'Sparks of Superpowers' — UNICEF presents new educational cartoon series for preschoolers

In celebration of Parent’s Month, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine has released a new cartoon series for preschoolers titled 'Sparks of Superpowers'. The 'Sparks of Superpowers' series features 10 educational cartoons with unique characters, designed to help preschoolers develop essential skills.

Meet the funny and clever Sparks – Mio, Pum, Bryn and Zhuzh. These characters encounter everyday situations familiar to all children and use their 'superpowers', or knowledge and skills, to navigate them. Young viewers will see themselves in these characters' actions and learn to adapt their 'superpowers'. Each episode presents an engaging plot set in various locations, from the Ukrainian Carpathians to exotic Tokyo, from a home library to a city park. Curious and compassionate, the Sparks’ make new friends, including the famous dog Patron. Together, they teach children how to interact better with peers and adults, understand their emotions, take care of themselves and explore the world around them.

UNICEF is also developing additional resources and tools for educators and parents to support preschool children's development, amid the ongoing war. Each cartoon supports learning through visual engagement, making it fun and engaging to master the 16 key preschool skills.

The first episode of the animated series 'Sparks of Superpowers' premiered on 8 June at the Children's Film Festival, Ukraine's largest film festival for children and young people. Festival screenings will continue in cinemas and online until 16 June, and are free to attend with prior registration.

The first five episodes are already available online on the NUMO preschool development platform (numo.mon.gov.ua), the UNICEF YouTube channel, MEGOGO and Pixel. The next five episodes will be released online later in June.

Information:

The ‘Sparks of Superpowers’ project offers a variety of free educational tools and methods for preschool children's development, including puppet theatre, colouring books, a series of cartoons and a book of fairy tales. These resources were created by a team of UNICEF experts in Ukraine, supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, specifically for the NUMO preschool development platform.

The primary objective of the programme is to support the daily development of preschool children in all circumstances, which is especially crucial in the midst of the war. The following innovative tools are designed to help parents, guardians, educators and public sector workers:

• The NUMO education platform for the development of preschool children presents preschool skills in a simple, understandable way with practical tips and exercises.
• Electronic and audio versions of the collection of educational and developmental fairy tales "Sparks of Superpowers" can be accessed, listened to and downloaded on the NUMO platform, UNICEF Ukraine YouTube channel, and resources such as Yakaboo, MEGOGO, Listen and Abuk.
• Parents and educators can download ready-made scripts of puppet theatre for free on the NUMO platform.
• The online kindergarten NUMO features educational and developmental videos about the environment, various experiments and physical activities for children aged 3 to 6. It is available on the NUMO platform and UNICEF Ukraine's YouTube channel.
• A free offline application with interactive games for preschool children can be downloaded at AppStore and Play Market.
• You can connect to the NUMO bot with tips for parents on how to help children develop via Viber and Telegram.