- "Hello Sproutlets, welcome to PBS Kids Sprout! We're so glad you could join us!"
- ―The 2005 main page
SproutOnline.com (formerly Sproutletsgrow.com until December 2006) is a website based on the Sprout brand. It was first launched in 2005 as an online hub for Sprout's shows, under the name Sproutletsgrow.com, mainly aimed at preschoolers. It originally featured games, crafts, birthday cards, pages for The Good Night Show, Sprout Diner, Fire Safety, The Birthday Show, and The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman, and information for adults. The loading page featured a ladybug, and when the main page finally loaded, you would be greeted with a female voice saying "Hello Sproutlets, welcome to PBS Kids Sprout! We're so glad you could join us!" The website was designed by the New York-based company Funny Garbage.[1] Prior to the 24-hour channel's launch, it was a website about the on-demand service.
The website was a major aspect of many series and blocks, such as The Birthday Show, Sprout Diner, The Sunny Side Up Show, Sprout's Wiggly Waffle, and The Sprout Sharing Show, which allowed kids (known as "Sproutlets") to submit birthday cards, photos, videos, and artwork online and see them on TV, which was a throwback to the 1970s PBS children's show ZOOM.
At first, there was an existing website with the SproutOnline.com domain that lasted until late 2004, when it redirected to sprout.us. As of now, the website redirects to finagle.com.
About Sprout[]
- "Welcome to PBS KIDS Sprout, the first and only 24-hour preschool network created for children ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers. Sprout is available on TV, on demand and online. Interaction between parents and preschoolers is an important element in everything we do. From arts and crafts projects to kid-friendly recipes, from birthday submissions to My Refrigerator page, we provide ways for families to experience Sprout together. Our programming lineup combines trusted, gold-standard shows with fresh and innovative originals. We follow the day of a preschooler from breakfast to bedtime, with daytime programming designed to get children moving and active and evening programming to help the family gently unwind at the end of the day. Sprout is available on digital cable and satellite television to 20 million homes. The network was created as a partnership among Comcast Corporation, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop." (link)
History[]
At first, SproutOnline.com was a backup of the Sproutletsgrow.com website, albeit with the overall content remaining the same.
Throughout its history, the site has had seven major upgrades. The first was a refresh of the website that occurred on August 22nd,[2] 2007. This upgrade now featured many features not included on the original site, including videos, coloring pages, and character pages. and added many new games (some of which were Art Studio, Photo Mashup, and We Share), some of which introduced characters and elements from blocks, including special sections related to the week's theme on The Sunny Side Up Show. The website's background was often changed to night during that time. The main page often featured a video and information on a block ("Sprout Originals") and viewer-submitted content ("We Made This") leading to their pages. The welcome page originally had a description of the website and Sprout for Parents, and pictures of characters (later the Sprout logo on flowers), later with links to other Sprout ventures. A box opened the website's welcome page in 2009. The welcome page often featured information on events (such as Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon) or new shows (such as Dirtgirlworld). The character pages and games often came with tips for parents at the bottom.
The second upgrade happened on September 21st, 2009, when the Sprout channel included new branding and new shows. "My Refrigerator" became "My Sprout," and Sunny Side Up Show birthday cards got their own separate page. A new section was also introduced called Sprout to Go, which featured information on Sprout's social media accounts, apps, and songs on iTunes with printable lyrics. The website was present in a 2012 Claritin and Sprout commercial, specifically a craft page for the biodome. The main page featured four banners based on what was happening at Sprout. The activities page now featured sign language, stretches, and discoveries. Originally, the show pages consisted of a picture and brief synopsis of the series being represented with a selection of videos on the right and games, crafts, recipes, and printables on the bottom, but when this site refresh came around it now consisted of a video and description of the left and all the other activities on the right.
The third upgrade happened in late 2011. The site was revamped to include a network of islands home to characters from shows and blocks. Some of the games and features from the past three sites were carried over. There was also a separate website for adults, which included parenting articles, crafts, recipes, coloring pages, and information on shows and blocks. Crafts and Recipes were often paired together "Make and Create." The website also promoted Sprout-related live events. If you were on the website on an iPhone, it would give you a list of Sprout's mobile apps. If you didn’t want the apps, you would click a button that would lead you to the main site.
The fourth upgrade happened in early 2013. The islands were no longer featured, and instead the main page included previews of games, videos, crafts, recipes, stories, and viewer-submitted content, making it more reminiscent of the second and third upgrades. Here, you could find shows or blocks by clicking on a small green circle with one of the characters. Sprout Tunes was also added. This background was changed multiple times to reflect different holidays, including winter, fall, and Valentine's Day. it even turned into space for the premiere of Astroblast! in 2014. The 404 page was of Chica as a detective with links to the other pages on the website. In early 2014, the "Games" section button at the top of the website was changed to "Games and Apps."
The fifth upgrade happened on July 7, 2015,[3] during Summer of Sprout and a few months before the channel rebranded for its tenth anniversary. The website was completely redesigned to match the third generation branding. Here, there would be a character on a trampoline at the bottom of the screen that would take you back to the top, and you could customize a personalized birthday page on your child's birthday.
This version of the site was the longest-lasting version of it, and lasted until 2018, when the site was re-branded as "Universal Kids Preschool" and eventually was temporarily closed, and redirected to the Universal Kids website the same year. It is unknown if the SproutOnline.com domain is currently for sale. However, the only glimpses of the site you can get nowadays are videos and broken websites on the Wayback Machine.
Original site[]
At its launch in 2005, Sproutletsgrow.com was divided into seven main sections. A list, with descriptions, is available below.
- Home: The homepage for the website, a directory for the rest of its webpages.
- Let's Play!: A directory for flash games based on shows from their PBSKids.org or official websites. The icon was a drum and later a a video game console and a puzzle.
- Birthdays: A section relating to The Birthday Show. The icon was a party hat.
- What's on TV?: A page which loaded the channel's TV schedules. The icon was a TV which played pictures from Caillou, Dragon Tales, Bob the Builder, and Jay Jay the Jet Plane. All times listed in ET.
- Crafts: A section relating to crafts, usually from The Good Night Show.
- About Sprout: A page with a brief description on Sprout. The icon was ice cream.
- Need Some Help?: A FAQ section. The icon was a question mark.
Let's Play![]
Sproutletsgrow.com's most popular feature was Let's Play!, a collection of Sprout-based games.
- Make a Cake
- Magic Seeds
- Connect the Dots
- Barney & Friends - Barney Games
- The Berenstain Bears - Pack a Picnic Game
- Boohbah - Bubbles Bursting Game
- Caillou - Follow The Stars
- Dragon Tales - Dragon Berry Surprise
- Jay Jay the Jet Plane - Fun Fly Game
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat - Exploring the Palace
- Sesame Street - Big Bird Gets a Letter, Crayons, Elmo's Keyboard-o -Rama, Zoe's Dance Moves, and Zoe's Pet Shelter
- Thomas & Friends - Sodor Race Game
V2[]
Sections[]
- Share
- Games
- Videos
- Crafts
- Recipes
- Themes
Themes[]
SproutOnline.com's V2 upgrade in 2007 added many new games and features in addition to the ones above, such as:
Just For Fun[]
- Sprout Diner - Alfalfa's Bike Delivery, Brussel's Kitchen
- Barney & Friends - Let's Go Playset
- Boohbah - Kaleidoscope
- Teletubbies - Bye-Bye, Control Panel, Dirty Knees, Hide and Seek, Nursery Rhymes, Peek-a-Boo, Puddle, and Rabbit Chase
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat - Dress-Up and Gifts for Everyone
- The Berenstain Bears - Dress-Up
- The Let's Go Show - The Magic Watering Can Game, The Music Mix-up Game, The Underwater Adventure Game, and The Wild Safari Ride Game
Creativity and Self-Expression[]
- Sprout Art Studio
- Sprout Photo Mashup
- We Share
- Angelina Ballerina - Pop-up Card
- Kipper - Arnold's Bug Box and Roly's Game
- Barney & Friends - Barney's Coloring Book and Barney's Coloring Game
- Bob the Builder - Design a House, Eight Piece Jigsaw Puzzle, Four Piece Jigsaw Puzzle, Pipe Game, Scrambler's Ramble, Six Piece Jigsaw Puzzle, Spud and Pickles Tic-Tac-Toe
- Boohbah - Coloring Game, Boohbah Dance, Look What I Can Do, Grandpappa and the Hammock, and Storyworld Game,
- Caillou - Painting Activity
- Teletubbies - Coloring, Near and Far, and Splats
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat - Decorate, Lion Dances
- Dragon Tales - Dragon Badge
- Thomas & Friends - Railway Journey, Build an Engine, Celebration Game, Four Piece Jigsaw Puzzle, Six Piece Jigsaw Puzzle, and Twelve Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
- The Sunny Side Up Show - The Sunny Side Up Show website, including Dress Chica
Fine Motor Skills[]
- Bob the Builder - Scoop's Deliveries
- The Good Night Show - Sprout-o-scope
- Teletubbies - Teletubbies Everywhere and Tubby Toast
Literacy Building and Storytelling[]
- Angelina Ballerina - Dance Studio
- Boohbah - Storysheet
- Sesame Street - Ernie's Surprise Box
- Bob the Builder - Mrs. Perceval’s Spelling Lesson
- Caillou - Spelling with Caillou
Sections[]
SproutOnline.com had various website-like sections related to Sprout's blocks and original series. Promos for these sections aired on the channel after each block ended.
- The Good Night Show website
- Sprout Diner website
- The Let's Go Show website
- The Sunny Side Up Show website
- The Sprout Sharing Show website
Notes[]
- As of 2012, the site has had 821,000 registered users.[4]
- In 2012, SproutOnline.com reached 500 videos.[5]
- The website was called SproutOnline.com as early as December 18th, 2006, when a press room about The Good Night Show's third season was released.
Videos[]
See also[]
- SproutOnline.com/Gallery
- SproutOnline.com (song)
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.tvweek.com/in-depth/2005/12/saluting-sprouts-launch-pbs-sp/
- ↑ https://www.cynopsis.com/wednesday-august-22nd-2007-3/
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneebursik/
- ↑ https://kidscreen.com/2012/06/11/sprout-launches-licensing-business-with-deals-for-plush-dvds/
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20120731043354/http://www.sproutonline.com