The Magic House Collaborates with PBS & Nine PBS
The Magic House is excited to announce a new national traveling exhibit series in collaboration with PBS KIDS popular shows. Designed to educate and engage young learners and their families, The Magic House will lead the creation and construction of the exhibit series, to bring each show and its featured characters to life through hands-on interactive activities and immersive, educational environments.
“We’re thrilled at this collaboration with The Magic House to bring stories and characters families love into communities across the country through new avenues like local children’s museums, history museums, science centers and libraries,” said Linda Simensky, Head of PBS KIDS Content.
The first two PBS KIDS shows to debut in this exhibit series will be Molly of Denali and Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. Teachers and schools will be able to deepen the experience through educational materials and learning resources developed in tandem with public television partners. The shows depicted in the traveling exhibit can be watched on Nine PBS (9.1), PBS KIDS (9.2) or livestreamed at ninepbs.org/ninepbskids/.
The Magic House has previously worked with The Jim Henson Company on the creation of three other nationally traveling exhibits featuring popular PBS KIDS shows including Dinosaur Train, Splash and Bubbles and Sid the Science Kid. The Museum has also created a variety of other educationally-based exhibits including a Cultural Exhibit Series featuring four separate experiences exploring what life is like for children in China, Kenya, Argentina and India.
“We are excited to broaden our impact by way of our collaboration with series from PBS KIDS, a national and respected leader in informal education,” said Beth Fitzgerald, President of The Magic House. “Through our work together, we are excited to offer new ways to spark learning through our interactive exhibits that invite children to engage with the beloved characters and cultural themes from popular PBS KIDS shows.”
The exhibits will debut at The Magic House before traveling to locations across the country. It is anticipated that this new exhibit series will engage millions of children and families throughout the United States, helping to further both partners’ efforts of providing access to high-quality educational experiences.
The Magic House will begin fundraising and development for the new exhibit series to debut PBS KIDS’ Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, produced by 9 Story Media Group’s Brown Bag Films, and Molly of Denali, produced by GBH Kids. Both shows began airing on PBS KIDS in 2019. The first of the exhibits is anticipated to open at The Magic House in spring of 2022.
Molly of Denali
Set in a fictious rural Alaskan village close to Denali, the show follows the adventures of Molly, her friends, family and dog, Suki, and is infused with Alaska Native values, history, traditions and language.
The show is set in present-day Alaska and showcases contemporary life there. Molly’s mother is a bush pilot and her father a wilderness guide; the family operates a trading post. While the main stories are animated, there is a special live-action segment in each show filmed in Alaska where Molly shares information about her life and Alaska through a vlog, offering short-form videos with kids around the world. The show presents Alaska in all seasons and features the unique forms of transportation commonly used there.
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Based on the highly acclaimed children’s book series by Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos, named Ordinary People Change the World.
In the show, a brother and sister, assisted by their best friend, travel back in time to key moments in history to connect with known historical figures who they meet as children. In each episode, Xavier and his sister Yamina, along with their friend Brad, encounter a typical everyday childhood problem or difficulty. They go to their Secret Museum in the lower level of a traditional history museum to time travel so they may interact and learn from real-life inspirational figures of the past. The heroes they meet provide insight into solving the children’s problems.