CoComelon studio Moonbug partners with the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA to Bring Child Development Research into Online Video for Kids

New research-backed learning principles to be applied across Moonbug's flagship series, including CoComelon, Blippi, and Little Angel and their spin-offs

LOS ANGELES, April 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Moonbug Entertainment, a global leader in digital-first kids entertainment like CoComelon and Blippi, today announced a partnership with the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA, a nonprofit research center that connects academic research with media creators to support the well-being and development of young audiences, to integrate child development research into the creation of preschool programming.

As more young children spend time with video storytelling on digital platforms, parents and creators are asking a fundamental question: Can kids actually learn from what they watch? Research shows they can. But only when those stories are developmentally appropriate and intentionally designed around how young children learn, process information, and engage with stories.

Moonbug believes that online video can be more than entertainment. When used thoughtfully, it can support learning, exploration, and everyday discovery, especially when it is intentionally designed around how young children learn and grow.

For decades, learning and development research has played a central role in shaping high-quality children's media. Today, as more children watch creator-led programming on platforms like YouTube, the opportunity is to bring that same level of research and rigor into a digital-first environment.

The collaboration brings child development expertise directly into the creative process behind Moonbug's flagship series, including CoComelon, Blippi, Little Angel, and their spin-off series like CoComelon's The Melon Patch. The work helps guide how stories are developed from early concepts through production.

At the center of the partnership are four core learning principles developed by CSS in partnership with academic scholars and Moonbug's creative team. These principles are designed to guide Moonbug's creative teams and other kids' content creators and give parents a clearer understanding of what developmentally appropriate content looks like. The principles will be released publicly this spring.

To develop the principles, CSS conducted a comprehensive review in 2023 of peer-reviewed research on early childhood learning, alongside an in-depth analysis of Moonbug's programming and creative process, including interviews with creative teams, episode analysis, and collaboration with an advisory council of academic experts.

Moonbug then expanded its partnership with CSS late last year to integrate these principles into the creative process. CSS and learning experts now collaborate with Moonbug's creative teams, who develop, write, and produce the shows, to:

• Define development and learning goals for each season, including development of life skills, soft skills (social-emotional learning), and cognitive skills.
• Shape story ideas and episode themes, and
• Review scripts and early cuts to ensure learning is clear and age-appropriate.

"As more preschoolers spend time on digital platforms, parents and creators are asking more urgent questions about what quality screen time actually means," said Dr. Yalda T. Uhls, Founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA. "Research shows children can learn from online video, but only when it's designed with child development in mind. Our work with Moonbug is about bringing research and storytelling closer together, and we see this as an ongoing commitment. Translating research principles into a production environment takes a sustained effort, and a real measure of success will be how consistently these principles shape creative principles over time."

"To make great stories for young kids, you have to start with how they learn," said Rich Hickey, Chief Creative Officer at Moonbug Entertainment. "Our teams already think deeply about how toddlers experience music, stories, and everyday moments. This partnership with CSS renews that commitment and helps us be even more intentional in how we build stories from the earliest ideas through production."

Moonbug's creative teams have long worked with trusted learning consultants to better understand how young children develop and how storytelling can support early learning.

These experts include Dr. Natascha Crandall, Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith, and Dr. Laura Brown, who will continue to collaborate closely with Moonbug's creative leadership.

Through this partnership with CSS, that work is now being formalized into a more consistent, research-backed approach – helping ensure that as kids' viewing continues to shift to digital platforms, the content they watch is designed to support how they actually learn.

About the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA
The Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA connects entertainment and academia to build a research-informed community of storytellers supporting the well-being of kids, teens, and young adults. A 501c(3) nonprofit working out of UCLA, the Center for Scholars & Storytellers is the only youth-centered organization that bridges the gap between psychology research and media creation to help young people thrive.

About Moonbug Entertainment
Moonbug is an award-winning global entertainment company inspiring kids everywhere to laugh, learn, and grow. The company is behind some of the biggest kids' entertainment brands in the world, including CoComelon, Blippi, and Little Angel. Moonbug believes every child should have access to entertaining and enriching content, making its shows available on more than 150 video platforms globally, including Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and YouTube Kids. The company is also a global leader in preschool music and audio experiences, available on 100+ audio platforms globally. Moonbug brands extend far beyond the screen to include streaming music, games, interactive consumer products, and live events.

Moonbug is part of Candle Media, an independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises. By bringing together elite talent operating at the intersection of content, community, and commerce, it helps to position leading entertainment businesses for accelerated, sustainable growth in the current market and beyond. Candle is run by its Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, leading entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, and backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone's flagship private equity business.

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SOURCE Moonbug Entertainment