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Little Thinker series is an interactive listening experience audiobook involving storytelling, education, music, and art, originally released through a company called Jerome Enterprises based in Florida. The Little Thinker tapes were a series of children's entertainment aiming to foster creativity and enthusiasm for learning. [1] More than 3 million of the kits were sold. [2]
In each tape, the series' hostess "Nancy", voiced by WBAL-TV meteorologist Nancy Hamilton, [3] led the listener through an educational lesson on a topic chosen from a wide range of possibilities. These lessons usually took the form of an imaginary journey. Nancy would describe the adventure and ask the listener - addressed as "Little Thinker" - to imagine that they were experiencing it together. At regular intervals, the hostess would play music (from the Production music provider, Valentino Music) to allow the Little Thinker time to draw a picture of the events imagined in the previous segment.
The Little Thinker tapes were sold in toy stores around the United States and Canada in audio cassette format. The tapes were sold individually and in four collections. The first six tapes, All About Fun Poems, All About Manners and Morals, All About Safety, All About Animals, All About Outer Space, and All About the Sea, were all released in 1978 and anthologized in the box set Little Thinker Tapes Vol. 1. The second set of six appeared in 1979. It included Think About the Circus, Think About Dinosaurs, Think About the Weather, Think About Super-sites in America, Think About Ways to Travel, and Think About Sports. By the release of Little Thinker Tapes Vol. 3 in 1982, the series had grown popular enough to support a fan club. Members were called "Thinkerniks," a term that replaced "Little Thinker" as Nancy's pet name for her listeners. The last six tapes, anthologized in the third volume, were Think About Life on the Farm, Think About the Desert, Think About the Old West, Think About the Planet Earth, Think About the World of Music, and Think About People on the Job. A final comprehensive set of Little Thinker Tapes was issued in 1983. However, at some point, a special tape called Think About Christmas was released, though never included in any collection.
In 2020 the current developer of Little Thinker Adventures produced the first new title in over 35 years. "Think About the Garden' was released for sale in July 2020. A new adventure, with new music, and hosted by Nance, the granddaughter of the original Nancy. (not truly, of course, but it's the story) In this new adventure, Nance leads the Thinkerniks on an adventure to shrink in size and explore the garden, above and below ground. Thinkerniks meet interesting characters along the way: worm, flower, butterfly, etc. [4]
The 21st title in the series is due to be released in the Summer/Fall of 2021. This new adventure is "Think About the Human Body". Nance is back to guide the Thinkerniks through the new adventure. The Little Thinker eats too much cake and ice cream at his birthday party and feels a bit sick. This adventure is all about what happens inside the body when your tummy hurts, and what can be done to help it. (https://www.littlethinkeradventures.com )
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sometimes abbreviated to TMNT, is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained in ninjutsu who fight evil in New York City. Supporting characters include the turtles' rat sensei Splinter, their human friends April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and enemies such as Baxter Stockman, Krang, and their archenemy, the Shredder.
Cabbage Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage Kids' by Roger L. Schlaifer when he acquired the exclusive worldwide licensing rights in 1982.
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of babies; most prominently—Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, and their day-to-day lives, usually involving life experiences that become much greater adventures in the imaginations of the main characters.
Bob the Builder is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours, and friends, and equipment, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles, Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roley, Lofty and many others. The show is broadcast in many countries but originated from the United Kingdom where Bob was voiced by English actor Neil Morrissey. The series originally used stop-motion from 1999 to 2009, but later used CGI animation starting with the spin-off series Ready, Steady, Build!. British proprietors of Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends sold the enterprise in 2011 to US toy-maker Mattel for $680 million.
My Little Pony (MLP) is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. Such symbols are referred to in the three most recent incarnations as "cutie marks". My Little Pony has been revamped several times with new and more modern looks to continue its appeal to the market, with each new look called a "generation" by the show's collectors and fans. The franchise is mainly targeted at young girls, although in the 2010s, it gained a cult following by an unintended audience of adult, mostly male fans.
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Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic children's toy in the form of a talking 'Illiop', a creature which looks like a bear. The toy's mouth and eyes move while he reenacts stories played on an audio tape cassette deck built into its back. While the character itself was created by Ken Forsse, the talking toy was designed and built by Forsse’s Alchemy II, Inc. employees, including Larry Larsen and John Davies. Later versions have a digital cartridge in place of a cassette.
Romper Room is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers, and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his presenter wife, Nancy, of Claster Television. The national version was presented by Nancy Terrell. Romper Room was also franchised internationally at various times in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Paraguay and Australia.
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is a children's animated television series based on Teddy Ruxpin, an animatronic teddy bear created by Ken Forsse and distributed by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. Produced in 1986–7 for television syndication by DIC Enterprises with Atkinson Film-Arts, the series employed many of the same voice actors used in the book-and-tape series that was made for the eponymous animatronic toy. While some of the stories used in the TV series were adapted from the books, many were original and greatly expanded upon the world established there. The series differed from traditional children's animation in that most of its 65 episodes were serialized rather than in traditional episodic form.
Space Academy is an American science fiction television series produced by Filmation that originally aired Saturday mornings on the CBS television network, from September 10 to December 17, 1977. A total of 15 half-hour episodes were made.
Xuxa is an American children's television series hosted by Xuxa Meneghel that aired in first-run syndication between September 13 and December 10, 1993, for a total of 65 episodes. The program, which was based on Rede Globo's Xou da Xuxa, was created by Thomas W. Lynch and Marlene Mattos, with MTM Enterprises handing production. The show works with several blocks, where in each block, a game is presented. The program also received famous people or diverse professionals, as well as educational lessons.
Fisher-Price is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. The company was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Helen Schelle, and Margaret Evans-Price.
Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel, has been featured in an eponymous media franchise since the late 1980s. This franchise encompasses a CGI/computer-animated film series that later expanded to other productions and media formats. Referred to among fans as the "Barbie Cinematic Universe", it has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The film series aired regularly on Nickelodeon in the United States from 2002 until 2017 where they moved over to streaming services like Netflix, Google Play and Apple TV+. The films revamped into streaming television films 3 years later, which are marketed by Mattel as "specials" and picked up for television broadcast in multiple countries and regions/territories.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated children's television series based on the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise. The series follows a studious unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash (Ball), Pinkie Pie (Libman), and her dragon assistant Spike. They travel on adventures and help others around Equestria, solving problems with their friendships.
Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realistic. The eight main characters of the theme are Aliya, Nova, Zac, Liann, Paisley, Leo, Autumn and Olly, replacing the original cast named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia and Emma. The theme was relaunched in January 2023 to focus on a more diverse cast of characters.
Kipper is a British animated children's television series based on the characters from Mick Inkpen's Kipper the Dog picture book series. Seventy-eight episodes were produced. Out of these, thirteen episodes - twelve of the first series, and the last of the third series, were written by Mick Inkpen himself. The videos have won awards including a BAFTA award for best children's animation. The show was released on VHS and DVD by HIT Entertainment.
American toy company Hasbro launched the fourth incarnation of My Little Pony toyline and media franchise in 2010. This generation is not given any name by Hasbro, but some of later releases of toys are labeled with the subtitle "Friendship Is Magic". It is unofficially referred to the "Fourth Generation", "Generation Four" or "G4" by collectors.
Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 26 November 2021. A follow-up to the compilations Five Years (1969–1973), Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) and Loving the Alien (1983–1988), the set covers the period of Bowie's career from 1992 to 2001, commonly regarded by analysts as an artistic renaissance following his commercially successful but critically maligned work in the 1980s. However, Bowie's 1988–1992 tenure with the hard rock group Tin Machine is excluded. The set comprises eleven compact discs or 18 LPs.
