Exploring the beauty of southern Alberta through JungleGYM TV
Kids from southern Alberta are featured in a new YouTube and TELUS original show that premiered this week with two episodes.
The show, called JungleGYM TV, focuses on getting children active, both physically and mentally, while also highlighting and exploring southern Alberta.
"We wanted to make a video series that is designed to inspire pre-school children to move their bodies and imaginations, providing them with some educational fun and little exercises so they can get up and get moving," said Jocelyn Chugg the Jungle Gym TV host in an interview with CTV Lethbridge.
The show is produced and created by Snapshot Studios from Calgary and prominently features the Helen Schuler Nature Centre in Lethbridge and the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale.
"Alberta just has so much to it, there is a lot to explore, it’s all right in our little bubble," said Chugg.
"So, being able to hang out at the Birds of Prey Centre and Helen Schuler, it was just so cool, so fun."
FIFTH GENERATION ALBERTAN
As a fifth generation Albertan, Chugg said she was extremely happy to spotlight this beautiful region.
In the first episode of JungleGYM TV, local kids got to visit the Birds of Prey Center and get an up close experience with our flying, feathery friends.
"There’s not very many places in Alberta, or even Canada where you can reach out and touch a live owl or live eagle so it was a new experience for them and really added some extra magic to the program as well," said Colin Weir, Alberta Birds of Prey Centres' managing director.
Weir said it also gave the kids, and everybody tuning in to JungleGYM TV, a chance to look into the important role that birds play within the Indigenous communities of southern Alberta.
In the first episode of JungleGYM TV, local kids got to visit the Birds of Prey Center and get an up close experience with our flying, feathery friends.
"We had one of our First Nations people, Dalyce Gladstone, and she was able to talk a little about Indigenous culture and the significance of birds of prey to them as well."
In the second episode, they talked about prairie animals with the Helen Schuler Nature Centre and got to experience nature first-hand.
"We shot a few scenes here at the centre and then we were walking down to the river to shoot some scenes about beaver and we even stumbled upon a fawn you will see in the show," said Taylor Hecker, the center's program leader.
"It looks like it was staged but that actually happened, it’s perfect timing."
Hecker is excited about the show and the importance it places on local ecosystems.
"There's just so much more to discover here, even in southern Alberta, so I look forward to seeing what comes next."
JungleGYM TV also has interactive workout sessions for the kids to get involved in as well as brain games to keep children's minds sharp.
Their two episodes can be found on YouTube and TELUS TV, but Chugg and the rest of the JungleGYM TV team are hoping for more episodes to come soon.
“We’re are hoping to continue to explore the rest of Alberta because there is so much to see and so much to show these kids,” Chugg added.
For more information on the Helen Schuler Nature Centre, the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre and JungleGYM TV, you can visit their websites.
With files from Sean Marks
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S. to hit Russian-held areas, officials say
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
All Alberta wildfires to date in 2024 believed to be human-caused: province
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Suspects waving weapons, smashing glass in Toronto jewelry store robbery caught on video
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
New evidence challenges the Pentagon's account of a horrific attack as the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan: CNN exclusive
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.