Do you have a major science lover? Chances are, they’re already big fans of Netflix’s Ada Twist, Scientist. Now they can take their love of the curious and smart girl to the next level.
West Elm has just dropped the WE x Netflix: Ada Twist collab and it’s everything you need to outfit your kiddos’ room in science style. With everything from doodle-patterned sheets and wallpaper, to a graph paper rug and supersized lap desk, kids will definitely be channeling their inner Ada.
Currently the collection is made up of 12 items, all available for pre-order. Prices range from $14.50 to $299 and include crib sheets, wallpaper, a rug, chair, lamp and more.
What do you get when you combine an award-winning children’s book series and a powerhouse producer? An awesome new kid’s show on Netflix! Ada Twist, Scientist is coming to Netflix on September 28 and we have the details on what to expect!
The show is produced by Chris Nee, the creator of Doc McStuffins and Vampirina, in collaboration with Higher Ground, the production company of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. It follows the adventures of eight-year-old Ada and her two best friends, Rosie Revere and Iggy Peck. Ada is determined to discover the truth about absolutely everything and the show focuses on scientific discovery, collaboration and friendship. Watch the official trailer right here!
Today Netflix Kids also released the official cast list for the show, with some big names popping up! Taye Diggs will be Dad Twist, Susan Kelechi Watson will be Mom Twist and Amanda Christine will play Ada. Each episode clocks in at about 26 minutes and there will be six lined up to watch this fall. Episode 3 is available to watch as a sneak peek right now!
The Ada Twist book series were originally inspired by historical women scientists like Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie. The original book is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller. It champions diversity and brings girl power to science picture books. In the book and the series, Ada discovers that her questions might not always have answers, but that curiosity is key.
It’s the country’s most trusted test kitchen and a cooking show mainstay on public television. The YouTube channel has over a million subscribers and thousands of videos that show how to make virtually anything. And now America’s Test Kitchen is launching a new YouTube channel just for kids, with two distinct series to inspire young chefs everywhere.
“Wicked Good” is out now with seven episodes that follow a formerly evil scientist as he learns to cook and use his powers for good. He’s enlisted the help of 13-year-old granddaughter and recipe tester Zoe Bates, but it won’t be easy. Can Zoe help him drop his evil scientist instincts and whip up foolproof creations? One thing’s for sure, zany mistakes are sure to happen along the way!
“Test Kitchen Kids Takeover” will spotlight the young chefs of America’s Test Kitchen Kids and launch on June 9. Each week, kids will share cooking tips, recipes and demonstrate the real-life mishaps that are part of the cooking process. Don’t forget the dance parties!
“By launching our first YouTube channel for kids, we’re hoping to continue to foster a community in which children feel empowered and excited to take the lead in the kitchen,” explained Editor in Chief Molly Birnbaum, America’s Test Kitchen Kids. “The channel is funny and warm, showing kids that cooking isn’t just attainable but also FUN—a great way to express their personalities and see other kids just like them. It’s the perfect expansion on our successful cookbook line, free website full of recipes, and podcast.”
You can start watching (and cooking) along now! The YouTube channel drops following America’s Test Kitchen Kids’ New York Times bestselling cookbook, The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs. For even more fun in the kitchen, you can subscribe to The Young Chef’s Club, a monthly kit that combines cooking and science, or listen to the Mystery Recipe podcast that breaks down the wild sides of food. Bon appetit!
Literacy leader Amira recently announced the launch of its brand-new app—Read with Amira. Backed by 20 years of research from Carnegie Mellon, the app uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help kiddos become better readers!
Targeted for children ages five through 10, Read with Amira provides real-time reading feeding that may boost a young child’s literacy level. If your kiddo is suffering from a school reading lag or just needs extra help with their literacy-based lessons, this app is a tech-friendly helper to explore.
photo courtesy of Amira
The app listens to your child as they read, checking for correct pronunciation. Read with Amira then provides real-time feedback, correcting your child when needed. Not only does the app help your child as they read, it provides you with detailed feedback on the correct number of words read per minute, what your child is reading and how many times each week they read.
Mark Angel, CEO and Co-Founder of Amira Learning, said in a press release, “Closing the literacy gap among children in the U.S. will increase academic engagement in school and at home for children.” Angel continued, “Amira is focusing on correcting early literacy issues by combining the science behind how young people learn to read and recent developments in AI to create a virtual reading scientist for every teacher and every student.”
Learn more about Read with Amira and get started with the app right here!
Disney Junior recently announced the debut of a brand-new animated adventure series—and it’s over-the-top egg-citing! The Chicken Squad will premiere on Fri., May 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Disney Junior and DisneyNOW series premiere will feature two back-to-back episodes.
The series chronicles the comedic adventures of three chicken sibs: Coop, Sweetie and Little Boo. Based on the popular children’s books penned by Doreen Cronin, The Chicken Squad tells the tale of the young chips and their problem-solving adventures.
Teaming up with rescue dog mentor, Captain Tully, the chicken stars of the show help their animal pals and model good community helper behaviors. Each episode includes two 11-minute stories and includes the Chicken Charge anthem song.
Along with the anthem, the episodes also include at least one new original song. The songs range the musical gamut, including everything from R&B to country.
The cast includes Yvette Nicole Brown (Captain Tully), Ramone Hamilton (Coop), Gabriella Graves (Sweetie),and Maxwell Simkins (Little Boo). Recurring guest voice cast members include Tony Hale as Frazz, a nervous squirrel, Jane Lynch as Dr. Dirt, a forensic scientist snail, Melissa Rauch as Dinah, the chicks’ mother, Sean Giambrone as Riley, a pack rat, Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Lt. Scruffy, a retired firehouse dog and Melissa Villaseñor and Zack Pearlman as Wheeze and Snick, mischievous raccoon sibs.
Watch a preview of The Chicken Squad on Disney Junior’s YouTube channel here!
Have you ever had over 100+ Stem experts in your home? Cue the confetti: City of STEM, Greater LA’s biggest science program, officially kicks off with a virtual, free, all-online event Saturday, March 27th! This kick-off event has over 21 hours of content! With over 100 STEM partners including major museums, universities and STEM businesses, scientists, engineers and more, this event is not to be missed. This family-friendly event will have sessions focusing on Women in STEM, Emphasizing Green Energy and engineering solutions for a sustainable future. There is even a Spanish Language Channel to help deliver this curriculum to as much of LA as possible! Read on to learn more about this incredible event.
The Future of STEM: 100+ STEM experts in your home in one day—free online festival, check the website for YouTube streaming details.
A Free Event Featuring the Hottest in Education: STEM
This free event is designed to help elevate access to the STEM curriculum, inspire the community to consider careers in STEM, and experience the rich resources available in Greater Los Angeles. The launch event provides an easy way for anyone and everyone to log on safely from home and get hours of science delivered to their living room! There will be a mix of topics, hands-on activities using simple at-home items, and amazing behind-the-scenes footage. All brought to you by experts that are living right in Los Angeles.
What Makes STEM So Special
STEM encompasses so many different career applications and unique ways to understand our world. It is also so crucial to the future of the city. Through this event, viewers will be able to gain exposure to exclusive experiences and ask questions LIVE to experts through the chat function. So, your young learner or budding scientist can have the benefit of not only direct instruction but also interactive experiences.
The Future of STEM: 100+ STEM experts in your home in one day—free online festival, check the website for YouTube streaming details.
Who Can Benefit?
This event is ideal for families with kids in grades K-12, and has programming in both English and Spanish. The program's goal is to create The Future of Stem in Los Angeles. City of Stem wants to inspire families to experience STEM, and maybe event consider a possible STEM career! There are no products to purchase, just experiences to enjoy. Education for many kids in greater LA has been challenging this year, and this free event is in an excellent way to encourage, educate and have fun with learning!
The Future of STEM: 100+ Stem experts in your home in one day—free online festival, check the website for YouTube streaming details.
One of Japan’s top baby books is coming to America! Author and scientist Dr. Kazuo Hiraki created a colorful book that will grab your kiddo’s attention and may even settle your crying baby!
Moimoi features bold designs that are scientifically proven to hold baby’s attention nearly twice as long other other shapes. The University of Tokyo Baby Lab studied infant eye motions and brain activity. The result was a colorful children’s board book, featuring shapes, sounds, and more.
photo courtesy of The Experiment
What is moimoi? Moi, pronounced like koi, is a nonsense word that will quickly become one of your baby’s fave sounds. Not only will the bullseye-like colorful shapes completely engage your child’s attention, Moimoi may soothe them too.
This high-contrast children’s book has already sold over 500,000 copies in Japan. Moimoi—Look at Me! (written by Kazuo Hiraki and illustrated by Jun Ichihara) makes its American debut Mar. 30, 2021. The board book for babies retails for $7.95. Visit The Experiment Publishing for more information on the Moimoi series and pre-orders or visit Amazon.
If your littles enjoy Moimoi—Look at Me!, Moimoi, Where Are You? will make its grand debut Spring of 2022.
There is much research emphasizing the benefits animals have on children with autism. A new study from the University of Missouri has found that cats may help increase empathy while decreasing anxiety for children with autism. These findings are beneficial for families considering adopting a companion animal for their child.
Gretchen Carlisle, a research scientist at the MU Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine studies the benefits that companion animals can have for families.
“Previous research has shown parents of kids with autism are more stressed than parents of kids with any other disability,” Carlisle said. “If a family is considering adopting a companion animal, we want to provide the best evidence-based information possible so they can make an informed decision, and cats might be more beneficial than dogs to some families.”
In the study, families that had children with autism aged 6-14 were recruited through the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders and monitored after adopting a cat into their home. The cats were screened for temperament to ensure they were calm and a good match for the family. Not only did the families report an instant bond between their child with autism and their new cat, but the bond remained strong over the course of time, and the child’s anxiety decreased over time.
“We found the main benefit of these companion animals is their unconditional acceptance,” Carlisle said. “Some children with autism may have sensory issues or be sensitive to loud noises, so a cat may be an appropriate, comforting pet for some families due to their calming presence.”
Helping families make the best choice for their kids has motivated Carlisle’s research with companion animals, and the study’s findings highlight the benefits of human-animal interaction.
“As a former pediatric nurse, I have always strived to help children, and one thing I learned is that you need to involve the parents so they can make informed choices for their children,” Carlisle said. “I see pets as a way to enhance wellness, and it feels gratifying to provide assistance to families that have a lot on their plate.”
TIME, TIME for Kids and Nickelodeon have finally announced the winner of the 2020 Kid of the Year and 15-year-old scientist and innovator Gitanjali Rao from Colorado has taken home the prize. The multi-platform initiative has set out to recognize young leaders who are making a positive impact in their communities, and Rao is no exception.
She and other top finalists will be honored during the Kid of the Year TV special hosted by Trevor Noah on Fri. Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. The special will be aired on Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nicktoons and will feature guests stars such as Kristen Bell, Simone Biles, Billie Eilish, Rob Gronkowski, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Hemsworth, Ken Jeong, Angelina Jolie and Malala Yousafzai.
photo: TIME
Rao sat down with Angelina Jolie in an interview to discuss her work with technology. “I don’t look like your typical scientist. Everything I see on TV is that it’s an older, usually white man as a scientist…. My goal has really shifted not only from creating my own devices to solve the world’s problems, but inspiring others to do the same as well. Because, from personal experience, it’s not easy when you don’t see anyone else like you. So I really want to put out that message that anybody can do it. If I can do it, you can do it, and anyone can do it.”
The top five Kid of the Year honorees will receive a cash prize and will serve as a Kid Reporter for TIME for Kids at a Nickelodeon event. You can find more information about the program atKidoftheYear2020.com, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Dec. 14 issue of TIME featuring Gitanjali Rao on newsstands this Fri., Dec. 4.
When presented with a room filled with toys, which one will your baby pick? When a baby reaches for one toy over another, that seemingly random choice is very bad news for those unpicked toys. Your baby has likely decided they don’t like what they didn’t choose.
Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious biases over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, the new Johns Hopkins University finding that even babies engage in this phenomenon demonstrates that this way of justifying choice is intuitive and somehow fundamental to the human experience.
“The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options,” said co-author Alex Silver, a former Johns Hopkins undergraduate who’s now a graduate student in cognitive psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this bias.”
People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards. We like things because we choose them and we dislike things that we don’t choose.
“I chose this, so I must like it. I didn’t choose this other thing, so it must not be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins cognitive scientist specializing in child development. “We justify our choice after the fact.”
This makes sense for adults who must make such choices every day, having to select which toothpaste to purchase or which car to drive. The question, for Feigenson and Silver, was when exactly do people start doing this. They turned to babies, who don’t get many choices so, as Feigenson puts it, are “a perfect window into the origin of this tendency.”
The team brought 10- to 20-month-old babies into the lab and gave them a choice of objects to play with: two equally bright and colorful soft blocks. They set each block far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other — a random choice.
After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick from the toy they didn’t play with the first time, or a brand new toy.
“The babies reliably chose to play with the new object rather than the one they had previously not chosen, as if they were saying, ‘Hmm, I didn’t choose that object last time, I guess I didn’t like it very much,’ ” Feigenson said. “That is the core phenomenon. Adults will like less the thing they didn’t choose, even if they had no real preference in the first place. And babies, just the same, dis-prefer the unchosen object.”
In follow-up experiments, when the researchers instead chose which toy the baby would play with, the phenomenon disappeared entirely. If you take the element of choice away, Feigenson said, the phenomenon goes away.
“They are really not choosing based on novelty or intrinsic preference,” Silver said. “I think it’s really surprising. We wouldn’t expect infants to be making such methodical choices.”
To continue studying the evolution of choice in babies, the lab will next look at the idea of “choice overload.” For adults, choice is good, but too many choices can be a problem, so the lab will try to determine if that is also true for babies.