WUCF TV, Central Florida’s PBS station, announced the premiere of Season 3 of The WNET Group’s summer learning and exploration series Camp TV. In Central Florida, Camp TV Season 3 premieres on Friday, July 1 at 2:30 p.m. and will air weekly in that same time slot. Central Florida resident, Joaquin, is featured in the “Tell Me a Story” segment at the conclusion of the Aug. 5 episode.
“Camp TV reinforces WUCF’s commitment to school readiness. We are excited to encourage our youngest viewers to continue learning all summer by bringing this camp experience to living rooms across Central Florida,” said Jennifer Cook, WUCF executive director. “Our team is also proud to introduce Central Florida’s own, Joaquin, a WUCF viewer to a national audience. Joaquin joins Camp TV as a student reader with his recitation of Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC in the Pirate Day episode.”
This season, comedian Mia Weinberger joins as co-counselor alongside Broadway performer Zachary Noah Piser (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Wicked”) as head counselor, to guide campers ages 5-10 as they learn through play, activities and movement. Each episode of Camp TV begins with the counselors announcing the theme for the day. Season 3 themes include Going Green Day, Unicorn Day, Carnival Day, Time Warp Day, Make a Splash Day, Self-Care Day, Pirate Day, Magic Day, Mustache Day, and Not Really Valentine’s Day Day.
“We’re thrilled to bring another summer of fun day camp experiences to young learners nationwide,” said Sandra Sheppard, executive producer of Kids’ Media & Education for The WNET Group. “This new season continues the mission to make summer learning programs available to all and to bring some of the top educational and cultural institutions right into the homes of children who would not otherwise have access.”
Experts and teaching artists from leading educational and cultural institutions across the country are back to present segments focusing on math, literacy, science, arts, movement, mindfulness and more. Kids are encouraged to actively participate with the show, with hands-on segments that have them drawing alongside experts from the Guggenheim Museum, learning math from the Intrepid Museum’s various exhibits and dancing with the National Dance Institute. A new segment called “Mindful Me” teaches viewers self-care techniques that aim to build resilience, confidence and self-awareness. Each episode concludes with a story time segment featuring young readers from public television stations around the country, including WUCF.
Activity guides will be posted on CampTV.org so families can prepare materials ahead of time to follow along with the broadcast. The brand-new website will allow for kids and other users to easily explore the entire collection of Camp TV segments, episodes, related activities and more.
Camp TV content partners for Season 3 include Blackspace, Carnegie Hall, Children’s Museum of the Arts, Courtney Chu, The Exploratorium, Guggenheim Museum, Impossible Science, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Liberty Science Center, Lincoln Center, Memphis Zoo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mister C, National Dance Institute, New Victory Theater, New York Philharmonic, One Voice Children’s Choir, PBS39, PBS North Carolina, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Story Pirates, They Might Be Giants, ThinkTV and WHRO Public Media.
Camp TV is a production of The WNET Group. The program is distributed nationally by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). Sandra Sheppard is executive producer. Melinda Toporoff is co-executive producer and writer. Kevin Di Salvo is coordinating producer.
Major funding for Camp TV is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding was provided by The Charles and Lucille King Foundation, the New York City Council, the Alice Lawrence Foundation, Pine Tree Foundation of New York, and The Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund.
Episodes will also be available to stream on CampTV.org beginning July 1.