We like to call ToonTube our “Global Storytelling Network for Kids” and it’s cartoons like this that really show off the potential of an internationally connected storytelling community. “Moving to a New School” is a two-part epic from Indonesia and we were struck not just by its remarkable illustrations, but by the fact that we can all remember experiencing the EXACT same feelings when faced with switching schools growing up here in the US. Congratulations Bigbear on your wonderful cartoon and thank you for sharing your adventure with hundreds of thousands of kids around the world!

Craig Dunlap is a teacher at Miami Valley Christian Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio where he uses Toontastic regularly in the classroom. We asked him to share with us how his students have been bringing their stories to life as cartoons!

Like most educators with iPads, I’m constantly looking for apps and apptivities that I can use in my classroom to foster higher level thinking.  We had iPad training in the fall where I was introduced to Alice in New York.  This app is so creative, and I knew I wanted my kids to create something similar, but I had no idea how to do it.

I first heard of Toontastic before Christmas and downloaded it immediately.  Within minutes I could tell it was the app I was looking for.  I loved that the kids could animate and narrate their own stories.  We’ll get into that later.  However, I also appreciate that students begin by charting their story on a Story Arc.  We call it a plot hill in my room, but it’s the same concept.  They see that hill and they know what to do.  Brilliant!

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Working at Launchpad Toys has many great benefits (watching cartoons, building LEGOs, all-you-can-eat ice cream sundaes…), but one of the best has to be the emails we receive with drawings and suggestions for new characters from kids around the world. SO… drumroll please… we decided to host a drawing contest and the winning character will be released as part of next month’s Toontastic update!

So listen up you budding Picassos! Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to draw us a picture of a creature that you think would fit in Family Portrait above, take a picture of it, and email it to howdy@launchpadtoys.com by Sunday March 25th! Or you can create your creature in Toontastic, upload it to ToonTube, and send us a link.

So what are you waiting for? Get doodling!

We’re big fans of the Children’s Creativity Museum here at LPT Galactic Headquarters and spend a lot of our weekends testing our software in the museum’s Innovation Lab. Last week, while testing at the museum, we ran into a TV crew from CNBC’s Tech Check. Lights, Camera, PLAY!

As our many faithful playful storytellers can attest, Toontastic features a wide array of virtual playsets chock full of characters and settings to spark the imagination. Pirates and Robots and Rock Stars OH MY!

Of course, we want everyone to have as many toys as possible to inspire even more remarkable cartoons on ToonTube… so we created an All-Access Pass that unlocks all current AND future playsets for one flat price of $9.99. Easy right? We thought so. Unleashing your kids’ imagination is as simple as opening up the app, tapping the “Toy Store” icon, purchasing the All-Access Pass, and stepping back to watch the TOYSPIRATION unfold. Happy ‘Tooning!

It’s time to plug in your amp and bust out those all-too-tight acid-wash jeans, we just released Toontastic v1.71: Rock Stars! With this release (free to update on iTunes), you and your kids can start your own garage band featuring Fiona Starr, Dyna Mite, M.C. Hi-Tops, and many more. Perform well enough at the Star Amphitheater and you might even score an interview with Magnus O’Doyle on the “Way Past Your Bedtime Show”!

All 32 Playsets are available now (once you update) for individual purchase or you can buy our brand-new ALL ACCESS PASS – unlocking every current AND future playset for a one-time price of $9.99. That’s over 60% off!

As always, the crew here at Launchpad Toys Galactic Headquarters would like to send a mega big (infinity +1) thank you to you and your kids. Your creativity and stories ROCK OUR SOCKS OFF every single day (seriously, we watch a lot of cartoons).

Phew! Swing over to iTunes right now and download version 1.71 for a fix for this crashing issue. Again, thank you for bearing with us on this bug.

Attention Afficionados of ‘Toon: Toontastic v1.7 (just released to iTunes) has been causing problems for folks updating their apps (new installs are fine). We’re so sorry for the inconvenience – it’s a particularly wily database bug, but our crack team of gumshoes is hot on the trail and we look forward to having a fix out to all of you very shortly.

In the meantime, PLEASE DO NOT DELETE THE APP as this will erase your kids’ wonderful cartoons. Again, please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

-Your Friends at Launchpad Toys

Lovers of Children’s Literature rejoice: we finally have a sequel to The Witch of Blackbird Pond (must have been an extraordinary snowmelt/rainfall this year). Special thanks to Ccc71499 (?!#?) for a great story chock full of gripping dialogue, an adorable “police monkey”, and a terrifying witch’s howl. Wow. Well done.

The San Diego Union-Tribune recently showcased one of our illustriously imaginative ‘tooning teachers, Benjamin Black of Hilltop Middle School… or as all of you ToonTube addicts might know him: Adaptations. His class recently created a series of cartoons on Newtons Three Laws, one of which we’ve included above.

We reached out to Benjamin after the article to ask if he’d share his thoughts on using Toontastic in the classroom. Here’s what he had to say:

“Toontastic is a great tool for assessing student understanding of more complex theory and topics.  I have used Toontastic in the classroom to give students an opportunity to be creative, have fun, and demonstrate their true understanding of topics such as Newton’s Laws.  The skills necessary to create an animated short demonstrating the mastery of the topic being covered require higher level thinking and can be used to help others in class understand the topic better when shared.  This is also a fun activity for students and the teacher and once the students become familiar with the program they can create a new animation in minutes.  Apps like this make the iPad an amazing addition to the classroom!”

We’ve seen our fair share of epic adventure tales here at LPT Galactic Headquarters, but this one TAKES THE CAKE! Lily123, most multifaceted of acting talents (playing the roles of Monkey, King Kong, Lion, AND Crocodile), we salute you. Not since The Last Crusade have we found ourselves so gripped to our seats… er, office chairs.

We get a lot of great emails here at Launchpad Toys Galactic Headquarters, but none better than the drawings we receive as suggestions for new characters and playsets. In fact, we love them so much that we’ve decided to build out a special page on our website for all the great photos and drawings you, wise cartoon makers of Toontastic Nation, are creating each day.

So what are you waiting for kids? Send your photos and drawings to support@launchpadtoys.com today and we’ll share them with the rest of the world!

It’s Oscar Sunday and that can only mean two things here at Launchpad Toys Galactic Headquarters: LOTS of buttery popcorn and the unveiling of the Golden Monkey Award Winners! For the 2nd straight year, voting was nail-bitingly close for each of our five categories: Most Playful, Wildest Imagination, Top Drawing and Animation, Fantastic Foreign-Language Film, and Best Story. Congratulations to all of our winners and nominees. Your creativity, humor, and imagination never fail to overwhelm and inspire us all.