adorable furry wildcat with black trimmed ears. He tries really hard to be a good hunter, chase butterflies and ladybugs, but can't quite ever seem to catch a thing!

We found a wonderful voice over artist for Bob (who moonlights as a PhD candidate in English literature) and spent a few hours recording all kinds of "mmmrrow!" and giggles and snoring sounds the other day. It was so much fun!

In addition to Bob, we'll also be introducing Lola the Elephant in the new DVDs.

Little Pim is having a blast now that he has two new friends who are just as playful as he is. Together they are helping kids learn a second or third language in a fun, laughter-filled way.

Look out for Bob the Bobcat and Lola the Elephant in DVDs 4, 5, & 6 this spring.

A Memorable Yale Weekend

This past weekend I was back at my alma mater, Yale University. As part of a celebration marking 40 years of coeducation at Yale, I was invited to screen the first full length documentary I ever made: "Boola Boola...Yale Goes Coed".

It was great to be back at Yale; a place that holds wonderful memories for me. I was reminded of how much I learned at the tender age of 21 when I conducted the interviews for our film. These women paved the way for all of us - Yale was truly a bastion of male power until 1969, when women were begrudgingly admitted amidst vocal protests from a large percentage of the alumni.

Before the screening, I met with a group of students interested in starting their own businesses. Eight aspiring entrepreneurs got up early (early for students!) to meet for breakfast at one of my old favorite spots, the charming Claire's Cornucopia. Over decadent Lithuanian Coffee Cake we talked about how Little Pim was launched and what obstacles I had to overcome to start the business. They shared some of their business ideas in various stages of incubation. It was great to meet Yale's future entrepreneurs, and perhaps future Mompreneurs, who knows?

I wish them all the best of luck and, since I agree with Woody Allen that showing up is 90% of success, they are all on their way to making it.

Fox61 with Sarah French

This morning I had the exciting opportunity to be interviewed by Sarah French (a Little Pim-approved surname!) on the Fox61 Connecticut morning show about foreign language learning for kids.

Sarah was interested in knowing why it's so much easier for young children to absorb a new language and at what age they should start -- you know the answer, the earlier the better! You can check out our discussion in the clip below or stop by the Why Starting Early is Key page of our site for a more in-depth explanation. Merci, Sarah!

Media Literacy

Our world is becoming more and more crowded with media. Whether in our living rooms, on our commutes or in our classrooms, every waking moment can be occupied by consuming media. Whether it's looking up "what causes earthquakes" on Google with my eldest son Emmett and finding a video to explain it, or the news feeds in stores and in elevators, media is here to stay, and will only get more ever-present. So how do we address this as parents? I attended a presentation about Media Literacy for Kids at a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) teacher's conference this past year and wanted to share a few important lessons I learned, along with some of my own thoughts as a mom who has been making media for more than 20 years.

1) Media is not inside you. Make efforts to teach your child from an early age that media is "outside of their bodies." That may sound obvious, but research shows that young children often think that what they are watching is not only real, it is inside their heads. I told my four year old last year that what he sees on TV is on the screen, which is different from what is inside his mind. We went over it several times. I wasn't sure he understood, but a few months later (kids are amazing how they store information, like nuts for the winter) he told his friend, "What you see in the movies is not inside your head!" and really seemed to have taken in the message. He went on to assure his friend that scary movies (we were talking about Avatar) are not that scary, because they are only on the screen, not inside your head.

2) Watch "good media" with your kids. Make a point of watching some educational media with your children, especially if you let them watch both pure entertainment media and educational media. If you watch the educational media with them, you'll be sending a message that it's more important (i.e. worth your time, which is precious to them) and help them create healthy viewing habits. I watch Little Pim about twice a week with my two year-old, and he can see that this is something I make time for and enjoy with him, unlike the "Sing Yourself Silly" videos he watches, which I don't usually sit down for. I also watch nature and science programs with my five year-old.

3) Talk about the media they have seen. Whenever possible, ask your children to comment on the media they watched. This way you can make sure they aren't taking away distorted messages (and help to correct it if they are) and can establish a dialog with your kids about what they have seen. This will become even more important as your kids grow older and see more and more challenging and sometimes disturbing media. When they are young, you can ask them to look for certain things in a show, like "see if you can find all the ducks" or "who is the kindest character?". This teaches them active viewing skills, which is one of the most important cornerstones of media literacy.

This is especially important for girls, who will be bombarded with messages from the media about how they should look and act.

In short, help your children learn to be active and critical media consumers. Visual media has a strong sway on young children and can be much more mesmerizing than print and audio. If you teach your children to make healthy media choices, they will gravitate toward fun, educational shows when they get old enough to make their own choices. Media is here to stay, so let's get smart about teaching media literacy to our kids. It's likely they will be teaching us how to use the media of the future, but right now there is still a lot we can teach them.

How have you introduced your kids to media literacy? Share your stories with us at Little Pim.

NY Times article about increase in Chinese-learning in U.S.

Yesterday the New York Times published an article about the increased interest in Chinese-learning among students in the United States. Apparently more and more parents want their kids to learn Chinese in order to be competitive in the global economy and have the option to work with Chinese-owned companies; plus the Chinese government is sending subsidized Chinese language teachers into American schools. At Little Pim, we have been amazed to see how many Mandarin Chinese DVDs fly off our virtual shelves! Mandarin Chinese is the most popular Chinese dialect being taught today.

In the meanwhile, romance languages are on the decline in public schools. Wide cut-backs in foreign language classes have led to more parents looking to introduce second languages at home via books, DVDs and other materials. We talk to these parents every day at Little Pim, and are proud to be helping them fill that gap.

Click here to read about our Chinese products and watch a short video clip in Chinese: http://www.littlepim.com/store/chinese-language-for-kids/. You can also read my letter to the editor published in the New York Times in September commenting on the cut-backs and the importance of foreign language teaching in schools: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/opinion/lweb20foreign.html?_r=1

Thank you for your support of Little Pim, and for helping us to prepare our children to become active participants in an increasingly multi-cultural and polyglot world.

Read the New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/education/21chinese.html?hpw