Psycholigist on success of «Woodventures»
11.10.2017
Brand new animated series
«Woodventures» is the new animated series created by our studio. It has become the most watched in the MOOLT application, according to the monthly report. Alexey Ilyin, the head of «Interactive Moolt» learning games application publishing, says, «This has happened before but it’s a huge leap for the series that hasn’t been widely promoted. Plus, it’s the show for the smallest audience, which is a very rare case».
Shortly after the big news, Tlum.ru published a review by Elena Bronina, the head psychologist of the International Psychology Center. She made an expert review of the animated series and explained the use of it for children. Here are the key points she touched upon.
At the beginning of life, a child learns new things very quickly which will not happen again in future. However, it is important to understand that child’s development depends on the actual activities they have. Parents should not seek to replace this development with their actions or pieces of virtual life, which certainly includes watching cartoons. Not all the cartoons should be shown to children, especially until they reach three years of age.
Young audience
It often happens that a cartoon is suitable for small children from the point of view of its images but not the contents. Children are not able to understand the actions, however the characters are quite clear to them. When a child watches cartoons that are not intended for their age, parents think that their kid is soaking up the culture at a certain level. However, it is not so. The thing is that children under three years are still studying the world around them.
Their activities are of subject-manipulative nature which consists in transferring experience from reality to virtual life but not other way round. Watching the actions that the little viewer is not familiar with in real life blocks the child´s development. He passively watches the video instead of acting it. At the same time, they do not understand what they see, the images simply fascinate them and cause dependence. There is no perception without action which means there is no way for development.
In other words, there is time for each cartoon. There are several factors to be taken into consideration before choosing a cartoon for a child — its contents and artistic features. In these terms, the «Woodventures» definitely stands out meeting all the requirements for a carton for 0+ audience.
About «Woodventures»
The «Woodventures» animated series is based on actions with so-called sensory standards associated with the comprehension of size and shape of objects with the help of which the first visual and role games of a baby are formed. The absolute advantages of the cartoon are — recognizable toy characters, clear plot and behavioral models that a child can already fully comprehend at the age of three years, correspondence of these meanings with toy characters, not too quick change of events, cheerful and easy-to-listen song with catchy words, a short duration format and their relative autonomy.
The contents and aim of the cartoon are learning and cognition. The episodes are called «House», «Rain», «Pool» and «Hill». These concepts are already familiar to a child, they know what the story is about. Here we see that virtualization and viewing go after the real life but not vice versa.
Not only the characters are clear to a child as little animals but they are also represented by toys with which they have already played or perhaps still do. It is especially nice that the toys are of a traditional design, which has been neglected lately. These warm wooden toys bring up some nostalgia in parents, too. From this point of view, the return to traditions and roots is obvious. These images are the brilliant idea of the creators.
Children are not able to percieve and comprehend multi-color images and multi-layer plots. «Woodventures» is a simple as it can be in its plot, meaning and form — the screen is not overloaded with objects. On the one hand, the plot is simple and easy to understand. On the other hand, it provides a certain delta of meaning and doesn´t get tiresome. Now, when children start seeing the screen earlier, this cartoon is especially good.
The film touches upon such important topics as game, friendship and help. They are few but enough for a little viewer. Thus, starting from an early age, the emotional sphere of a child is formed and moral norms are introduced. It is important that each episode ends with the slogan ‘We are going beddy-bye’ which makes it a good bedtime cartoon. With the help of identification with toys, it becomes easier for children to fall asleep — ‘Wooden toys go beddy-bye — and they should, too.’
This cartoon can definitely bring magic to a child. Watching it can be especially exciting if parents do it together with their baby. Everybody will love the show, plus parents will be able to answer questions or give explanations when necessary. A good idea would be to buy wooden toys of the characters (if they are produced) or at least similar ones. They will give just as much pleasure and positive impressions to a child as plastic or electronic ones. Those wooden toys will come in very handy during watching the series, which can take really much time.
In fact, a toy character is a very good thing. With its help a child can go through what they saw in the cartoon and parents can help and even play along. And here comes the key advantage of the «Woodventures» — a possibility to connect virtual action of the cartoon with the real life at a level understandable to a child.
