Ask an elementary college mother or father or trainer, and so they’ll let you know: Kids lately completely love watching gameplay movies. PBS Kids says a full 50% of its viewers three- to six-years-old routinely watch avid gamers operating and constructing their manner by Roblox, Minecraft or all method of different widespread video video games.
But, as Common Sense Media reported in a 2020 research “Young Kids and YouTube,” a minimum of 1 / 4 of the movies that game-loving children are watching aren’t actually applicable for these underneath 8. That’s why, as an effort to each meet children the place they’re and supply video games for them to play, PBS Kids has launched a brand new 4 to 7-minute gameplay sequence, Odd Squad Gaming Unit, or OGSU.
Produced by Fred Rogers Productions and Sinking Ship Entertainment with main funding from CPB, OGSU follows two younger Odd Squad brokers, Oaklynn and Olindo, as they chat on-line and play PBS Kids branded video games. With over 375 video games within the model’s platform, there’s lots to select from. The sequence’ makers have produced over 50 short-form clips and began dropping them weekly on YouTube Sept. 5. Batches of the video games will make their solution to the PBS Kids video app in month-to-month releases that begin Oct. 3.
When children watch gameplay movies, the hosts typically are grown-ups and the video games skew towards a extra mature normal viewers, in accordance with Abby Jenkins, senior director of content material for PBS Kids Digital. After watching gameplay video utilization develop and flourish, PBS Kids noticed a chance to deliver a novel voice into the hosted house and to showcase recreation content material that was designed particularly for youths, she says.
In an 2024 RFP in search of concepts about creating gaming sequence’ involving PBS Kids video games, PBS selected Odd Squad Gaming Unit as a result of the proposal each addressed its wants and got here from a spot and model that may be acquainted to children, Jenkins says.
“We went into the process … looking for an original series with original voices rather than characters or voices that were already in our service,” she provides. But the pitch from Sinking Ship provided “a whole new way to explore the Odd Squad universe.” Since OSGU makes use of model new brokers from these on the TV present, the gameplay sequence “provided a way for kids to speak to kids. There was something familiar about it, but something new at the same time.”
Sinking Ship’s J.J. Johnson, EP of Odd Squad, directed and govt produced OGSU. His inspiration for the shorts got here from watching gameplay movies together with his personal sons, he says.
Gameplay for the ‘Odd Squad’ universe
“There are some basic setups for those types of videos, and they lean really heavily on the interaction between co-hosts, because having two people playing together is always helpful,” he says. “We really just leaned into, ‘What are kids watching right now, and how do we take those devices [they’re used to] and distill them into an Odd Squad universe? And, beyond that, how do we get kids excited about these incredible, fun games that just also happen to be educational?”
Each OGSU brief finds Agents Oaklynn and Olindo on video chat, confronted with a vaguely foolish job just like the latter’s battle to kind out his plastic cup assortment. As they recreation, the pair discover a answer to the issue, all whereas each showcasing the Jelly, Ben and Pogo game Sakto, and giving viewers suggestions and methods about the right way to play every recreation. It’s the proper marriage of Odd Squad and traditional gameplay content, balancing excessive manufacturing values and the type of direct-to-camera content material children have come to anticipate on YouTube.
To streamline the price range and manufacturing schedule for OGSU, Johnson built-in plate pictures of the Odd Squad HQ set from the present’s first season, utilizing a inexperienced display to place the photographs behind OGSU’s two brokers. “The plates have a bit of moving background, and they create a full environment,” Johnson says. “And when the kids go into the actual gaming unit [portion of the clips], they activate a board that swings in behind them that gives a little more of a hint of who each player is and that’s how we balance what Odd Squad is with something that feels a little more akin to what kids are already watching.”
While the 50 or so movies shot for the sequence can’t come near encapsulating the complete breadth of PBS Kids video games, Johnson and Jenkins say they took particular care to try to hit every model and elegance of gameplay. “PBS games cover the gamut — from sorting to math to nature to the environment to culture — so we wanted to make sure that we covered all those topics too,” Johnson says.
Designed for recreation discovery
PBS Kids particularly put ahead video games designed for 5- to 8-year-olds, understanding that this sequence would draw viewers from the higher finish of its gaming viewers, Jenkins says. Her crew additionally prompt video games that diversified in reputation and ability units, from Wild Kratts Amazin’ Amazon Adventure, with its multi-level operating and leaping quests, to Rosie’s Slime Shop from Rosie’s Rules, which affords extra open ended and inventive gameplay. They selected video games that gamers might play alone or with associates, in addition to video games that run the gamut from noisy and quick to quiet and comfortable.
Hopefully, showcasing a variety of video games will attract a spread of viewers, in addition to introduce children to video games or exhibits they won’t have already found on their very own. In some methods, that’s already taking place. Johnson says his two children, who’re sometimes Wild Kratts or Odd Squad followers, are venturing into the broader universe of PBS Kids video games after seeing his work on OBGU. “Now,” he says, “they’re coming back and asking me if we’re going to feature some of the other games on the show.”
PBS Kids was additionally in a position to embrace new, as-yet-unreleased video games within the sequence. When a brand new Odd Squad recreation drops later this 12 months, an OGSU video will include it, alerting YouTube viewers to the sport’s existence and showcasing methods to play. Jenkins hopes the model can proceed to observe this mannequin as new video games roll out on platform, she says. Making an OGSU video takes a comparatively brief period of time — a couple of month from shoot to supply, in comparison with about six months for an Odd Squad episode.
Watching for what resonates
As episodes roll out every week, OGSU’s creators and PBS Kids hope to be capable to hone in on what children are drawn to, Johnson says. Maybe it will likely be the movies that function extra gameplay or possibly the clips which might be 4 minutes lengthy as an alternative of eight. “I can’t wait to find out what the audience is responding to and how we can zero in on that — if we’re lucky enough to do future seasons.”
If the OSGU crew can determine what makes a video profitable, then the sequence might grow to be a long-term click on driver for the PBS Kids Games YouTube channel. The movies are evergreen, that means that youthful children who’re Daniel Tiger followers can watch and luxuriate in them now and proceed to find and love different PBS Kids manufacturers as they develop.
Testing of the movies previous to and because the Sept. 5 drop have proven that children discover them compelling, Jenkins says. After a screening earlier this 12 months, collaborating children mentioned they wished to go looking out different PBS Kids video games, no matter whether or not or not they’d performed it earlier than. “They were all like, ‘I’m going to go play that right now,’” she provides.
And that’s a comforting feeling to the whole OSGU crew. “Our internal goal is to make things that kids will want to tell their best friends about,” Johnson says. “This series will live and die on kids watching it, getting into it and starting to share the games. Once we start to see that naturally happening, then views should start greatly increasing.”