It’s been a while since I pointed out some new sites online that my family is digging, so to start off the week I thought I’d share on a few that are definitely worth the visit.

If you haven’t been over to the PBS site recently, prepare to be impressed—while the PBS Kids site has gotten plenty of attention over the years, the main site was a bit in need of a face-lift, which it just got last week. Heading the list of my new favorite features is the Supersisters blog, written by three fabulous sister-bloggers who total eight children between them. Technically this one is for the parents, not the kids, but if ever you needed to know that other parents are struggling with the same issues your family faces, you’re going to want to bookmark this one.

If you’re looking for new sites to entertain the kids, I’ve got a couple of options for you. First is Cogno, which describes itself thusly:

Cogno® is a multimedia children’s brand that combines fun characters, stories and games to entertain and engage kids ages 7-13. They join the adventures of Cogno and, along the way, subtly absorb science, math and language concepts.

We recognize the “fun” bar for kids rises higher every year, and our award winning approach makes Cogno as fun as any brand on the market. Kids are drawn to Cogno’s world, and therefore toward thinking and imagination.

It’s no wonder people have referred to Cogno as “Star Wars meets the Magic School Bus!”

And second, happy birthday to the LEGO Miniman! He’s thirty years old now (can you believe it?), and to commemorate this auspicious event, you can now hop on over to Go Miniman Go for all of your LEGO Miniman movie needs. Check it out:

I do love a good LEGO movie.

(And—of course!—don’t forget that you can find the coolest LEGO sets over at All Aboard Toys.)

Are there other new sites your family has been enjoying lately? I’m always looking for cool new destination online—leave me a comment if you have a suggestion!

Hide the computer, stand in front of the television, take the phone off the hook and bar the doors if you want to keep your sons from being completely sucked into the latest Ben 10 phenomenon—Cartoon Network has finally launched the Ben 10: Alien Force Bounty Hunters game.

What, you think I’m kidding? Check this out and tell me what kid you know that doesn’t want a piece of this:

It’s not just that it’s the much-loved Ben 10, it’s that this is a massive multi-player game where kids can:

• Test Your Skills Against Other Players!
  Choose an alien species and join your friends in real-time multiplayer battles. Play as teams or fight it out in a galactic free-for-all. Your actions can help decide the outcome of the war!
• Battle on Distant Planets!
  Fire up your jetpack and fly around huge alien worlds. Use the terrain to your advantage and capture your opponents!
• Unleash Alien Technology!
  Pick your favorite weapon and style of combat: power, speed, stealth, range. Discover awesome powerups that can turn the tide of battle!

Personally, I was eager to test it out before unleashing my son (and possibly not seeing him again until his teens), but it turns out that this highly-hyped game doesn’t run in either Safari or Firefox. Hmph. Well, it’s probably just as well. I enjoy seeing my kid occasionally, after all.

Word has it that eventually credits earned in the Bounty Hunters game will be redeemable on Cartoon Network’s Mini Match site, too. Not that I really understand the lure of Mini Match, given that I am far too old and crotchety to really “get” it. Oh well.

Now, you darn Bounty Hunters get out of my yard!

Take a trip in the way-back machine with me: It’s a Saturday morning—early—and two young children are parked inches from the (black and white) television with bowls of cereal. Some music starts up on the screen, and before you know it, the little girl is singing along at the top of her voice. “TRA LA LA! LA LA LA LA! TRA LA LA LA LALA LA LA!” The music is certainly cheerful, but up until that point, the parents in the house were sleeping… and they don’t wake up all that cheerful, regardless of the soundtrack. Oops.

I don’t need to tell you who those children were (suffice it to say, my brother never got carried away singing along and got into trouble for waking up our parents), but times have really changed. For one thing, we have color television, now. For another, my kids prefer toast in the morning.

What?

But we all know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It turns out that the toe-tapping music that entranced me as a young girl is back, and just as infectious as ever. That’s right—The Banana Splits are staging a comeback, and Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky are still eerily reminiscent of some other famous singers you may have heard of. Except, you know, in giant animal form.

Your kids can play around on the official website, plus you’ll be seeing their music videos (”One banana, two banana, three banana, four!”) popping up on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Just try to keep your toes from tapping. And then try not to feel old when you tell your kids that you watched The Banana Splits when you were little.

You know, back in the Pleistocene Era.

I don’t consider myself a Star Wars geek, not really. Like any child of the 70s, I went to the original movie and was wowed. The effects! The story! That hunky Harrison Ford! (Well, okay, maybe that last sentiment didn’t come along until much later. Give me a break; I was only six when it hit the theaters.)

Thus my love of Star Wars was born—in a mall cinema where I sat transfixed, hard-pressed to tell you whether the Jedis or the Milk Duds I was eating were more interesting.

When the “new” Star Wars movies started coming out, when I was older, I found myself somewhat affronted. Part of the allure was the cheesy special effects! But darned if the new movies weren’t pretty good, too. And now there’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars coming out tomorrow, and I don’t know what to think.

On the one hand, hey, more Star Wars! And it’s CGI, which might be really, really cool. Certainly the kids are eager to check it out. But on the other hand, Rotten Tomatoes isn’t impressed. And I’m a purist, you know? Although Star Wars was an animated TV series for a while, the movies aren’t (shouldn’t be) animated. I think.

Here’s some links to check out, just in case you want to investigate further:

• Go watch the official trailer, if you haven’t seen it already.
• Check out the Wookieepedia for information, or just because it’s fun to say “The Wookieepedia.”
• Read all about the movie in Scientific American (just like it’s real science).
• Or just find out the answers to Seven Burning Questions About Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

I think I’ll wait for this one to go to DVD, but then again, I’m a lightweight.

Have you met the Sushi Pack yet? Their Wikipedia page describes them this way:

It features a team of wasabi, salmon egg sushi, crab sushi, tuna sushi, and octopus sushi as they use their wits and their emotions to save the world and educate young children. The Sushi Pack team lives in a Japanese restaurant with humans. Despite the superhero element of the story, violence is used only as a last resort.

Oh, thank goodness. I’m glad violence is only a last resort, seeing as how watching some of my favorite foods being unnecessarily aggressive might be disturbing.

(What?)

I was unfamiliar with the show, so I looked ‘em up on YouTube. Of course. Check it out:

(Did… that guy make another Wasabi dude by pinching a little bit off the other Wasabi dude’s head? He did? Okay, just checking.)

There’s even a Sushi Pack movie hitting select theaters this month, for those of you itching to see animated sushi on the big screen.

And of course we’re delighted to announce that you can now shop at the Sushi Pack Store right here at Ty’s Toy Box. Because those little sushi guys are too cute not to have ‘em right there on a t-shirt.

Welcome to Ty’s Toy Box, Sushi Pack! We promise never to stick chopsticks into your heads. Probably.

I’m talking about gearing up to watch the Summer Olympics, of course, not about traveling to China with your children. My advice for far-away travel with children can best be summed up via two-pronged approach: 1) Just don’t do it, or 2) Benadryl. So, yeah, if you’re actually going to Beijing for the Olympics, have a wonderful time, but I have no suggestions on how to make that a smoother trip. Good luck!

But, if you—like most of us—are getting ready to spend some quality time with your kids and your television, starting tomorrow, that I can probably help you with. See, most children will react to the idea of watching sporting events on TV rather than cartoons or kids’ bands with a mixture of horror and confusion. Why would you want to do that, they would ask, if only they could articulate the question through their displeasure. But after years of experience, I’ve learned how to convince my children that watching the Olympics is just about the coolest. thing. ever.

My secret? I go for the sports that are just plain cool to watch, regardless of your age or favorites. When trying to cajole your kids into watching with you, ask yourself which events are most likely to pique their interest. Check out the complete list and you’ll find it’s pretty easy to decide. Swimming, for example, is something the kids do, but isn’t all that much fun to watch. Diving, on the other hand, is always fascinating, plus it has the advantage of having some very young contenders (which is always a draw for kids).

Need some more ways to get the kids psyched for the Olympic games? Here’s some online resources for kid-friendly fun:

• eHow has links to plenty of Olympic-themed printables.
• Surfing the Net With Kids has picked some kid-friendly Olympics sites.
• Reading is Fundamental suggests books and crafts to go with your Olympic fever.

If only there was some way to have the great kids’ shows you already love somehow spawn other great shows your kids would love, and then you’d be able to flip on the television and reason, “Well, we already enjoy X, certainly we’ll like Y, as well!”

That’d be great, wouldn’t it?

Oh. Wait! That’s already happening! It seems that Australian sensation The Wiggles aren’t just a bunch of pretty faces with some great kids’ music. In fact, Anthony Field (you may know how better as the blue Wiggle) is developing a new show:

The Wiggles, Nine Network and Nick Jr. will combine to present a new pre-school series for Australian families this year: The Kingdom of Paramithi, a collection of musical stories for young children in 30 half-hour instalments.

The Kingdom of Paramithi is scheduled to premiere on the Nine Network in November 2008 and on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. network in December.

Created by Blue Wiggle Anthony Field and Paul Field, written by Paul Field and Paul Paddick and developed with the experience of The Wiggles production team, the series incorporates musical performance, dance, comedy and charismatic new characters.

Anthony Field said:”The Kingdom of Paramithi is an exciting new series full of adventure stories drawn from a rich tradition of folk tales and music. You’ll meet a king and a queen and a host of colourful characters who are passionate about putting on a show.”

Confession time: I read the show description (a king and a queen and a host of characters) and immediately thought, “Wow, they’re making a new Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood!” Hee.

Regardless, it sounds promising, and it’s nice to know that we don’t have to wait too long on this side of the pond to get in on the action. Though this part did make me giggle:

“We are really thrilled about this collaboration,” said Deirdre Brennan, Director of Programming for Nickelodeon Australia. “The Wiggles production team are incredibly experienced in knowing what children want to watch and how best to connect with them.”

Really? They know what kids watch? I mean, I never would’ve guessed that, based upon their current path of virtual world domination via the ardent obsession of every human on the planet under the age of four….

Every now and then I come across another blog where I feel like I’ve met some kindred spirits. Usually it’s a place where someone confesses to letting their kids eat food they’ve dropped on the floor or something like that. (Uhhhh… not that I’ve ever done such a thing. Gross! But it makes me feel better about my own less-than-stellar parenting moments.)

Confession time: My favorite sort of mom-solidarity is when someone admits to letting her child watch [fill in the blank] television. (Fill in the blank with “too much” or “not exactly quality” or “totally annoying,” it’s up to you.) So you can understand where I immediately fell in love with the Smart Television Alliance Blog in general, and with this post about giving up the TV guilt trip, in particular. Why, I was hooked right from the description of author Debbie Bookstaber:

She grew up watching He-Man cartoons and still went to Yale.

Well, there you go. Actually, I grew up on an insane amount of television, and I more or less turned out okay, so I do have trouble seeing TV as the evil I’m apparently supposed to believe that it is. I’m all about balance, though, so I do love the suggestions in the article for how to best keep TV in its rightful place:

1. Find new ways to play.
2. Make TV viewing an active experience.
3. Pick the right programs.
4. Don’t use the TV as background noise.
5. Lighten up.

Do go read the whole thing for details, but the bottom line is that watching television can be a part of a well-rounded, guilt-free upbringing. Awesome.

I’ll tell you right up front, here, that neither of my children are teens. Nor will they ever be. I mean, I assume they will eventually become teens whether I agree with it or not, but as soon as my oldest hits the teenage years I fully intend to enter the Witness Protection Program, thereby missing most of whatever it is that teens do to their parents. (This is not a frivolous plan. It isn’t. Hey, who asked you, anyway?)

All of this is to say that my children will not be checking out the Teen Choice Awards tonight on Fox, but perhaps your house shelters some of those mysterious teens I hear so much about, and perhaps inbetween eating you out of house and home and telling you how you’re completely ruining their lives, they’ll take a break to tune in.

I love this picture of Miley Cyrus from last year’s show; she looks so cute and sweet and adorable. Of course, Cyrus is hosting the awards this year, no doubt as part of her continued campaign to prove to the world that she’s All Grown Up Now, Thank You Very Much.

(Awwwww, don’t be like that, Miley. We still love you as Hannah Montana!)

In addition to seeing what sort of outfit the young hostess wears this year, you’ll want to tune in to find out what the kids are digging these days. You know, just in case you decide to stick around through the puberty poisoning.

It may not be slated for release until November 21st, but you’d better believe that the dedicated J.K. Rowling fans of the world are chomping at the bit in anticipation of the 6th Harry Potter movie—Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Yesterday’s release of the first official trailer just about blew the lid off of the internet. You probably heard a popping sound and didn’t know what it was, in fact. Allow me to clarify: It was Potter-mania.

But if you haven’t seen the trailer, you may be about to come down with a case of it, yourself. Check it out:

If you’re a Potter fan, you can’t watch that and tell me you’re not wishing it was November right now. C’mon. Don’t even try lying to me; I’m a trained mother and I can spot these things a mile away.

(For a really interesting time, go read the MTV Movie News dissection of the trailer. Those are some serious Potterphiles, right there.)

And then… get ready. Only 113 days left!