Edutainment

Doctor Floyd Reading Program

Dale — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:24:07 -0400

The Radio Adventures of Doctor Floyd is the best family-friendly podcast out there, and yes, even better than ours. Check this out:

THE RADIO ADVENTURES OF DR. FLOYD PROMOTES READING LITERACY WITH THE
DR. FLOYD 2008 SUMMER READING CHALLENGE!

Burbank, CA, June 11, 2008 – The longest running, professionally produced, audio drama podcast, The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd has announced the beginning of the Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd 2008 Summer Reading Challenge. The challenge encourages the show’s listeners, young and old, to read 10 books over the summer of 2008.

Beginning immediately, fans can download and print the Official Challenge Reading Log from – http://www.DoctorFloyd.com/challenge - and fill it out as they read books over the summer. When the form is filled out, fans mail it back to the show’s P.O. Box and a few weeks later they will receive a special Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd surprise in the mail. Participation only costs the price of a postage stamp and fans have until Friday, September 5, 2008 to return the form in the mail.

“Season seven is unique in that our characters are traveling through books instead of history,” says show co-creator Grant Baciocco. “We wanted to find a way for the fans at home to travel through books as well and we came up with the idea of the challenge.” The 2008 Reading Challenge is the perfect at home companion for Season Seven, which finds Dr. Floyd and his arch-nemesis (Dr. Steve) traveling though classic literature, the first of which is The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer. Baciocco adds, “Hopefully this season will inspire our fans to spend some time with a few good books over the summer.”

Since November of 2004, The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd has steadily built listenership with wacky tales of the World’s Most Brilliant Scientist, Dr. Floyd, as he battles his arch nemesis, Dr. Steve. The show is currently under development as a TV show and feature film. The Los Angeles Times has called the show ‘a Prairie Home Companion for kids’ and Nickelodeon’s Director of Development call the show ‘too educational’ for Nickelodeon.

The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd is a weekly, family friendly show that combines the fast paced, episodic hilarity of Rocky & Bullwinkle and the imagination inducing power of “old time” radio. The show holds the distinction of being the only independent podcast in the entertainment section of Tivo’s Podcaster Service directory and has been featured in the iTunes Music Store and SPIN Magazine. The show has won three Parsec Awards for excellence in Sci-Fi Podcasting and 3 Podcast Peer Awards for Best Family Friendly Show and Best Fiction Podcast. The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd receives an average of over 60,000 downloads a month.

MinyanLand Teaches Economics to Kids

Teresa — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:17:17 -0500

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MinyanvilleÂ Publishing and Multimedia, (http://www.minyanville.com), a leading financial media company, has partnered withÂ KabooseÂ (www.kaboose.com), an online family-oriented portal, to launch MinyanLandâ€”Â the first free financial virtual community to teach kids and their families the fundamentals of finance.

With the current economic uncertainty affecting the financial health of millions around the world, this immersive community uses educational games and an economy simulating the real world to teach kidsÂ â€“Â at a very early ageÂ â€“Â the four cornerstones of financeÂ â€“Â earning, saving, spending and giving.

Furthering its mission to educate and entertain audiences on fiscal responsibility, MinyanLand features Minyanvilleâ€™s iconic critters Hoofy the Bull and Boo the Bear and can be reached atwww.minyanland.comÂ and Kabooseâ€™sÂ www.funschool.com.

Visitors can create a personalized MinyanLandÂ â€œCritterâ€Â and are set up with a home and bank account with $5,000 in MinyanMoney. Kids can work to earn more, invest, shop and re-locate to new neighborhoods just as in a real economy. As a special launch promotion, the first 50,000 registrants will get $50,000 in MinyanMoney to start the game.

â€œThe gap between what people know about finance and what they need to know has never been greater,â€Â said Todd Harrison, founder and CEO of Minyanville.Â â€œMinyanLand teaches kids at an early age the basic responsibility of earning money, spending and saving wisely, and the meaning of charity.â€

MinyanLand encourages parents to participate through a weekly Virtual Allowance, tying chores performed in the real world with MinyanMoney usable in MinyanLand.

â€œKey aspects of MinyanLand include enabling kids to understand the value of what money is and what they can do with it,â€Â said Kevin Wassong, Minyanvilleâ€™s President.Â â€œParents play an important role, too, in this learning process. They help reinforce the responsibility and encourage the practice of good financial sense for the future.â€

â€œParents today need the right tools to engage their children especially when it comes to teaching them the basics of finance,â€Â said Jonathan Graff, vice chairman of Kaboose.Â â€œBy partnering with Minyanville, weâ€™ve provided a digital and interactive platform that entertains and teaches their children, without preaching to them.â€

Minyanville partnered with the National Council of Economic Education (NCEE), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving economic and financial literacy, for the siteâ€™s educational content.

Irvine, Calif.-based VPI.net helped design and develop the site.

Contest: The Great Podcast Treasure Hunt (Win a free LeapFrog Leapster and more!)

Dale — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:53:16 -0500

Tech Talk for Families is proud to announce our first contest in what we expect to be an ongoing series of contests and prizes! We'd like to thank our listeners and visitors for your continued support by offering you a prize package valued at $130!

The Prizes

A LeapFrog Leapster (Pink--sorry, no substitutions)
Sonic X game for Leapster
Clifford the Big Red Dog game for Leapster
Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd Imagination Nation Membership Package

The Hunt

In order to win the contest, you'll need to send the secret sentence to us using our contact form. To find out the secret sentence, you must listen to the latest episode of some family-friendly podcasts (You can listen from your computer, no iPod required.), find the secret word from each show, and then, once you have all of the code words, unscramble them into the secret sentence, and send it to us! All entries must include your mailing address so we can send you the prize package.

The Shows

Dancing with Elephants (Episode 79)
Short Cummings Audio (Episode 84)
Technorama (Episode 201)
Pizza Go Here (Episode 23)
Tech Talk for Families (Episode 26)

The Deadline

All entries must be received by February 5, 2008 at 2:17 AM, CST, exactly one year after our pilot episode was launched. Yes, we're celebrating our birthday!

The Sponsors

Tech Talk for Families would like to thank The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd for donating an Imagination Nation prize package.

This contest is not sponsored by LeapFrog. Tech Talk for Families does not accept sponsorships from companies whose products we review in order to maintain journalistic integrity and prevent biased reviews.

The Fine Print

Only one entry per household. Entries with no mailing address will be discarded.
The winner will be chosen randomly from the submissions with the correct answer.
Contest available only to U.S., Canadian, and U.S. Military addresses
Winner will be announced on the Tech Talk for Families first podcast episode following the contest deadline. Following the announcement, the winner will be notified via email.
Rules subject to change as needed. (Only in case of abuse.)

Extra: Dr. Floyd Full Interview

Dale — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:24:38 -0400

The interview from Episode 7 was way too chaotic and long, so it had to be abridged for the podcast. Here is the entire interview, uncut.