Season 43 of Sesame Street premieres on Monday, September 24th on PBS Kids and we were excited to see that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an inspiration to all women and Latinas, will be making her second appearance on the show. This time around, she’s on the “Word on the Street” segment talking about the word “Career,” perfectly suited for the beloved “Wise Latina.”

The new season will feature an exciting segment, “Elmo: The Musical!”, a new S-T-E-A-M curriculum, and visits from guests including Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Amy Ryan, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Steve Carell, Jon Hamm, Eric Stonestreet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Hyde Pierce, Timothy Olyphant, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Blake Griffin, Matt Kemp, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Kristen Bell, Paula Patton, Mario Lopez, Wendy Williams, Colbie Caillat, rock band Train, Common, and more.

As soon as I read the press release, my thoughts wandered to recollecting all the Latinos who have made a celebrity VIP appearance on Sesame Street throughout its last 42 seasons. The list I compiled is truly amazing and I share it with you below and for easy reference as a list of Latinos on Sesame Street on our You Tube channel (which, by the way, you should be subscribed for fun videos that celebrate our cultura and el español!!) Scroll through these videos with your child and let’s celebrate Latinos on Sesame Street!

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Elmo

Rico Rodriguez and Elmo: Magnify

Gustavo Dudamel and Elmo: Stupendous

Juanes Sings “Muévete

Sofía Vergara: Baile

Jessica Alba and Elmo

Cameron Díaz: Habitat

George López with Elmo and Abby: Liquid

Zoe Saldaña and Elmo: Transportation

Natalie Morales and Abby: Floats

Eva Longoria and Elmo: Exquisite

John Leguizamo is Captain Vegetable

Celia Cruz Sings Songo’s Song

Gloria Estefan and Rosita Sing a Song

Joe Torres and Elmo: Walk

Tito Puente

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbVpbow5YVk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIbq6LZBNOc

If you haven’t already done so, check out these Lion King activities for your kids here.

Did you know there’s a town in Nebraska called Peru (without the accent)?  It’s a small town with less than 600 residents and almost no diversity amongst the folks.

That’s until Perú (the country) and its cultural ambassadors (Chefs Gastón Acurio and Javier Wong, surfer Sofía Mulanovich, writer Rafa León, folklore singer Dina Paucar and more) decide to pay a visit and make Peru, Nebraska more like Perú by giving them a taste of their food, language, music and rich culture. The result will just make you smile and want to embrace everything and anything Perú.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1MxR2X4r1s&feature=youtu.be

Have you been to Perú?  What do you remember/miss the most about it?

CG: (R) & (C) 2010 Universal Studios and/or HMH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PBS KIDS (R) Public Broadcasting Service. FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY

Growing up, Spanish was my native tongue and I was learning English at a bilingual school and during trips to Houston to visit my dad.  For some reason, I always preferred reading in English. I clearly remember spending hours reading and reading the classic Curious George book. There was no TV show or George movies back then, he only existed as an illustration by H.A.  and Margret Ray.

Over 30 years later, my daughter is now also a Curious George fan, but, not only can she see him in a book, she can now interact with him and watch him come alive on the screen on thanks to WGBH and PBS KIDS GO!

Our favorite mono is now celebrating Latina moms and our heritage with a special episode airing this Friday, May 6th called “Mother’s Day Surprise.” In this episode we get to see George and his Latino friend Marco learn how to make a piñata, or as close as they can get to one, to celebrate Marco´s mami. My daughter was actually surprised when she saw the show and heard Marco say “Mami.” She turned to me with a proud smile and said: “¡Dijo Mami!” That right there proved to me how well she can already separate both languages at 3 years of age and how proud she is of speaking español.

“This Mother’s Day, we’ll continue Season 5’s exploration of the social sciences by showing kids how Marco and his family celebrate El Dia de la Madre,” says WGBH Executive Producer Dorothea Gillim.  “We hope that through George’s adventures, kids will be inspired to explore their own family’s customs.”

Here’s a preview of the “Mother’s Day Surprise” episode where George and Marco are trying to figure out how to make a piñata.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N4h-mtaPfc&feature=player_embedded

Visit pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/ for showtimes, fun videos, printables and games, including a new piñata game coming very soon!

Moms Celebrating Moms Twitter Party #CuriousGeorgeMoms

Check out this fun and prize-filled Twitter party to celebrate  moms and this special Curious George episode.

• What: Bilingual Twitter Party brought to you by Curious George

• When: Thursday, May 5th

• Time: 1pm EST/10am PST

• Topic: Moms Celebrating Moms

• Where: On Twitter with the Hashtag #CuriousGeorgeMoms. You can also use this customized TweetGrid (or TweetChat, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc) to follow all the action from the 6 co-hosts at once.

• Hosts: @Ohmariana, @mamalatina, @thoughtsofamomy, @Tracy_Iglesias. Moderated by @LBConnect. Special Guest: @DorotheaGillim

• Prizes: Three winners will pamper themselves with a $100 gift certificate from Aveda.com

Click here to RSVP and send a tweet to invite your friends to join!

Disclosure: SpanglishBaby did not receive compensation to write this post. However, I do have a client relationship with WGBH as Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions expressed here are my own.

My tie for favorite animated movies last year was definitely between Toy Story 3 and Tangled.  I knew TS 3 was going to be good, but I was so pleasantly surprised that Tangled was as good as it is, and that Disney’s version of Rapunzel is a strong, willful and beautiful princess with 70-foot hair to tout.

Tangled will finally hit stores on March 29, but Disney sent us an advanced copy of the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack last week; it’s been the only movie my girl wants to watch. We sing, we twirl, we act like ugly thugs with hooks, and we run when Mother gets angry. We also watch it in Spanish–as we do all movies at home–and I get the special treat of hearing Chayanne’s voice as Flynn Rider, the handsome thief who, after a little prodding with a frying pan, helps Rapunzel escape her tower.

One of you will get to win your own copy of Tangled here! (Click more to enter giveaway.)

THE GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Kerry!
We have a copy of Tangled Blu-ray/DVD combo for one winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us if you saw the movie in theaters and what was your, or your child’s, favorite part. If you haven’t seen it, tell us why you want to see it. (Don’t forget to grab the set of Tangled activity and coloring sheets we have for you here!)

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, March 29 at midnight EST and you must have a valid US address to enter.  Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Disclosure: We received a sample to review the product. All opinions are our own.

DISNEY CHANNEL CORPORATE - KaBoom! Playground Build - Star of Disney Junior's "Handy Manny," Wilmer Valderrama, joins Carolina Lightcap, President, Disney Channels Worldwide ©(DISNEY CHANNEL/RICK ROWELL)

{Scroll down for video interview with Wilmer Valderrama}

Last week we were invited to interview “Handy Manny” star Wilmer Valderrama and Carolina Lightcap, President, Disney Channels Worldwide, to celebrate the “Magic of Healthy Living” as they helped build a KaBOOM! Disney Junior community-based play space in Inglewood’s Queen Park in California. Joining Valderrama and Lightcap were over 200 local volunteers and Disney VoluntEARS, who together helped make the play space a reality, ensuring that every child in the community has a place to play. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in January.  I wished my local park was as cool as this new one in Inglewood!

Disney is contributing over $1 million in 2011 to help KaBOOM! build playgrounds and learning gardens in 12 communities across the U.S. These playgrounds are part of Disney Magic of Healthy Living, a multimedia initiative designed to partner with parents in their quest to raise healthy, happy kids by reinforcing their work and inspiring kids to make healthy lifestyles fun. Additionally, the new Disney Junior programming block incorporates themes of healthy living for kids age 2-7.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9qWkiE6Hdo

I got the chance to interview Wilmer Valderrama, who was at the park to be part of the inauguration ceremony. I could not miss my chance to find out more about his bilingual/bi-cultural upbringing and get it on video for all of you.  (Plus, it´s fun to hear that he doesn´t really change his voice for Handy Manny!)

Wilmer grew up in Venezuela and moved with his parents to Los Angeles when he was 13 years old.  By that time, he was speaking Spanish as his native tongue. He tells us that when the moved to the States his father made a point to make sure he was fluent in English, but never lost his Spanish.  Watch the short video above and you´ll find out more…

Stay tuned (make sure you subscribe to get our post sent to you via email) because later this week we´ll be sharing an interview with one of the most influential Latina women in media. If you didn´t know, the big boss over at Disney Channel Worldwide is a woman, and a proud Latina from Argentina–Carolina Lightcap.  She chatted with us about the launch of Disney Junior and how she manages to raise a bilingual 4 year-old niña and run one of the biggest media conglomerates of the world at the same time! How’s that for inspiration?

Now that I´ve shamelessly shared a blast from my past, here´s a clip from a scene of the Enrique y Ana movie where they perform one of their most famous songs–Súper Disco Chino.  Still cute enough to share with our niños, plus the disco chino move is pretty fantastic once you get a hang of it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v3toWi4Pk0&feature=related

Now you tell me, what was your first fan moment?

So, while she (not so) patiently waits for Gnomeo and Juliet to hit theaters this Friday, February 11, we’ve been trolling YouTube for some clips and jamming in the car to the movie’s soundtrack with Elton John’s songs.  I still can’t get over how they managed to make garden gnomes so, so endearing and fun.

These two clips below are our favorites so far:

Gnomeo and Juliet “Balcony” Clip

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HpUndEtP8

Gnomeo and Juliet “Doomed Love” Clip

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp-JeYRgvGg&feature=channel

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJbHmgaeDM&feature=player_embedded

Un Barquito de Cáscara de Nuez

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0IBWM-6hiU

You have any favorite videos your kids love to watch? Anything that makes them sing and dance are on our list!