Call it thorough parenting with an entrepreneurial edge. Littleton's Beth Starkey took her young son's ever-flowing questions - "Why is the moon round? Why don't we have hurricanes here?" - and created a TV program to answer them. Starkey's "Why Dragonfly?" will air to a statewide audience Sunday, September 17, at 10:30 a.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS.
The program recently won an iParenting Media Award from iParenting Media Network - a hub of community websites for pregnancy, parents and families - but Sunday's showing is its television premiere.
Starkey got the idea for "Why Dragonfly?" when she noticed her two boys were drawn to programs with action and adventure themes, which weren't always age-appropriate. She sought to create a program that would satisfy their curiosity as well as their desire for entertainment. "Why Dragonfly?" combines live action with state-of-the-art animation to entertain children ages 3 and older. The main character is an animated magical dragonfly named Archimedes. In the first episode, kids Ryan and Emily wonder why the moon is out during the day. Archimedes appears on the playground and whisks them away to the Space Science Institute and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The program answers the children's questions while also encouraging them to be resourceful.
After writing an initial script for the program, Starkey made a connection with Boston producer Jennifer Lorenz, whose background includes work for "Nova" as well as productions on Discovery and the History Channel. Both mothers of young children, Lorenz and Starkey worked around naptimes, play dates and feeding schedules to produce the first video in the "Why Dragonfly?" series.
The program was released on DVD last year and is available at www.whydragonfly.com. It can also be purchased on amazon.com and in the Denver area at Timbuk Toys, the Tattered Cover Bookstores and at the gift shop at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. According to Starkey, future episodes are in the works.
