Preschoolers Can Walk on the Wild Side With Launch of Zoboomafoo Website

Posted on January 28, 1999

PBS Online has announced Zoboomafoo, a website designed to introduce preschoolers to the world of animals. The website is the online companion to PBS's new daily children's series of the same name, created by and starring wildlife filmmakers and educators Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt.

Set in Animal Junction, an animal watering hole in the middle of the woods, the site closely resembles the look of the television program. With the Kratt Brothers' playful co-star -- a talking Madagascan lemur nicknamed "Zoboo" -- acting as a tour guide, the site incorporates sound and animation to create an imaginative and fun experience for visitors. Other program characters are also present throughout the site to help guide children during their visit.

"The website gives us the opportunity to reach out to kids and extend the core activity of the Zoboomafoo television program -- making friends with animals -- to a medium that allows considerable interactivity," said Chris Kratt. "Through interactive game play, we hope to expand preschoolers' knowledge and understanding of the animals they love, and exercise their problem-solving abilities along the way."

PBS Online, PBS's site on the World Wide Web, produces high-quality Web programming as it pioneers the convergence of television and the Internet. PBS Online features more than 65,000 pages of content as well as companion Web sites for more than 300 PBS programs and specials. The Zoboomafoo website is accessible through the PBS Kids neighborhood, the most popular area on PBS Online.