Top 4 Moments of 2024

As we close out 2024 and look forward to the new year, all of us at FableVision want to take a moment to reflect on and celebrate the remarkable year we’ve had. We’re extremely proud of the achievements, milestones, and fun times spent with friends and partners. Before we celebrate all the possibilities that come in the new year, here’s our top moments from 2024!

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A Very Shiny Year

FableVision’s Gary Goldberger and Liz Newbury of the Wilson Center accepting the award for The Plastic Pipeline at G4C!

2024 was extra sparkly as SEVEN of our collaborations garnered awards. From groundbreaking educational platforms to innovative sustainability projects, our work is recognized for it’s creativity, impact, and social good. Here are just some highlights

• Anthem Awards Silver in Education, Art & Culture - Education or Literacy Platform Product, Innovation, or Service for Nunaka: My Village (Chugachmiut) 

• Anthem Awards Bronze in Responsible Technology - Education or Literacy Platform Product, Innovation, or Service for Give As We Grow (GivingTuesday and Phillips Foundation)

• Anthem Awards Bronze in Responsible Technology - Film, Video, Television or Show for Heroes of Zero (Power of Zero)

• International Serious Play Award, Gold for GASHA GO! World (Georgia Public Broadcasting and GaDOE)

• GEE! Award Winner (Informal Learning): GASHA GO! World (Georgia Public Broadcasting and GaDOE)

• Stevie Awards, Bronze, K-12: MathBee (Stride/K12)

• G4C Awards, Best in Environmental Impact Winner for The Plastic Pipeline (The Wilson Center)

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Red Carpet Rolled Out

We hosted a few star-studded studio events in 2024! 

Creative Juices

In July, we kicked off the summer fun with our annual Creative Juices art show open house at the studio! The event featured original works of art created by staff and studio friends, a live band, and lots of laughs. 

Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Reception

This past fall the NCSS Conference was just down the street from us, what better opportunity to host a FableVision Studios reception?! We had lots of new faces in the studio and some old friends too. 

TLC Studios Opening

The Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning, and Creativity recently debuted their latest offering: their brand new brick-and-mortar location, TLC Studios & Media Lab: Innovation & Creativity Center. To kick off its grand opening, partners, educators, and friends were invited to explore the space for themselves! 

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In Good Company

We have the best clients in the world. Our partners work with us to find creative solutions for complex challenges. Here are just a few of our big collaborations from the year.

Our collaboration with IGDILab on a new PreK storybook assessment brought us to the Gates Foundation! The platform captures key developmental domains in ways that prioritize equitable outcomes and moves away from harmful historical assessment traditions.

Nickelodeon and audiyo-yo’s launch of the Dora’s Aventuras podcast features rockin’ music, sound-based minigames, and exciting stories that inspire and entertain. Every day is an Aventura when you’re with Dora!

The Heroes of Zero continues to garner much-deserved recognition in various award competitions this year. The animated series, created with the Power of Zero, teaches 5-8-year-olds the skills needed for an increasingly online world. 

Stride/K12’s Learning Hub holds two collaborations with FableVision. The ELA Village world acts as a virtual lobby to their existing minigames and MathBee gameplay engages learners to solidify their math skills.

The National Gallery of Art’s Paint ‘n’ Play interactive, developed by FableVision, invites visitors to learn about the art around them by digitally creating their own.

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smart Cookies

Who us? You betcha! Our team traveled near and far to share our knowledge, best practices, and stories from behind the production curtain.

FableVision’s Anne Richards, Sarah Ditkoff, Kellian Adams Pletcher, and Steph Hoechst representing the studio on this year’s conference circuit!

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And looking ahead to 2025…

We’re hitting the road in the new year! We’ll be sharing insights, meeting new people, and growing our community. We can’t wait for what comes next! 

We’re headed to FETC this January! Check out Sarah Ditkoff, VP of Strategic Partnership’s panel, “How To Integrate Game-Based Learning into Curriculum Design.” She’ll be joined by Stride, Inc’s Chief Learning Officer Niyoka Mccoy, and i2e Edu’s Senior Manager of Customer Engagement Nathan Wells. 

• President Gary Goldberger, VP of Development Rachel Reade Marcus, VP of moonladder Tone Thyne, and VP of audiyo-yo Anne Richards will be attending the Kidscreen Summit in February!

• FableVisionaries are setting off to Austin for SXSW EDU in March.

• Director of G.L.A.M. Innovation Kellian Adams Pletcher’s forthcoming book on building games in museums, published by Rowan and Littlefield, is set to release in 2025! Pulling from Kellian's work with museums and interactive exhibit production, the book provides a guideline for creating digital, analog, or digital/physical games tailored to museum settings. If you just can’t wait, check out Kellian’s article in the fall 2024 publication of AAM: A Museum Community Starts with Friends: Building Open-Source Prototypes for Audience Engagement with Project AMI.

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Let's Rewind: FableVision's Top Moments of 2022

Another year, another reflection! As we eagerly await the clock striking 12 and greeting 2023 with open minds and hearts, we want to review 2022’s highlights that were made possible by our incredible and dedicated staff, partners, and friends. 

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New Year, New Logo

To celebrate our 25th anniversary, FableVision unveiled its new, dynamic logo. Our fresh look pays tribute to the whimsy of our original logo, designed by FableVision founder and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, with a contemporary and playful personality. 

Since one image couldn’t encompass all of FableVision, our spiral O is interchangeable with icon doodles including chicks, planets, aliens, and more. 

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Did You Hear About Our New Audio Division, audiyo-yo? 

With a desire to keep growing, FableVision launched audiyo-yo, our new podcast division dedicated to creating entertaining, engaging, and educational audio content for children and families. 

“Even though audio is a classic form of storytelling going all the way back to radio plays, there’s so much exciting new work happening in this space right now,” said audiyo-yo VP Anne Richards. “There’s a lot of room for innovation and emerging voices to make an impact.”

audiyo-yo celebrated the launch of its first two projects – first, the interactive, voice-activated Pinna Original Yes No Audio Escape series, where listeners co-create the story by answering “yes” or “no” to questions; second, Pinna Original Roasting Vegetables, a short-form audio series full of silly vegetable puns, original beets, and nutritious, delicious characters.

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Exciting Industry Recognition

We are honored to work with amazing partners to represent unique and educational projects. Check out the recognition we’ve received and how we reached a broader audience.

Reception on our roofdeck the night before MuseumExpo

• To help spread the word about audiyo-yo, Kidscreen featured articles about our audio division, how audiyo-yo tackles the future of kids’ podcasts, and audiyo-yo’s podcasts to keep on your radar. 

• Children can now listen to the Pinna Original Yes No Audio Escape series on Pinna’s app and to the Pinna Original podcast Roasting Vegetables in Pinna’s Surprise Box. Kidscreen also took a deeper look into the development of the interactive escape series in its online and print magazine.

NoiseFilter’s Doc Griggs stopped by to record in our studio

• Tone Thyne, FableVision’s VP of Creative, served as showrunner for Spin Master’s Sago Mini Friends, a new animated series for preschoolers on Apple TV+ based on the characters from the Sago Mini Friends app. In the adorable nod to gratitude, four friends play, explore, imagine, and celebrate daily in their joyful town of Sagoville.

• Guru Studio partnered with award-winning TIME Studios to develop FableVision’s new animated series Scoops, created by Tone Thyne. The lighthearted comedy tackles neighborhood news stories featured on best friends Ellerby and Olsen’s home-grown news show.

• FOX8 in New Orleans ran stories about two NoiseFilter animations – clinical trials with Irma Thomas and pediatric vaccines – while interviewing Doc Griggs.

• Animal Antics, created with Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Civics! An American Musical, created in partnership with Maryland Public Television, Maryland Humanities, and Tufts’ Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), were included in the 2022 American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Digital Media list.

Meeting with Georgia Public Broadcasting about GASHA GO!

• Echo Explorers, a born-accessible Cyberchase game created with The WNET Group, THIRTEEN, and Bridge Multimedia, was nominated for Kidscreen 2022 Best Learning App — Branded award in the Kids Digital category.

• Peter H. Reynolds’ book Be You!, published by Scholastic, reached the Top 10 List for The New York Times Children’s Best Sellers — Picture Books.

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Thought Leadership

Sharing our experience and insights while meeting experts in the field helps us strengthen our services and grow our community. Here’s where we presented this year.

Kellian (as Ms. Drizzle) at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

• Sarah Ditkoff, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, presented Civics! An American Musical at the Middle States Council for Social Studies (MSCSS) Annual Conference, the National Council for History Education (NCHE) Conference, and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).

Paul and Peter H. Reynolds at FlipFest

• Director of G.L.A.M (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) Innovation Kellian Adams Pletcher took center stage at MuseumNext’s Museums, Games, & Play Summit to discuss how to learn from past failures in game production and what makes games succeed or fail. She also spoke about trends for museums and play for the Children’s Museum Research Center, China, created and implemented a team-building game at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and taught introduction to game design at Emerson College. 

• Ideas Last, a podcast hosted by Danielle Gillespie, featured FableVision President and Co-Founder Gary Goldberger to discuss the launch of FableVision, how to approach learning in a new way, and his advice for entrepreneurs. 

Peter Stidwill at YOU Belong in STEM

• Peter H. Reynolds and FableVision CEO Paul Reynolds presented about International Dot Day at Flip’s FlipFest at ISTELive22, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Boch Center’s Wang Theatre.

• Anne Richards spoke at the 2022 Games for Change Festival on how podcasts can meet the needs of children, parents, and educators, both now and in the future.

• At the Connected Learning Summit (CLS), Sarah Ditkoff and Gary Goldberger discussed the power of partnerships between academia, for-profits, and nonprofits.

• Executive Producer Peter Stidwill presented on supporting STEM education through small business innovation research at the YOU Belong in STEM National Coordinating Conference hosted by the U.S. Department of Education.

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To Wrap It Up…

It’s not all serious work for us. As we settled into our new space on the bustling and historic Newbury Street, we hosted a reception the night before the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo and a game design discussion with leaders from IDEO and Innova in Peru. Our staff and friends participated in our ninth annual Extra Life to raise funds for the Boston Children’s Hospital. 

Thank you to our wonderful partners and staff – old and new – who help us create incredible projects. Whether you’re stopping by for a meeting, recording in our sound booth, or attending an event, we hope to see you at our studio soon. We can’t wait to see what we accomplish in 2023!

Autumn Adventures: FableVision's 2022 Back-to-School Guide

After a sunny and spectacular summer vacation, returning to school or starting school for the first time can be scary. Whether your family traveled, relaxed, spent time outdoors, or simply had a different schedule, it takes time to shift back to your school and fall routines. To help your children combat the “school scaries” and enjoy the fall, we’ve compiled a list of resources to ensure that they have a fantastic year full of educational and engaging learning. 

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International Dot Day

Empower kids to make their marks by celebrating International Dot Day on September 15-ish. Based on FableVision’s Co-Founder and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot, International Dot Day encourages kids to connect and collaborate as they re-discover the power and potential of creativity in all they do. This year, join Peter at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or watch the livestream of the event. September 15 doesn’t work for you? Here’s a little secret: you can celebrate Dot Day whenever you want! 

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UCAR’s SkySci for Kids

As we gradually add sweaters, scarves, and fuzzy hats to our wardrobe, check out UCAR’s SkySci for Kids to learn about weather, climate, and sky science. With humor, bright colors, and a clear breakdown of topics, FableVision-made animated videos and minigames featuring Yolanda the palm tree, Jeff the yeti, and Snacks the dog will teach kids about tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, and more. Visit the website to encourage your child to fight climate change.

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Cyber Fashion Challenge

Another great way to fight climate change – upcycling! Based on Cyberchase’s season 13 episode “Sustainable By Design,” born-accessible Cyber Fashion Challenge, created in partnership with FableVision, The WNET Group, PBS KIDS, and Bridge Multimedia, teaches 6-8-year-olds about avoiding fast fashion and encouraging the creative reuse of materials. Practice counting and shape identification by creating a sustainable fashion line for Fabio DeZine.

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Museum of Science “EiE Families” Website

Spark your child’s interest in engineering and computer science by checking out the Museum of Science “EiE Families” microsite, built by FableVision, with interactive features to support STEM learning at-home and on-the-go. Play Bye Bye Bug and create a way to lead a ladybug to safety, or explore the other activities, in both English and Spanish. Bonus: if you’re in Boston, take a field trip to the Museum of Science to see science in action.

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“Our State and the Nation: A Georgia Studies Course”

History fanatics – we have a treat for you. FableVision created a host site for Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB)’s online textbook, developing an online experience for eighth-grade students. In the revamped George history course, students can examine images, define vocabulary words, watch videos, and go on virtual field trips from the classroom or the comfort of their homes. 

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Pinna Original Yes No Audio Adventures

One of the best parts of fall? Halloween! Immerse yourself in spooky season by answering yes or no to questions in Escape the Haunted House, a Pinna Original Yes No Audio adventure, produced by FableVision’s audiyo-yo. Listeners are the main characters as they interact with the show and create their own story. If your kids aren’t fans of haunted houses, they can listen to Escape the Marshmallow Dream Forest or Escape the Sinking Ship. The 5-minute, voice-activated audio adventures provide a perfect, creative outlet during car rides, before bedtime, and more.

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Boston vs. Bullies Academy for Internet Champions

Join Bobby the Badger and his friends Ivy, Jordan, and Felix to score a touchdown, make a basket, and hit a home run with The Sports Museum’s bullying-prevention game. As kids continue to use the internet at younger ages and run into in-person and online bullying, Boston vs. Bullies Academy for Internet Champions, created by FableVision, helps kids navigate tricky situations, make smart choices online, and combat bullying. Learn how to stay safe by checking out the free game.

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“Friendlets” Animated Shorts

Besides stopping bullying, children should also see the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships to avoid abuse, love better, and find true friends. Created in partnership with One Love Foundation, “Friendlets” animated shorts showcase familiar, humorous scenarios to help elementary-aged kids understand the importance of communication and appropriate responses in healthy friendships. Visit One Love’s Education Center for the shorts and associated resources.

We’re All in this Together: “Connecting the Dots” This International Dot Day

International Dot Day is almost here, and we’re looking forward to the festivities! Though Dot Day may look different for many this year, we’re keeping the spirit of this important holiday alive with a remote celebration encouraging everyone to #MakeYourMark no matter where you are in the world.

This global celebration of creativity, courage, and compassion began in 2009 when creative educator Terry Shay introduced his students to FableVision founder and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds’ The Dot, a book celebrating self-discovery and letting your creativity bloom. Since then, Dot Day has been a way for millions of people around the world to connect, collaborate, and celebrate each year.

The theme for this year is “Connecting the Dots!” to show that even when we’re physically apart, “we’re all in this together.” This year is also particularly special because Dot Day 2020 will be held in honor of longtime Dot Connector and Dot Day champion Bill Norris. This year’s remote celebration, “Dots for Light,” will be dedicated to Bill, celebrating the mark he made around the world with his love and creativity. 

In his honor, everyone is invited to join in on the “Dots for Light” activity, which will not only allow families and friends to be connected during these unprecedented times, but also honor the memory of Bill and the light he brought to the world.

Click the image above to download the Instagram template.

Click the image above to download the full page template PDF.

Here’s how you join in:

• 1. Download a template above and create your dot (digital or on the printed sheet).

• 2. Upload a photo or the digital dot to a social media platform. Be sure to tag @dotclubconnect on Twitter, @internationdotday on Instagram, or their Facebook.

• 3. To add your mark to the Dot Day grid, please use the hashtag #InternationalDotDay and #DotsforLight.

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 Are you ready to celebrate International Dot Day 2020? 

To learn more about this year’s Dot Day celebrations and the history of Dot Day, visit the Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning, and Creativity’s blog and register at The Dot Club.

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And don’t miss Skype in the Classroom and Candlewick Press’ virtual Dot Day celebration! Join for a live event and Q&A with Peter.

Event details:
September 16 at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT)

Click here to join.