WordWorld
| WordWorld | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Educational children's television series[1] |
| Created by | Don Moody Jacqueline Moody Peter Schneider Gary Friedman |
| Directed by | Olexa Hewryk |
| Composer | Billy Straus |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 45 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Don Moody Jacqueline Moody Olexa Hewryk Sue Hollenberg |
| Producers | Sue Hollenberg Alia Nakashima |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | PBS Kids |
| Release | September 3, 2007 – January 24, 2011 |
WordWorld is an American CGI animated television series that debuted on PBS Kids and was created by Don Moody, Jacqueline Moody, Peter Schneider and Gary Friedman. WordWorld was produced by The Learning Box and WTTWN National. The series premiered on September 3, 2007 and ended on January 17, 2011 with 45 episodes and 3 seasons.[2]
Premise
The series shows the adventures of a group of animals whose bodies resemble the name of their species.
Cast
- H.D. Quinn as The Narrator, Fly, Duck and Ant
- Lenore Zann as Kangaroo
- George Bailey as Bug, Monkey and Pig
- Daryl Ekroth as Frog
- Mirm Krigel as Bear
- Veronica Taylor as Sheep and Cow
- Marc Thompson as Robot, Bee, Shark and Turtle
- Meredith Zeitlin as Fish
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
| 1 | 26 | September 3, 2007 | December 1, 2008 | PBS Kids (U.S.) | |
| 2 | 14 | February 13, 2009 | December 28, 2009 | ||
| 3 | 5 | October 4, 2010 | January 17, 2011 | ||
Season 1 (2007–2008)
| No. In Series | No. In Season | Title | Original Air Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Runaway O/Happy Birthday, Dog!" | September 3, 2007 | |
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Runaway O: When Sheep and Bear open Cat’s box of “O’s,” one rolls away, sending them on a madcap chase to catch it before Cat wakes up. Build a Word: BOX | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "There's an Ant in Every Giant/Chef Sheep" | September 4, 2007 | |
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There's an Ant in Every Giant: Tiny ant is tired of being the smallest WordFriend in WordWorld! When he adds “GI” to his name, he becomes a GIANT and soon learns that being small isn’t so bad after all! Build a Word: ant | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Rocket to the Moon/The Birds" | September 5, 2007 | |
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Rocket to the Moon: Frog thinks that in order to build a big rocket he needs big, uppercase letters. But when he gets stranded on the moon with the Little Piggies, he learns that lowercase letters are just as useful as uppercase ones. Build a Word: ROCKET | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Mystery of the Disappearing Pie/Duck's Family Reunion" | September 6, 2007 | |
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The Mystery of the Disappearing Pie: The pie Pig baked for Bear is missing! But have no fear…Detective Sheep is ready to help her WordFriends follow the letter clues and solve the mystery of the disappearing pie! Build a Word: BEAR | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "Sh-Sh-Shark!/Dog Wants to Play Ball" | September 13, 2007 | |
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Sh-Sh-Shark!: Shark is misunderstood. Everyone is afraid of him and won’t even give him a chance to prove he’s friendly. Everyone but Duck, that is, who doesn’t know that the letters S and H together make the ‘sh’ sound and, therefore, doesn’t know who Shark is. When Duck introduces his new WordFriend to the gang, Duck learns a lesson about the ‘sh’ sound, while everyone else learns that acceptance is an important part of friendship. Build a Word: SHOE | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Pies, Pies, Pies!/Waterlogged" | September 14, 2007 | |
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Pies, Pies, Pies!: When Pig promises to make a pie for everyone in WordWorld, he learns a hard lesson about keeping promises and sharing. Fortunately, Pig also learns about the letter S and how it can turn “pie” into “pies.” Build a Word: PIES | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "Dog's Camping Adventure/V is for Vacation" | September 17, 2007 | |
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Dog's Camping Adventure: Dog is so excited! Pig and Frog are taking him on his first camping trip! While Pig and Frog are supposed to be the brave camping “experts,” it is Dog who overcomes his fear and finds the lost letters to their tent in the dark forest. But who’s that peeking out from behind a tree? Build a Word: TENT | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Snug as a Bug/Nightlight" | September 18, 2007 | |
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Snug as a Bug: Bug can’t sleep, and until he does, his favorite neighbor Frog can’t sleep either! Bug knows he has to be “snug as a bug in a…” but he can’t remember the rest of the rhyme. So Frog and Bug head off on a nighttime hunt of words that rhyme with “bug”-and wake up half their WordFriends in the process! Build a Word: RUG | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Duck's First Sleepover/One Hat Fits All" | October 29, 2007 | |
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Duck's First Sleepover: Duck attends his first sleep-over party but he’s nervous about not sleeping in his nest for the first time. After a long night of fun games his friends calm his anxiety by building him a soft, fluffy nest. Build a Word: BED | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Dancing Dog/Pig's Big Moonlight Feast" | November 19, 2007 | |
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Dancing Dog: It’s the day of the Word World Concert and no one is more excited than Dog – he loves music. Sadly, he can’t play an instrument. With the help of his good friend Bear, Dog Discovers that anyone can make music! Build a Word: DRUM | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Boppin' with the Bug Band/Shuffleword" | November 26, 2007 | |
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Boppin' with the Bug Band: Ant is having a band showcase on his radio show and while Bug, Fly and Bee have some really good music, they need a lot of help with their lyrics. Frog teaches the Bug Band all about rhyming and they eventually give a fantastic performance. Build a Word: BELL | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "W Drought/Princess Sheep" | January 31, 2008 | |
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W Drought: It’s a hot summer day and all the WordFriends are using water to stay cool. But all the letter Ws start to disappear, and you can’t have “water” without the letter W! Sheep leads the gang in the hunt to discover just who’s causing the W drought. Build a Word: WATER | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "Radio Read-a-Thon/Robots to the Rescue!" | February 15, 2008 | |
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Radio Read-a-Thon: Duck asks Frog to read his favorite book on Ant’s radio station because he can’t read it himself. But when Frog’s tongue gets tangled in knots, Duck realizes that he doesn’t need to know how to read to be able to look at pictures and tell a great story. Build a Word: BOOK | ||||
| 14 | 14 | "Pl-Pl-Plane/Mail Mix Up" | March 3, 2008 | |
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Pl-Pl-Plane: Frog and the Bug Band are headed to have some fun on the beach, but not everything goes as Frog had planned. Frog loses the letters “PL” from his plane and must search through the jungle to find them. After some crazy jungle adventures (including a run-in with a giant Frog-kissing plant), Frog realizes that fun doesn’t always have to be planned! Build a Word: PLANE | ||||
| 15 | 15 | "Pig's Present/Tick Tock Space Clock" | March 21, 2008 | |
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Pig's Present: It’s Pig’s birthday and his nephews, the Three Little Pigs, are making him a secret present. Although Pig promises not to peek, his curiosity about his present gets the better of him…and wreaks havoc all over WordWorld. Build a Word: JET Will Pig ever learn to be patient? | ||||
| 16 | 16 | "Castles in the Sea/Get Your Coat" | April 7, 2008 | |
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Castles in the Sea: While playing in the sand on the beach, Duck and Shark discover the perfect home for Shark: a sand castle! But why, oh why, does it disappear every night while Shark is sleeping? When the WordFriends try to hunt down the castle thief, they learn about tides and waves…from a singing Crab. Build a Word: CASTLE | ||||
| 17 | 17 | "Superhero Sheep/Pirate Ship" | April 8, 2008 | |
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Superhero Sheep: Sheep becomes Word World’s first superhero, saving the day with the letter “S”! Duck is eager to be her trusty sidekick, but Sheep repeatedly points out that “superheroes don’t need help.” But Sheep learns that everyone needs help sometimes when she gets stuck on top of Pig’s barn and it’s up to Duck to save her. Build a Word: SLIDE | ||||
| 18 | 18 | "Playing Spies/Wee Little Whale" | May 5, 2008 | |
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Playing Spies: When Sheep and Duck think that Dog has a secret, they decide to play “spy” to figure out the mystery. As they secretly watch Dog, they discover he wants to build a word with the “oo” sound. But will they be caught before they can guess Dog’s secret? Build a Word: POOL | ||||
| 19 | 19 | "The Race to Mystery Island/A Star is Born" | May 6, 2008 | |
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The Race to Mystery Island: Pig and Frog are trying to out-do each other. Their competition results in a big race to Mystery Island. While each WordFriend builds himself several words to thwart his competitor along the way, Pig and Frog both finally come to realize that the only way they’ll succeed is to work together. Build a Word: BOAT | ||||
| 20 | 20 | "Back on Track/The Rainbow Birthday Cake" | May 23, 2008 | |
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Back on Track: While looking through his telescope, Frog notices that Kangaroo’s mail train is headed straight for a broken track! He has to rely on BEAR and her tiny new tricycle to get him there to fix the track on time. And if the tricycle isn’t tiny enough, Dog, Duck, and Ant and all his cousins climb on board to lend a hand. Will they make it in time? Build a Word: TRACK | ||||
| 21 | 21 | "Bit by Bit/Ride 'em, CowBear!" | June 23, 2008 | |
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Bit by Bit: It is Monkey’s birthday, and a sick Frog entrusts Duck and Bug to take his present-a banana-to Monkey’s birthday party for him. In their enthusiasm to get to the party, Duck and Bug accidentally break the banana into letters…and they don’t know how to rebuild it! It’s just too big a word. Fortunately Elephant knows a thing or two about big words, and teaches them to build the banana back, bit by bit, based on the three syllables in the word. Build a Word: BANANA | ||||
| 22 | 22 | "Play Ball!/M is for Map" | June 24, 2008 | |
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Play Ball!: The WordFriends play an exciting game of baseball, but Robot has never played before. With some practice, and a lot of encouragement from his WordFriends, Robot learns the game and turns into a slugging machine! Build a Word: BALL | ||||
| 23 | 23 | "Flying Ant/The Dancing Duck Bonanza" | July 7, 2008 | |
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Flying Ant: WordWorld is all abuzz-today is the Insect Air Show! All the bugs in WordWorld take to the sky to show off their flying skills. All the insects, that is, except Ant, who can’t fly. But Ant is a smart, industrious WordFriend, and with the help of his best pal Pig, he finds just the right word to give him the lift he needs to be the hit of the show. Build a Word: KITE | ||||
| 24 | 24 | "The Lost Letter L/Catch that C!" | August 18, 2008 | |
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The Lost Letter L: When Duck accidentally breaks the L off Frog’s lamp, he decides not to tell Frog. Instead, he’ll just fix it himself. Although Bug and Dog try to help, things spiral out of control, and soon Duck has broken a lamp, a lever and even Frog’s log! Duck learns that everyone makes mistakes and admitting them sooner rather than later can make a big difference. Build a Word: LOG | ||||
| 25 | 25 | "A Kooky Spooky Halloween/Sheep's Halloween Costume" | October 6, 2008 | |
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A Kooky Spooky Halloween: The WordFriends get their share of scares the night before Halloween, when Pig sleepwalks and everyone thinks he’s a ghost! Build a Word: BAG Sheep's Halloween Costume: It’s Halloween-Sheep’s favorite day of the year. Sheep likes nothing more than to dress up, so she always goes out of her way to make herself a special costume. But what will she do when her WordFriends need pieces of her costume for their own costumes? Build a Word: DUST | ||||
| 26 | 26 | "The Christmas Star/A Christmas Present for Dog" | December 1, 2008 | |
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The Christmas Star: It's the night before Christmas and Frog needs a star to hang on his Christmas tree. Duck thinks this will be the perfect present for Frog, and tries to lasso one out of the sky for him. Try as he might, Duck is unable to catch a star for Frog, and cries himself to sleep. But while he sleeps, someone leaves him a wonderful present: the letters S-T-A-R… Build a Word: STAR | ||||
Season 2 (2009)
| No. In Series | No. In Season | Title | Original Air Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | "My Fuzzy Valentine/Love, Bug" | February 13, 2009 | |
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My Fuzzy Valentine: When SHEEP decides she wants to make a special Valentine song for her pal BEAR, she has runs into trouble finding just the right rhyme to finish her song. With the help of FLY, she discovers the perfect rhyme and makes BEAR a Valentine song with real heart. Build a Word: HEART | ||||
| 28 | 2 | "Duck Saves Spider’s Web/Caterpillar Gets An Home" | March 31, 2009 | |
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Duck Saves Spider’s Web: When DUCK accidentally crashes into Spider’s web and breaks it apart into letters, he has to go about finding the letters to fix it. But he doesn’t know what letters are in the word ‘web’! With ELEPHANT’s help, he learns that sometimes if you can sound out a word, you can figure out what letters you need to build it. Build a Word: WEB | ||||
| 29 | 3 | "Bugs to the Rescue!/Sheep's First Bike Ride" | April 13, 2009 | |
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Bugs to the Rescue!: ANT and Dog build a hot-air balloon and Dog accidentally floats away in it! ANT elicits the help of his insect WordFriends BUG, BEE and FLY to rescue Dog and save the day. Build a Word: BALLOON | ||||
| 30 | 4 | "Duck's Hiccups/Achoo!" | May 11, 2009 | |
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Duck's Hiccups: When DUCK drinks down a glass of water too quickly, he gets the hiccups for the first time ever! His WordFriends try every trick in the book to help him, but which cure will work? Build a Word: GLASS | ||||
| 31 | 5 | "Get Well Soon Soup/Mmm-Mmm-Milk!" | May 12, 2009 | |
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Get Well Soon Soup: LOGLINE: When ANT gets sick, PIG tries to take care of him by making his special Get-Well-Soon Soup. It has all the letters in the alphabet in it, so PIG can build any word that ant needs to feel better. PIG just has to figure out what that word is! Build a Word: BED | ||||
| 32 | 6 | "Get Set for ET/Duck Plays the Piano" | June 15, 2009 | |
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Get Set for ET: While sky-writing in his jet, DUCK accidentally makes a cloud DRAGON! Thinking it’s a real dragon, DUCK and the BUGs set out to “catch” the dragon and “save” WordWorld. But how do you catch something made from clouds? Build a Word: JET | ||||
| 33 | 7 | "Shark's First Day of School/Shark's First Loose Tooth" | July 13, 2009 | |
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Shark's First Day of School: It’s the first day of school for the youngest WordFriends, but SHARK is afraid to go. With the help of his good buddy DUCK, and some gentle encouragement from their teacher Cat, SHARK’s fear turns to confidence, and by day’s end he’s at the head of the class. Build a Word: FLAG | ||||
| 34 | 8 | "Duck at Bat/You Can Never Have Too Many "OO"s" | July 14, 2009 | |
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Duck at Bat: DUCK loses the letter B to his baseball bat just before the big game is supposed to start. He tries to build other words to hit the ball–MAT, HAT–but soon learns that you need the right letter with the right sound to build the right word…and hit a homer! Build a Word: BAT | ||||
| 35 | 9 | "The Best Nest/Duck's Family Reunion" | September 7, 2009 | |
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The Best Nest: It’s DUCK’s turn at show and tell at school, and he wants to bring the thing he loves the best: his nest! But when the nest breaks apart into letters, will DUCK be able to retrieve them all in time? Build a Word: NEST | ||||
| 36 | 10 | "Bed Bugs/Snug as a Bug" | September 8, 2009 | |
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Bed Bugs: When the BUGs accidentally break FROG’s brand new bed, they scramble to put it back together and make things right. Just one problem. They can’t tell the letters “b” and “d” apart! Can they figure out which letter is which – and rebuild FROG’s bed – before FROG returns home? Build a Word: BED | ||||
| 37 | 11 | "Totally Terrific Duck/A Star is Born" | October 12, 2009 | |
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Totally Terrific Duck: Totally Terrific Duck – BEAR is going to paint everyone’s picture today, and DUCK wants to look “totally terrific” for his portrait. Not to worry! FROG and SHEEP help him build a tie, top hat and tutu – because if you want to look totally terrific you need the letter T. A tie, top hat and tutu? Now that’s one totally, totally, TOTALLY terrific looking DUCK! Build a Word: TIE | ||||
| 38 | 12 | "Dog's Having a Party/Dog Wants to Play Ball" | November 6, 2009 | |
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Dog's Having a Party: Dog’s House Party – Dog and DUCK want to throw a house party at Dog’s house. But all they have is the letter H, and they don’t know what to do with it! With the help of SHEEP they soon realize that “H” is a fabulous letter; with it they can make hotdogs, hats, hula-hoops and a great party indeed. Hurray! Build a Word: HORN | ||||
| 39 | 13 | "Welcome Home, Duck/The Lost Letter L" | November 10, 2009 | |
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Welcome Home, Duck: FROG, excited about DUCK’s return from a long vacation, makes a “Welcome Home” banner to hang over DUCK’s nest. Problem is, the dock connecting FROG’s log to DUCK’s nest has broken, so FROG has to find another way across. FROG tries building a sock and a block to replace the dock, but it’s not until he builds a rock that he can land on, halfway across the pond, that he’s able to get across the water to DUCK’s nest. Build a Word: ROCK | ||||
| 40 | 14 | "Bear's Bed Sled/Sh-Sh-Shark!" | December 28, 2009 | |
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Bear's Bed Sled: FROG, excited about DUCK’s return from a long vacation, makes a “Welcome Home” banner to hang over DUCK’s nest. Problem is, the dock connecting FROG’s log to DUCK’s nest has broken, so FROG has to find another way across. FROG tries building a sock and a block to replace the dock, but it’s not until he builds a rock that he can land on, halfway across the pond, that he’s able to get across the water to DUCK’s nest.n | ||||
Season 3 (2010–2011)
| No. In Series | No. In Season | Title | Original Air Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 1 | "A String’s the Thing/J-J-Jelly" | October 4, 2010 | |
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A String’s the Thing: After Duck accidentally turns on Frog’s new cake frosting machine, the WordFriends must find the right “ing” word to stop it from covering WordWorld in delicious frosting. Build a Word: STRING | ||||
| 42 | 2 | "Hide and Seek/Kite Flight" | October 5, 2010 | |
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Hide and Seek: The WordFriends play a game of Hide and Seek where they have to hide behind WordThings that end in “ake.” The bugs build a RAKE, and Pig builds a CAKE. But Shark is so big that it’s always hard for him to find a good hiding place. Time is running out! What “ake” word is just right for Shark to build? Build a Word: LAKE | ||||
| 43 | 3 | "The Really Red Ruby/Firefighters to the Rescue" | November 1, 2010 | |
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The Really Red Ruby: The WordFriends play a game of Hide and Seek where they have to hide behind WordThings that end in “ake.” The bugs build a RAKE, and Pig builds a CAKE. But Shark is so big that it’s always hard for him to find a good hiding place. Time is running out! What “ake” word is just right for Shark to build? Build a Word: ROCK | ||||
| 44 | 4 | "Think in the Rink/X Marks the Spot" | November 3, 2010 | |
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Think in the Rink: Duck and Dog want to join Sheep and Frog in their ice skating show. Although Frog warns Duck and Dog be careful as they practice, the enthusiastic duo get carried away and carelessly break the ice skating rink. Will Duck and Dog think up a good solution to the problem before the show begins? Build a Word: RINK | ||||
| 45 | 5 | "Race to the Spaceship/Sandbox Surprise" | January 17, 2011 | |
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Race to the Spaceship: Frog must help Robot get to the top of WordWorld’s highest mountain and build a spaceship in time to play spaceship tag. By adding one word to another, the WordFriends learn how to make a car, boat and bike go faster. Build a Word: SPACESHIP | ||||
Reception
Critical
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series 4 out of 5 stars; saying that, “The show is perfectly suited for preschoolers' learning level, and it will entertain them as it reinforces their knowledge of letters, sounds, and simple words. With its imaginative design and with the various font styles used to create the letter-based objects, the WordWorld package is delightful enough to draw in parents almost as readily as kids.”[1]
Awards
2009 Emmy Award Winner Outstanding Children's Animated Program Outstanding Writing in Animation[3]
2008 Emmy Award Winner Outstanding Achievement in Main Title[3]
Three 2008 Parents’ Choice Awards: Gold Welcome to WordWorld DVD Rocket to the Moon DVD WordWorld Television Series[3]
Creative Child Magazine – Creative Toys Awards 2008 Preferred Choice Award: Barn Bucket Set 2008 Seal of Excellence Award: Pull-Apart Plush[3]
2004 Preferred Choice Award: Pull Apart Plush[3]
2008 Toy Wishes Magazine All-Star Award WordPuzzle with Sound: Duck's Beach Party[3]
Interactive Media Awards 2007 Best in Class: PBS Kids WordWorld Website[3]
References
- ^ a b Ashby, Emily (3 September 2007). "WordWorld Review". Common Sense Media.
- ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 344. ISBN 9781476672939.
- ^ a b c d e f g "awards". wordworld.com.
External links
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| Upcoming |
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| See also | |
- American children's animated comedy television series
- American children's animated musical television series
- PBS original programming
- American computer-animated television series
- Reading and literacy television series
- 2000s American animated television series
- 2010s American animated television series
- 2007 American television series debuts
- 2011 American television series endings
- Television series by WTTW
- American preschool education television series
- Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program winners
- American television shows based on children's books
- PBS Kids shows
- American animated television shows featuring anthropomorphic characters