Potato Council teams up with ‘Small Potatoes’

Potato Council and TV production company Little Airplane Productions, the team behind 3^rd & Bird and The Wonder Pets, have joined forces to take Small Potatoes on an interactive tour of the country, and introduce children and their parents to the enjoyment of potatoes this autumn.

The Small Potatoes series, which is shown on CBeebies, features four adorable animated spud stars who travel the world and sing about different topics in each episode. The programme takes young viewers on an exploration of imaginative play and builds an appreciation of a variety of music genres.

Recognising that the small potato characters held a real affinity with its young audience, Potato Council reached an agreement with Little Airplane Productions for them to be a part of its consumer roadshow and family focused activity.

While parents will be invited to join a registered dietician for sessions including meal demonstrations and sampling, Ten Top Tips for happy and healthy eating, quick fire Q&As and advice, the children will get to meet the two of the Small Potatoes characters Ruby and Nate. Here they will be encouraged to take part in sing-a-longs, games and colouring competitions. The winners will receive a specially customised Photato image.

The costume characters and Potato Council promotional vehicle will be stopping at eight venues across the country during October and November*. Fully equipped with a kitchen, classroom facilities and seating, the unit will be fully branded with a mix of Small Potatoes and healthy eating message boards.

Caroline Evans, Potato Council head of marketing and corporate affairs, said: Were absolutely delighted to have the stars of Small Potatoes joining our autumn roadshow.

As parents are educated about the health benefits of fresh potatoes and inspired with tasty recipes, pre-school children will be entertained by the fun characters after all its never too early to be introduced to the delights of potatoes!

We are thrilled to be joining forces with Potato Council by taking our Small Potatoes’ stars Ruby and Nate out on the road to help encourage families to eat healthily,” said Josh Selig, President of Little Airplane Productions. Any friend of the potato is a friend of mine.”

* The roadshow dates and venues are:

Potato Council

Potato Council, supporting the potato industry, is funded by potato growers, purchasers and processors. Potato Council is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (www.ahdb.org.uk).

Small Potatoes

Small Potatoes premiered in the UK on Cbeebies this spring, where it took three of the top five spots on the Cbeebies iPlayer during its first week, including the #1 spot. The series has had successful launches in ABC Australia and on Canal + and Piwi in France. The Small Potatoes facebook page www.facebook.com/thesmallpotatoes is one of social media’s hottest dishes with likes growing by 75% month on month. An album of songs taken from the series is currently available on iTunes.

About Little Airplane Productions

Founded by Josh Selig in 1999, Little Airplane Productions created and produced “The Wonder Pets!” for Nick Jr. (winner of the 2009 Japan Prize for Best Television Series), “Oobi!” for NOGGIN and “3rd & Bird” and “Small Potatoes” for the BBC’s CBeebies. Additionally, Josh Selig was the Head Writer for “Little Bill” on Nick Jr. He has received ten Emmy Awards for his writing on “Sesame Street” and was the Resident Producer of the historic Israeli/Palestinian “Sesame Street” co-production (winner of the 1998 Japan Prize). Josh writes a weekly column for KidScreen Magazine called “Planet Preschool” which can be read at www.kidscreen.com. Little Airplane has also launched the Little Light Foundation (www.littlelightfoundation.org). The mission of the Little Light Foundation is to create programming that will help children around the world learn about conflict resolution and mutual respect. For more information about Little Airplane Productions please visit www.littleairplane.com