Life is like a fruit salad…

…you never know what you’re going to get!  Haha!  Just a little healthy joke there. Anyway, we are cookin’ up some super fab stuff at the Playnormous studio.

It’s big!

It’s amazing!

It’s super fun!

And it’s all new!!

Want to know more?  Well I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait and see. Something new is coming to Playnormous…and it’s HUGE!

Take 2010…action!

They say you’re not official until you’re on YouTube.  I’m not quite sure who “they” are, but regardless, we’ve been lucky to get some pretty amazing Playnormous-related videos over the last two years.  A little press here, a little iMac contest celebration there.  Yep, all in all we’ve very pleased with our video coverage.  The only thing we’ve been missing is a place to put them all.

So, without further ado…I am pleased to announce the launch our very own Playnormous Channel on YouTube!  Take a gander (or a goose) around and let us know what you think.  Want your own Playnormous video added?  Just send us an email at info [at] playnormous [dot] com.  You could be our next Playnormous Channel star!

Playnormous in the suburbs.

Earlier this year we had the honor of becoming a part of the Children’s Museum of Houston family with the addition of Playnormous health games in their PowerPlay exhibit.  We’ve taken it one step further this summer.  Starting July 10, 2010, Playnormous will be a permanent exhibit at The Woodlands Children’s Museum.  That’s right, walk in and be prepared to be amazed with a custom Playnormous-illustrated iMac health game kiosk, posters, and much more!

The grand (and free) re-opening!

Playnormous staff will be at the museum’s official re-opening in Panther Creek on Saturday July 10, 2010 with an innovative fruit and vegetable “petting zoo.” Children will be able to play nutrition and exercise education video games with their families, and players will walk away with a Playnormous balloon.

We donated a hand-illustrated iMac computer as part of the permanent exhibit at the museum. Families can play from a suite of Playnormous health video games about fruit and vegetables, portion size, food groups and aerobic activity.  The award-winning CD-ROM version of the video games is available for purchase by parents wanting to continue the experience at home without using the Internet.

The Woodlands Children’s Museum will reopen on July 10, 2010 at 4774 W. Panther Creek Drive, located at the intersection of Woodlands Parkway and Gosling Road, in The Woodlands, Texas.  Free Admission Open House will take place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, July 10.

Hope to see you there!

Hot, hot, hot!

Can you believe that summer is already here?  For those of you sweating it out already due to high temperatures, we will kindly accept “Duh!” as a great response. Regardless, summer starting means school ending and that means the conclusion of our 2009/2010 Monster iMac Giveaway!

We could not be more pleased with the amazing entries we received during our year long Monster iMac Giveaway.  What an amazing opportunity to give away ten computers to ten well-deserving homes.

For those of you that were too busy working or studying to pay attention to our contest, here’s the 411.  Basically we wanted to give hand-illustrated iMacs to teachers, librarians, and students that are getting healthy the monster way by using Playnormous.  We challenged teachers and librarians around the country to send in their Playnormous stories through blogging, essay writing, photos, and video.  The response was…well…beyond our wildest expectations.

And the winner is…

What this contest taught me is that there are some amazing teachers and librarians out there that are making a huge difference in the lives of kids.  Just check out some of the amazing things our winners did to teach their students about health:

• Broadcast a student-led “Nutrition 101″ news story using health knowledge learned from Playnormous.com.
• Plant a class garden of fruits and vegetables seen in Lunch Crunch.
• Healthy snack challenge to eat healthier snacks at school and home like those seen in Pyramid Pile Up.
• Have a veggie grill out on the school patio.
• Create a healthy foods animation with Animoto.
• Design a lunch activity center and choose from healthy and unhealthy play foods.
• Play online Playnormous health games with a dance pad like the FootPOWR pad from Footgaming.

Please join me in extending a monstrously large “Congratulations” to all of our amazing winners!

Partaaay!

I’m excited to announce that Playnormous is officially a toddler this week. That’s right, it’s been a whole two years since we first launched our website back in May of 2008.  I cannot believe how we’ve grown since then!  Back in May 2008 were were a tiny website with a blog and two health games, Food Fury and Bubble Rubble.  We hadn’t even gotten our first bit of press yet.

Make a wish.

Today we are totally rockin’ with six amazing health games and two new ones on the way.  Who knew the terrible twos could be so cool.  Here’s a list of some of the many things we’ve accomplished since our launch:

• June 29, 2008 - our first bit of Press
• July 21, 2008 - health game Juice Jumble released
• October 8, 2008 - health games Lunch Crunch and Brain Gain released
• October 21, 2008 -  Teacher curriculum available
• November 4, 2008 - Playnormous gets kids.gov seal of approval
• February 3, 2009 - Monster Gear store opens
• April 5, 2009 - Common Sense Media gives Playnormous four stars
• June 19, 2009 - Monster iMac contest is launched
• September 30, 2009 - Playnormous on Facebook and Twitter
• November 3, 2009 - Playnormous wins Web Health Award
• January 9, 2010 - Playnormous added to Children’s Museum of Houston
• January 14, 2010 - Healthy recipes for kids and parents available
  
• February 1, 2010 - Playnormous moves to a new office space
• April 15, 2010 - Playnormous available on CD-ROM

Who could wish for anything more?