The producers of “Cocomelon” have heard your concerns. But Moonbug, the studio behind the popular preschool series, doesn’t buy into the common critique that its programming is overstimulating or addictive.
As such, Moonbug recently announced a partnership with UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers, a nonprofit research center focused on children’s entertainment. As exclusively reported by Variety, the center analyzed the company’s slate and practices alongside peer-reviewed research on early childhood learning before developing a set of four core learning principles to be applied across “Cocomelon,” “Blippi,” “Little Angel” and more. Mooonbug published those principles on its website on Tuesday, hoping to prove a commitment to healthy and educational content.
“Once you dig into the work that we do — which you’re welcome to do — you’ll see our writers care deeply about children’s entertainment,” Rich Hickey, Moonbug’s chief creative officer, tells Variety. “A lot of them are caregivers and parents with tiny kids themselves. We can’t do much if there are other opinions that are a little bit noisy, but we think we’re super diligent throughout our process.”
The four principles — navigating real-life moments, modeling positive relationships, promoting learning through play and telling authentically inclusive stories — are explained in detail in the new publication on Moonbug’s site alongside explanations of their importance to child development and guidelines for their implementation.
