Fall in Love with our Adorable New Puppy Character for Kids- Penny P Pug

Penny P Pug is a passion project for pre-school aged kids I have been working on for many years in different forms, inspired by my daughters and my dogs. We have created an adorable new puppy character and stories based very loosely on my own little rescue puppy – Kilo the Pug- and using some collages and paintings by Shelley Davies.

Testing Upcoming Children’s Picture Book and iPad App “Penny P Pug – The Pirate Treasure Hunt”

July marked a huge milestone for Penny P Pug. We shared the character, the first story, the song and one of the first games, with excited kids ages 4 to 6  and friends.

Who is Penny P Pug?

Penny P Pug is  a 4-year-old girl in a pug puppy body. She has many mannerisms and physical attributes of a puppy but incorporates  human behaviors and thoughts.

She is curious, friendly, loveable, and full of fun. Just like my Kilo the Pug, she enjoys discovering things, performing and playing games, and she wants to be big (except when snuggled on my lap). She loves her family and treats.

Each new day is an adventure, as Penny explores the world around her with her adopted older brother Digger the Dachshund. Penny and her Pals are full of energy and unbridled enthusiasm, except when they are asleep in a heap snoring loudly of course. Their antics are always endearing, and often hilarious- pugs are always snorting and snoring.

Penny P tries hard, but she is not always a model of perfect puppy behavior. Paralleling the world of preschoolers, Penny sometimes has trouble with focus and patience. She makes mistakes and occasionally doesn’t really like sharing or taking turns or following instructions. Her exuberance gets her into some pretty messy scrapes and she often gets distracted. Penny P Pug is a role model for kids learning to process new and exciting, sometimes overwhelming sights, sounds and feelings.

Mindfulness and Storylines

Many kids starting pre-school have trouble with focus and mindfulness. Part of improving focus is reducing or controlling stress and frustration, and learning through play and role models. Penny P Pug is given the challenges and tools to help with this in each story and in games. The kids liked and started to anticipate and repeat the catch phrase “Let’s take a Paws and think things through, Then we’ll know just what to do….

 

We follow her adventures as she discovers her world starting in her backyard with her adopted older brother, Digger the Dachshund. The stories are shared in multiple ways, including a picture book and demo iPad app that keep the kids entertained.

The first story is a really fun Pirate Treasure Hunt. Mom has left out a map and three clues around the garden and buried a treasure for Penny P and Digger to find.

What the kids thought.

We received lots of praise from the kids about the illustrations and characters of Penny P and Digger and the adventures Penny P took them on.

Kids seem to just love anything on an iPad, so bringing technology and story-telling together was a really engaging experience. Any parent knows that pre-schoolers can get distracted very easily, so it was great to see Penny P’s story hold their unwavering attention most of the time.

Several parts of the story involve solving clues and following instructions and a map, and the little ones were so smart trying to figure them out. They gave us valuable insight on how they think and play.

Some great lines from the kids that day included “I want to play it again!”, “Wow! I like the crocodiles and when Penny P picked up the hose and sprayed herself ” and “I liked when they found the treasure”.

Everyone had so much fun reading the story aloud and playing the related splash to 20 and maze games . We did crafts and ate snacks together while immersed in Penny P’s world of fun and imagination.

Thanks

Thank you to The OMDC, The Pet Network and The Bell Fund for their support in developing Penny P Pug and to the amazing team of people involved, especially Jeff Butler, my partners Nina and Paul, Judi Handelman, Morgan Sterling, Angela Cassulo, Aria Evans, Aron Dunn, Pat Ellingson, Denise Cassar, Shelley Davies, Jennifer Burkitt, Sam Tremaine and kids. Plus to Ian Liddell for the wonderful test animation (I hope we get to make TV together) and to all the mentors and friends who have caught my pitches or given me feedback and inspiration.

Please Join Penny P Pug’s Adventure

If you would like to join Penny P Pug’s adventure, we are looking for a few people with access to kids ages 4 to 6 years or experience with children’s picture books to give private feedback on the latest draft of the Penny P Pug and The Pirate Treasure Hunt Picture Book (it is in PDF form) before we print and try to raise financing to finish the app and make the TV series. Your input would help make it the best it can be and I think it will be a fun adventure. Message me at susan at talenthounds dot ca or in the comments if interested. THANK YOU!!