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The Prodding Child goes to a magical land inside a closet

One night The Prodding Child was sleeping over at a friend’s house and in the middle of the night they were woken up by some strange noise. Both getting up, they found that their beloved Teddy bear was being dragged into the closet by something. As the bear vanished behind the closet door, the closet was left half closed with some light coming out from the inside, so they both went inside to inspect what was really going on…

findingteddy1Can i help you find your teddy?

findingteddy2After we play hide and seek, can you tell us where my friend’s teddy bear was taken?

findingteddy3What do you think those frogs are thinking about as they stare at us?

The Additional Characters and background art in this post is from the game, Finding Teddy.

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The Prodding Child’s new underwater experience

One day, the child went for a swim at the beach and found many turtles swimming in one direction, he got curious so he befriended one and asked:

the prodding child and the blue turtles

Where are all of you blue turtles going to?

And his new friend Greg the Blue turtle said, we are going to the mystical reef. With this information, the child became more curious and asked Greg if he could come, and Greg’s answer was “Yes!” But first Greg has to give him a little magic, a bubble kiss so that The Prodding Child could survive under water. The child was happy and asked many different questions while ridding on Greg’s shell.

When the Blue Turtles and The Prodding Child got to the mystical reef, the child thanked Greg, said goodbye and left the turtles to their own business. He swam around and explored the reef on his own. After sometime he noticed that his legs had turned into a small fish tail. He was happy because now he can swim faster and can now explore some more!

As he swam around, the child met a beautiful fish, he talked with the fish for a while and found out that the fish was the guardian of the mystical reef. The child asked the guardian fish:

the prodding child and the guardian of the mystical reef

How long have you been the guardian of the mystical reef?

And the guardian fish answered “Long before man came to this world”. After their talk, the guardian fish blew more bubble kisses to The Prodding Child and made his fish tail bigger and  gave the child a personal tour where they saw different colourful corals and fishes of different shapes and sizes.

After a few hours of enjoying the sights in the mystical reef and playing with some of the fishes, the time had come for the child to go home. He asked the guardian how he can get his legs back. The guardian fish said “go and swim with the sea giant, his name is Jeremy, he will give you the bubble kisses  that will turn your fish tail back to human legs”. And with that information, The Prodding Child thanked the guardian fish, said goodbye, and went to swim with Jeremy.

Jeremy must be the biggest sea creature the child has ever seen. But Jeremy is not scary, he is a gentle giant with three sets of pectoral fins, and he swam slowly and guided The Prodding Child home. When they got to the beach, it was now time for the child to inhale the bubble kisses and become human again. But before that, he asked Jeremy, who by that time, had become a close friend:

the prodding child and the sea giant

What do you think about my fishlegs? (referring to child’s fish tail which by now had grown big and beautiful, it looked amazing swaying with the water)

Jeremy said, it is beautiful and you will have it again next time you come to visit us at the mystical reef. The Prodding Child said “Thank you Jeremy i will certainly visit you again soon”. He inhaled the bubble kisses and slowly his fish tail turned into legs. The child walked to the beach and waved goodbye to his new friend and shouted “Until next time Jeremy!”

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The Prodding Child went to the heart of Agusan marsh last weekend

The Agusan marsh wildlife sanctuary is a beautiful place for birding, enjoying serenity with nature and if you are not scared, you can rent a boat and try to find big crocodiles. Last weekend we went to the floating village at Sitio Panlabuhan and here are a couple of encounters that stroked The Prodding Child’s curiosity.

1the prodding child and the crocodille seekerare you waiting for the crocs so you can capture them with your camera?

1theprodding child and the diver at agusan marsh sitio panlabuhan philippinesare you really willing to dive beneath those water hyacinths?

1theprodding child at agusan marsh2will you say hi to the crocs for me when you see them down there?

1theproddingchild and the little travel teller 2are playing a song for the birds?

1theproddingchild and the student of life 2are you writing down the lessons you have learned from mother nature?

Sitio Panlabuhan floating village is part of the municipality of Loreto in the Province of Agusan del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines.

1 loreto to sitio panlabuhan

view Dan’s Agusan Marsh sketches

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The Prodding Child visits the land of learning for the first time

The Prodding Child has arrived at the land of learning and will be visiting the various locations and interacting with the many characters. Join him with your sense of wonder, be observant, be inquisitive, ask many questions and also think of what the answers might be. More to come soon…

theproddingchild and the happy strawberry

do you live in that hut?

theproddingchild and the girl with the crab-pakitongkitong

Are you afraid she will eat you?

theproddingchild and the family that slaps bums together

Can your Family also do the Lollipop Guild Dance?

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Who is The Prodding Child?

The Prodding Child Featured Image

We will release our very first e-book about the adventures of The Prodding Child soon. In order for you to appreciate it better, here’s what the character signifies and how we came up with the idea. 

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The prodding child  children's book

Can you imagine a world without questions? 

When you face something weird, huge or new, the first thing you do is you perceive it with your senses. If you see an aggressive anaconda in a swamp or a sleeping bear in the woods for the first time, you’ll most likely get scared and run away from it. During your first encounter with the stinky durian fruit or nauseating cat’s waste, you must have covered your nose right away. If you stand close to someone who unexpectedly hits a giant gong, you’ll definitely cover your ears to protect them. However, if there’s nothing wrong with a new thing’s sight, sound or smell, what would you do next to know it further?

Who is the prodding child

Your PROD it.

A prod is a symbol of curiosity. It is a behavior we frequently observe in babies, toddlers and kids. New to the world full of natural wonders and man’s inventions, children prod anything that tickles their interest — an earthworm on the ground, a Dalmatian’s spot, their own poop, a socket on the wall, a spinning electric fan, a bubble blown into the air, mommy’s bright red lipstick on the dresser, the most recent game app on a Smartphone, etc. They poke, touch and feel it until they realize it can hurt their finger, bring a giddy feeling, or lead them to more discoveries.

Given the human tendencies above, it’s a no-brainer to figure out that The Prodding Child symbolizes a kid’s innate desire for awareness as well as adult’s sense of inquisitiveness. We always have silly, factual, rhetorical, or philosophical questions that we either bring up publicly or dismiss into oblivion. This need and craving for learning have been proven over time — from the breakthrough of crayons to Google’s advance search features. And despite these scholastic (and technological) milestones, there are still questions. There will always be because asking is a part of our way of life.

How TLS Came Up with The Prodding Child

The Prodding Child is a serendipitous concept taken from the random doodles of Dan, the illustrator of this website. While flipping the pages of his sketchbook one day, he noticed the presence of a baby in diaper prodding monsters, aliens, and other peculiar imagined creatures. This observation has paved way for other creative ideas.

He published his sketches on his blog under “The Prodding Child” category. If you browse from the first post, you’ll notice that at first, the child keeps a distance from the creature in the scene. In the succeeding posts, the gap becomes shorter and shorter until the child eventually acquires enough courage for a nudge.

The most recent idea is the Halloween interactive electronic and coloring book entitled “On a Full Moon.” We will self-publish it, and it will be released in a few days, a couple of weeks before Halloween. It’s something teachers can share to their class and parents can read to their kids. Excited? Don’t worry; we’ll give you a glimpse about it on our next blog post.

Can you imagine a world without questions? Yes, and it’s boring.