<\/p>\n
Beneath azure skies and fluffy white clouds, three giggling toddlers and their mothers arrive at a candy-colored water park in the town of CoComelon.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the opening of \u201cFast Little Fishy Splash Water Park Adventure<\/a>,\u201d a three-minute episode of \u201cCoComelon,\u201d the popular children\u2019s cartoon series that is perhaps as controversial as it is appealing to young children.<\/p>\n Moonbug Entertainment, the studio behind \u201cCoComelon,\u201d says the episode, which debuted on YouTube in May, is the result of a years-long collaboration with a UCLA think tank. <\/p>\n In an unconventional move for a privately held entertainment company, the studio released its child development guidelines on its website Tuesday. Moonbug\u2019s head of communications Bao Nguyen said the company began to incorporate findings from the research into its creative process in late 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great example of what we\u2019ve been trying to do,\u201d said Rich Hickey, Moonbug\u2019s chief creative officer, referring to the episode. \u201cInclusive storytelling and learning through play \u2014 they\u2019re all evident within that episode.\u201d<\/p>\n Nina and Cody, ecstatic about visiting their neighborhood splash pad, run through fountains and hop in kiddie pools, but protagonist JJ is a bit more skeptical.<\/p>\n With support from his friends and his mother, who offers him goggles and a pair of orange arm floaties, JJ decides to face his fears. He joins his friends under a tipping bucket, and \u2014 spoiler alert \u2014 realizes that he actually enjoys playing in water. (\u201cI just love to swim, swim, swim,\u201d he sings.)<\/p>\n The guidelines<\/u><\/a>, called the \u201cMoonbug Learning Principles Framework,\u201d are informed by academic research and advise that Moonbug shows should help young viewers navigate \u201creal life moments\u201d and \u201cmodel positive relationships among children and their friends and caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n Other priorities include creating shows that encourage kids to learn through play, as this helps them develop their imagination and creativity, and featuring characters from diverse backgrounds (\u201cCoComelon\u2019s\u201d Nina is Mexican American, Cece is Korean American and Cody is Black) \u2014 and giving said characters depth \u2014 across all Moonbug shows. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a digital-first company and we realized that there may be some \u2026 hesitation to sharing online content with children,\u201d Hickey said. \u201cThis is really to keep building on the trust we think we\u2019ve built.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCoComelon\u201d is Moonbug\u2019s flagship preschool show, and the series\u2019 origins<\/u><\/a> date back to 2006 when commercial director Jay Jeon shared a YouTube video of an alphabet cartoon set to music. The videos began to revolve around toddler JJ in 2017.<\/p>\n By 2020, \u201cCoComelon\u201d was the most-watched YouTube channel in the world, averaging 3.5 billion monthly views. That year, the show made its streaming debut on Netflix \u2014 where it broke <\/u>ratings <\/u>records<\/u><\/a> \u2014 and was bought by London-based entertainment company Moonbug.<\/p>\n Moonbug was then acquired by Candle Media, a firm led by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, for a reported $3 billion<\/a>. Disney+ has since obtained<\/u><\/a> the exclusive streaming rights to \u201cCoCoMelon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCoComelon\u2018s\u201d image woes aren\u2019t new. The series has developed a reputation for keeping children glued to the screen, as seen in videos that have gone viral on social media<\/u><\/a> of babies bolting to the television upon hearing the marimba theme song.<\/p>\n In 2020, a Guardian columnist<\/u><\/a> wrote that \u201cCoComelon\u201d was \u201clike crack\u201d for a preschool child. A New York Times<\/u><\/a> report in 2022 gave the public more insight into Moonbug\u2019s audience development process, which included testing \u201cCoComelon\u201d videos on young children to make its shows as attention-grabbing as possible.<\/p>\n The program has been a hot topic on parenting<\/u><\/a> forums<\/u><\/a>. The exchange typically goes something like this: Someone asks if \u201cCoComelon\u201d is \u201cbad\u201d and a gaggle of parents weigh in. \u201cVery overstimulating,\u201d said a user in one Reddit thread. \u201cIt moves too fast for kids\u2019 brains to process, which can cause a speech delay,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n Asked to respond to the criticism, Hickey said he believes Moonbug makes \u201cage-appropriate content\u201d and produces a range of videos to cater to different moments throughout a child\u2019s day, from slow bedtime videos to faster-paced ones meant to encourage movement, Hickey said.<\/p>\n In 2023, Moonbug recruited the Center for Scholars and Storytellers, a think tank at UCLA that bridges entertainment media and psychology research, to \u201ccreate the best possible product\u201d for its audience, Hickey said.<\/p>\n The center was tasked with analyzing Moonbug\u2019s content and crafting the learning principles to guide the studio\u2019s future preschool programming, which also includes the \u201cBlippi\u201d and \u201cLittle Angel\u201d franchises.<\/p>\n A scene from Moonbug Entertainment\u2019s \u201cBlippi\u2019s Job Show.\u201d<\/p>\n (Jessica Perez \/ Moonbug)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Moonbug also asked the center to determine if there was research showing that audiovisual content could be addicting for preschoolers, said Yalda T. Uhls, an assistant adjunct professor of psychology at UCLA and executive director of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers. Uhls said the center\u2019s review of existing peer-reviewed research found that there was no such evidence.<\/p>\n And despite oft-repeated claims that long-form content is better for kids than short-form content, \u201cthere isn\u2019t really actually any evidence for that,\u201d Uhls said. \u201cIt\u2019s very inconclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n The center found that preschool children struggle to learn as much from content with frequent cuts, though consuming it doesn\u2019t impact their attention span negatively, Uhls said.<\/p>\n As such, the principles<\/u><\/a> the center crafted recommend Moonbug \u201cminimize distractions and tangential songs or storylines\u201d when characters are navigating real-life situations to make sure it does not interfere with preschool children\u2019s ability to learn<\/u><\/a> lessons.<\/p>\n The center interviewed members of Moonbug\u2019s creative teams and formed an advisory council of academic experts in child development to evaluate a selection of Moonbug\u2019s episodes, assess the quality of socio-emotional learning and find areas for improvement, Uhls said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe content certainly had a lot of places where it could improve, but it wasn\u2019t horrible,\u201d Uhls said. \u201cThere was some learning within the episodes. … It wasn\u2019t all good, it wasn\u2019t all bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Uhls said she recalled several instances of episodes modeling unsafe behavior, but declined to share specifics.<\/p>\n The center plans to continue to work with Moonbug to integrate child development research much earlier in the studio\u2019s creative process and aid with the integration of the learning principles into its content slate, Uhls said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n