WordWorld Brings a Whole New Meaning to 'Word Play'

NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- When you attend this year's American International Toy Fair in New York City, be prepared to step into an enchanting world of words as you experience the new line of WordWorld learning toys. WordWorld launched a top-rated PBS KIDS show in September 2007 with a complementary, interactive website at pbskids.org/wordworld. WordWorld, benefiting from Department of Education funding and rigorous third-party testing, is poised for success across all media platforms.

The product launch is timely as reading readiness at the preschool level simmers to the top of the national agenda. WordWorld is a multi-media preschool property that playfully brings words to life through an innovative, patent-pending methodology that embeds words into the objects they represent. WordWorld empowers kids with skills that make abstract concepts of literacy concrete -- the connections between letters, words and meaning are crystallized before a child's eyes.

To the delight of Show Creator and Executive Producer Don Moody, WordWorld is coming to Toy Fair with a distribution arrangement already in place with Target stores. To date, licensed deals with MEGA Brands, Spin Master, Sababa Toys and NCircle Entertainment have resulted in a broad assortment of brand new products.

Through Moody's exciting approach of immersing kids in a fun, word-rich place, WordWorld serves to fascinate children with words and instill a love of reading. Meet the ensemble cast of WordFriends who embark on zany adventures where the only way to save the day is to "build a word." With words as the loveable stars of the show, WordWorld encourages preschoolers to develop a lifelong friendship with words.

The toy industry quickly realized the significance of WordWorld's exciting new approach to literacy through WordPlay. The licensed products embody the show's playful teaching philosophy and empowers kids to "build" and love words. Of course, the fact that veteran toymaker, John W. Lee (founder of Learning Curve International) is a co-founder of Word World, LLC, the parent company, sheds some light on why the program has such inherent play value.

Lee is incredibly excited about the entire project and to prove it, recently sent an open letter to thousands of specialty toy retailers. He wrote, "Imagine bringing the WordWorld concept to preschool playthings. A plush 'D-O-G' that can be disassembled and rebuilt as a WordFriend ... A construction play set that has a 'B-A-R-N' theme with a related collection of WordFriends (P-I-G, of course) and WordThing like 'H-A-Y' and 'R-A-K-E' or 'T-R-A-C-T-O-R'."

To capture the unique balance WordWorld has achieved in blending learning and play, Moody likes to relate a comment made by a mother who had early access to the toys: "My son's favorite toy is a word. How psyched am I?"

To understand why Moody, Lee and so many other experts in the toy industry feel that this breakthrough concept in education will be the breakout toy of the year, visit the licensees' booths. You'll find them at:

    -- MEGA Brands (Booth 1371)
       13 licensed products including WordBuild Construction Sets and WordArt
       & Craft Kits.
    -- Sababa Toys (Booth 1379)
       7 licensed products including WordGames, WordPuzzles and
       WordFlashcards.
    -- Spin Master (Booth 733)
       19 licensed products including Pull-apart Plush, WordWheels,
       WordMagnets and WordSand.

As a final word, Don Moody asks, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a picture of a word worth?" If the buzz preceding Toy Fair is any indication, the answer is, in a word, "plenty."

About Word World, LLC

Word World, LLC, created by Don Moody, is a multi-platform media franchise with a focus on helping develop literacy skills among three- to five-year-olds. Through a first-of-its-kind, patent-pending learning tool, all "WordWorld" products embed words into images to enhance word recognition. Word World, LLC is part of the Ready-To-Learn Partnership (RTLP), a public-private consortium awarded a five-year multi-million dollar grant by the US Department of Education. Members of the consortium include Chicago PBS member station WTTW and the Michael Cohen Group, an international research firm responsible for formative and summative testing of the show.

For more information please visit the company's website at http://www.WordWorld.com/presskit.

The contents of this press release were developed under a Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.