WGBH is the Boston PBS station behind the series “Arthur.” In addition to producing the show, they develop some neat games based on the series. I got a personal demonstration of one of them - D.W.‘s Unicorn Adventure for iPad and iPhone - when I visited the station on my vacation.

And I met the design team behind it.

design-team.jpg

From left to right: Melissa Carlson, Dan Nolan and Kevin Lesniewicz.

In the game, D.W., Arthur’s little sister must save the day by helping the unicorns get home. She does that by collecting healthy foods like veggies and fruits while zapping away unhealthy ones.

I had a lot of fun playing the game. But apparently not as much fun as the kids who tested it for the team before they rolled it out. The team invites kids to try out the games before they are offered to the masses to get any bugs out and see how the games fair with real users.

It was a huge hit as the kids kept playing even after the session was supposed to be over.

D.W’s Unicorn Adventure is the perfect complement to the new episodes of Arthur running on PBS Kids designed to prevent brain drain. That’s the summer months where students are likely to forget a lot of what they have learned during the school year. Check out the new episodes of Arthur and other PBS Kids shows like Super Why and WordGirl.