Disney Learning Preschool Views

• Software

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Parents now have access to a whole new world of fun learning for their preschoolers. Disney Online, part of the Walt Disney Internet Group, in partnership with Disney Channel, has launched an exciting new broadband subscription product called Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online(TM), now available for an annual subscription fee of $49.95. Parents can log-on to www.preschooltime.com to subscribe to the product or to access a free trial.

Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online offers parents a safe, ad-free environment where their children can enjoy a slate of regularly updated, fun and engaging activities that encourage learning through play. Hosted by Bear from Disney Channel's Bear in the Big Blue House, Preschool Time Online was developed in conjunction with educational experts to provide endless learning and unlimited fun while helping preschoolers develop important kindergarten readiness skills.

Preschoolers learn through play, and through my research I've seen that the unique properties of the Internet can be employed creatively to help feed the insatiable curiosity of young children, said Debra Lieberman, a key educational expert who helped spearhead the service's educational philosophy and academic structure. Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online was designed specifically to do this. It responds to kids' natural desire to learn through play with activities that center around exploring, imagination, developing skills and constructing knowledge. It is a great complement to preschool learning for building such skills as letter and number recognition.

Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online allows children to learn through a fun setting where they get to interact with their favorite characters, in a dynamic environment that regularly offers new activities, said Ken Goldstein, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online. The increase in broadband use in the home has allowed us to offer an experience that combines rich graphics, video content and character voices to capture kids' imaginations and deliver personalized learning that grows with each individual child.