StoryBots

StoryBots

Type of site	Education
Available in	English
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Owner	JibJab
Key people	Evan Spiridellis, Founder Gregg Spiridellis, Founder & CEO
Website	http://www.storybots.com
Launched	2012

StoryBots is a digital learning program for elementary-age children ages 3–8 and the inspiration for the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Ask the StoryBots. Created by the entertainment studio JibJab, the StoryBots content library includes educational TV series, books, videos, games and classroom activities designed to make foundational learning fun and encourage intellectual curiosity in children.^[1]

Subjects cover a wide range of topics and feature a cast of characters called the StoryBots, who are tiny, colorful creatures who live within our computers, tablets and phones and help humans answer questions.^[2] Similar to the personalized videos and e-cards produced by its parent company JibJab, StoryBots uses its Starring You feature to put the user’s face and name into many of its videos, books and activities.^[3]

After launching primarily online - and amassing more than 485 million views on YouTube^[4] - StoryBots launched its first television series on Netflix in 2016. Ask the StoryBots has won multiple Daytime Emmy Awards along with recognition from the Peabody Awards and British Academy Children's Awards, while also spawning a companion show, StoryBots Super Songs, and a holiday special, A StoryBots Christmas.^[5]

History

StoryBots launched to the public in the fall of 2012, and has been featured on CNN,^[6] The New York Times,^[7] CNBC,^[8] and other news outlets.^{[9][10][11][12]} Gregg Spiridellis, co-founder and CEO of StoryBots, told CNBC in 2013 that he and his brother have five young children between them and noticed “a massive shift in how kids are consuming media.”^[8] Spiridellis says that became the inspiration for StoryBots, with digital content designed to be akin to Sesame Street but for a device-centric, connected generation of children.^[13]

Library

StoryBots pairs educators and learning experts with JibJab's team of artists, storytellers and technologists to build a robust library of learning content and activities.^[14] The library currently includes:

• Learning Videos,^[15] a collection of 110+ animated musical videos that explore a wide range of topics, including shapes, colors, behaviors, time, eating healthy and outer space
• Starring You Videos,^[16] animated learning music videos that allow the user to add their name and face photo
• Learning Books,^[17] educationally-focused ebooks with page-by-page narration to help kids practice their reading and learn about a range of subjects
• Starring You Books,^[18] ebooks ranging from classic fairytales to modern adventures that also include face and name personalization (making the user the hero of the story)
• Activity Sheets,^[19] 20 printable books on holidays, numbers, letters, seasons and more
• Math Games,^[1] Common Core-aligned kindergarten-level math games

StoryBots Classroom

In 2016, StoryBots launched StoryBots Classroom, a free resource for educators that includes unlimited access to the entire StoryBots library of books, videos and activities, as well as the newly created Common Core State Standards Initiative-aligned Math Games, and a suite of classroom management tools including Group Builder, Lesson Planner, Home Assignment and Class Roster.^[1] The product is designed for use on laptops, tablets and interactive white boards.^[20] When it was released, StoryBots Classroom was by profiled by Education Week^[21] and was named a S'Cool Tool of the Week by EdSurge.^[22]

According to its website, StoryBots is used in more than 70,000 classrooms worldwide.^[23] In an interview, CEO Gregg Spiridellis cited an attempt to bridge the "digital divide" between wealthier school districts and less fortunate schools - as well as the role of teachers as powerful advocates - as the impetus to offer StoryBots to teachers for free.^[14]

Television series

The StoryBots franchise's inaugural original TV series, Ask the StoryBots, premiered on Netflix on August 12, 2016. The show, which follows the StoryBots characters of Beep, Boop, Bing, Bang and Bo (a.k.a "Answer Team 341B") as they go on adventures into the human world to help answer kids' biggest questions, stars Judy Greer and includes guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Kevin Smith, Garfunkel and Oates, Tim Meadows and Chris Parnell. Ask the StoryBots received critical acclaim for its educational quality and entertainment value for both parents and children. The show also spawned a soundtrack available on Spotify, Apple Music, ITunes and Amazon.com.

A companion series, StoryBots Super Songs, premiered on October 7, 2016, also on Netflix. While each episode of Ask the StoryBots featured the lead characters answering a child's single question, StoryBots Super Songs focuses on broader topics, such as outer space, colors, shapes and dinosaurs, through music and live-action vignettes with real children.^[24]

Ask the StoryBots also spun-off a holiday special, A StoryBots Christmas, which premiered December 1, 2017, on Netflix. Featuring a guest appearance by Ed Asner as Santa Claus, the special received two Daytime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.

Awards

Since its founding in 2012, StoryBots has won numerous awards for its digital content, including the Teachers' Choice Award from Learning Magazine, Parent’s Choice Award, a Family Choice Award, Tech Edvocate Award, and an Editor's Choice Award from Children's Technology Review.^[25]

For its television work including Ask the StoryBots and A StoryBots Christmas, StoryBots has won three Daytime Emmy Awards (with nine additional nominations), as well as recognition from the Annie Awards, British Academy Children's Awards and Peabody Awards.

References