Baku the Travel Bug is a groundbreaking new DVD series that introduces children ages 3-8 to people and places from around the world. Young viewers will get their first taste of the program’s irresistible blend of puppetry, live action, and animation in the debut episode, Making Friends around the World, which releases in December 2004.

Baku is a lovable puppet who lives inside the travel bag of Aunt Sydney, his best friend and travel companion. At the beginning of episode one, Baku pops out of the travel bag when children from the neighborhood visit Aunt Sydney’s house. He can’t wait to show them pictures from his latest trip – oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! With the help of his magical Scrapbook, he and the children bring to life photographs from Mexico, and invite Baku’s good friend Miguel to the house to help them make tostadas. Miguel teaches them the Spanish word for each of the ingredients, and the children enjoy a tasty treat after singing about everything new they have learned.

The second segment begins when Aunt Sydney’s doorbell rings, and this time it’s the sound of a sitar announcing visitors. Semira and her mother Mina have just returned from India, and they’re bearing gifts! Though Baku can’t take his eyes off the mithai – the delicious Indian sweets – the children are more interested in Mina showing them how to put on a sari. After learning how such a long piece of fabric can be wrapped into a beautiful dress, the children open up Scrapbook and take a tour through actual sari markets in India.

In the third and final segment, Baku teaches the children how to spin the Big Globe. After spinning it around and around, he stops it with his finger and lands on Lebanon. Once again turning to the magical Scrapbook, Baku shows viewers scenes of people dancing in a restaurant in Lebanon’s capital city, Beirut, and before too long Aunt Sydney and Baku have invited two people to the house—Nabih and Najeeba—to teach everyone how to dance. Viewers will get up off the sofa for the final segment and enjoy waving their arms as they learn to dance to the sounds of Lebanese music.

Making Friends around the World is just the first in the exciting new Baku the Travel Bug series which provides a playful learning experience for children by bringing to life what it’s like to grow up in other parts of the world. Inspired by founder Peter Arndt, who wanted to share his passion for internationalism with children, and developed by Matt Crenshaw, an alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Baku the Travel Bug is the product of countless conversations with parents, curious kids, preschool and elementary school teachers, developmental psychologists and educational experts, all of whom wanted a fun and engaging product that would awaken childrens’ minds to the wider world.