My Week with Sprout Apps

 

Starting in 2009, Sprout made mobile apps for its viewers to play and learn with on the go - even without internet! Many of these apps were also available on the Sprout Channel Cubby when it launched. All this week I focused on the apps on this blog as part of the "My Week with" series. Take a look!

• Dress Chica
• Sprout Player
• Good Night Star
• Games and Videos
• Send to Sprout

Don’t worry about the rest (such as Sprout Now and Family Challenge). I'll focus on them … another time.

My Week with Sprout Apps: Send to Sprout

Image from 148Apps

 Sprout's original content was largely inspired by children's shows of the past - like Romper Room, Play School, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the hosts would interact with the viewers and focus on different educational themes, like the early days of Sesame Street and Broom Cupboard (which kinda brought us to The Sunny Side Up Show), they would link into usually animated content, and like ZOOM (not the video conference), they encouraged viewers to send in stuff via the web that they might see on TV. 

The latter element has a section on Sproutonline.com where you could send in content to different blocks, as well as an app: Send to Sprout, released in 2013. 

Image from YouTube

In the app, you could choose from several categories - videos, photos, messages, artwork, "SportsCandy" (healthy creations for The Super Sproutlet Show), Dress Chica costumes (I'm pretty sure the Dress Chica app was discontinued when this app launched), and of course birthday wishes.

It is unknown when the app was discontinued, but I'm guessing during Sprout's tenth anniversary rebranding in 2015.

My Week with Sprout Apps: Games and Videos

Madeline Fretz - Games and Videos was a Sprout app that launched in 2012. 

Image from AndroidOut

The app was loaded with - well - games and videos, as well as information on other Sprout apps. It was kinda like a mobile version of SproutOnline.com at the time - given that it had the same games, video clips and full episodes, and mini-websites. 

Image from APKFab

Some of the app's popular games included Caillou Lotsa Pops and Sunny Side Up and Good Night Show "Make a Picture" games.

Image from APKPure

With the Sproutonline.com site refresh in 2013, the app was given a refresh as well. It now included a section devoted to Music Maker/Sprout Tunes, a section of Sproutonline.com that included songs from shows and blocks, itself based on a segment that aired between shows on Sprout during the afternoons. The menu had buttons of games, videos, music, and apps, which you could click on and it would lead you to the page.

Games and Videos became Sprout Playground with Sprout's tenth anniversary rebrand in 2015, but it is unknown if anyone still has the app.

My Week with Sprout Apps: Good Night Star

 

In 2011, Sprout released a new app based on The Good Night Show called "Good Night Star."

Image from my old Sprout blog

In the app, viewers were encouraged to brush Star's teeth, wash his face, read him a bedtime story, get him ready for bed, and finally rock him to sleep, and could also watch music videos of Good Night Show songs. These included "The Welcome Song," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and "Ready for Bed."

And yes, I DID have a Sprout blog before starting this one in 2020. At the time, I was eight-nine years old and had terrible grammar. Nowadays I have perfected my grammar skills. More about the blog and my overall history with Sprout here.

My Week with Sprout Apps: Sprout Player

  

Image from Vimeo

Image from Vimeo

Sprout Player was an app released in 2009 as one of three apps made by Sprout and New Wave Entertainment.

In the app, people could watch videos from Sprout original content (usually podcasts from iTunes) and view TV schedules from blocks such as The Sunny Side Up Show.

Here is a list of some of the programs available on the app. Most of them were also available as digital podcasts on iTunes, which all also launched in 2009.

• The Good Night Show (mainly segments from Seasons 4 and 5)
• Birthday Parties (segments from The Birthday Show, which stopped airing in 2007, although activities from the program were still on Sproutonline.com. An iTunes podcast featuring the segments launched in 2009.)
• Sprout Diner: Time to Create (I believe Sprout Diner stopped airing in 2008, but was still up on Sproutonline.com and an iTunes podcast launched a year later).The Let's Go Show
• The Let's Go Show
• The Sunny Side Up Show
• The Sprout Sharing Show
• Sprout's Wiggly Waffle
• Noodle and Doodle

So far, it is unknown if segments from Musical Mornings with Coo were ever on the app, as the block dissolved the same year the app launched. 

Sprout described the app as:

"The Sprout Player is your one stop destination for all Sprout podcasts available for you and your preschooler to enjoy! Download from iTunes® and watch your favorite shows wherever you go!"

My Week with Sprout Apps: Dress Chica

Image from Vimeo

 Dress Chica was a mobile app based on both an online game and a Sunny Side Up Show segment of the same name. It was one of three apps released by Sprout and New Wave Entertainment in 2009, and was the first of them. 

Image from Vimeo

Image from YouTube

The app was very, very similar to the game. You could dress Chica up in silly costumes by choosing hats, costumes, and accessories, send to a loved one, and send it in to Sprout, where you might see your game on TV.

Sprout described the app as:

"You can help Chica get dressed in style. Choose from many different outfits by selecting hats, scarves and more. Play again and again to make a new outfit everytime!"

Image from Vimeo

A similar app, Dress Like Chica, was released the same year.