Learning Resources

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Unveils New Videos for Curious World Service

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 02/02/16

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) has debuted 58 new original videos for its Curious World interactive content service.

"The new video series join Curious World's extensive library, which also includes over 50 original games and almost 600 acquired or internally produced titles and has been growing steadily since its October 2015 launch," according to a news release. "Curious World's material is created by HMH's internal development team of education experts and award-winning creative partners such as Bix Pix and CloudKid, and also includes licensed programming from leading kids' content providers like National Geographic, Storybots, Caspar Babypants, PBS Kids and Young Rembrandts."

The new additions, rolling out over the next six weeks, are part of a half-dozen original short-form series, three of which are live action and three of which are animated. The new series include:

• Moonlight Storytime, an animated series that aims to inspire students to read through classic fables with a modern twist;
• Jingle Bilingual is a collection of animated music videos designed to teach English speakers Spanish vocabulary and Spanish-speaking students English;
• A Rhino Named Paul follows a child-like rhinoceros through music videos as he learns the ropes of childhood from his adopted family;
• Recycled Superheroes aims to encourage imaginary play by teaching students how to make superhero costumes with recycled materials;
• Get Crafty is a how-to series featuring kids giving their own takes on arts and crafts; and
• Let's Go to Work is a series of mini-documentaries profiling the people in students' communities, such as garbage collectors, firefighters and pizza makers.

"Like all of our curated content, our original videos are rooted in the science of learning, built by experts and designed to engage young learners with developmentally appropriate, engaging stories and characters," said Caroline Fraser, vice president of program development and acquisition at HMH, in a prepared statement. "We're committed to ensuring Curious World is an ever-expanding destination for imagination and fun, and we will be adding content of all varieties on an ongoing basis."