YouTube’s popular “Tab Time” series, starring “America’s mom” and Emmy-winning host Tabitha Brown, just got bigger.
Brown and creative studio Kids at Play have announced the launch of the “Tab Time World” app plus an all-new children’s book series and online shop as an expansion of the Emmy-winning young children’s series “Tab Time,” co-created by Brown and Kids at Play founder Jason Berger.
The eBooks and App, developed in partnership with Google Kids Space, will be available for free exclusively on Google Kids Space and Google Play for a limited time. Additionally, the books will be available in the “Tab Time World” app and everywhere eBooks are sold.
“‘Tab Time’ is special to so many of us and expanding keeps our hearts and minds open for love to grow! Parents and kids love smart devices and to give them self-love and learning tools from ‘Tab Time’ in books and apps was in perfect alignment,” Brown says of the new offerings. “I’m excited for families to get to experience it all together! The more we gather with learning and love, the better the world will be! That’s what ‘Tab Time’ is all about and that makes me so excited.”
“The feedback from families of how ‘Tab Time’ has positively impacted their lives has been incredible, and parents are consistently asking us for more ‘Tab Time.’ To me, this means giving parents more accessible tools to help navigate parenting and hopefully further help raise kind and confident adults,” Berger adds. “As a parent with young kids, I get most excited about other parents reading these books with their children during story time at night. The books and app are really good for kids, and I’m proud to put something out into the world that I will let my own kids use.”
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Brown narrates the new interactive comic picture series, which was written by “Tab Time” showrunner Sean Presant and illustrated by “Tab Time” animator Michael Scanlon. The first two books in the series are “Avi to the Rescue” and “Lenny and the Truck-Driving Dinosaurs,” each based on characters from the hybrid live-action/animated series.
Brown notes that upcoming stories in the book series will follow episodes from the YouTube series.
“The stories will piggyback off the episodes. Like when we feel afraid, or when we make a mistake, that’s really an oops-ortunity. We’re helping kids give themselves space and time to grow, learn, respect and love themselves and others,” she says.
“We really wanted the books to be an extension of the show and honed in on ‘Tab Time”s ‘Imagination Land’ and its characters as the source. In creating the books, we used the ‘Tab Time’ team to take a TV approach to a traditional medium, including the familiar voices of our characters, and the results are a wonderful interactive experience for kids,” Berger says. “From a story perspective, the subjects of the first two books — Avi the Avocado and Lenny the Lightning Bug — are incredibly rich characters with a lot of potential for stories that not only provide entertainment, but also learning lessons and discussion topics for kids and parents. We’ve always envisioned spinoffs for ‘Tab Time’ and long-term could easily see animated series with Avi & Lenny.”
The “Tab Time World” app will feature a make-your-own avatar (styled in the vein of the series’ “Imagination Land”), coloring with DJ Khrafty, making music with Avi the Avocado, and going on adventures with Lenny the Lightning Bug. Kids can follow prompts to make videos with avatars, songs and images created in the app, and share creations easily with friends and family.
Additionally, the show has launched an official store on shop.tabtime.tv, featuring “Tab Time” themed backpacks, shirts, hoodies, hats, bibs, onesies, sippy cups, blankets, bags and more.
“The shop is really a response to demand. When we first launched ‘Tab Time,’ parents and kids were creating their own amazing DIY-style costumes and such. So, with the shop, we are providing an official source with quality materials and fun artwork for parents and kids who want to bring the digital world of ‘Tab Time’ to their physical reality,” Berger says.
Tabitha Brown is represented by CAA and Brecheen, Feldman, Breimer, Silver & Thompson, LLP. Jason Berger is represented by UTA, Artists First and Rothenberg, Mohr and Binder, LLP. Sean Presant is repped by Nick Terry at World Builder Entertainment. “Tab Time World” was developed by Kids at Play and Space Inch.
Watch a visual tour about the new “Tab Time World” app below.
