From the Toysit archive
InteracTV: 2004 Launch and Picture-Choice Play
InteracTV pairs picture cards and a broad controller with DVD activities, inspiring a separate choose-the-next-scene puppet theater.
The play at a glance
A picture card becomes a way into the story
InteracTV’s broad controller has handles at the sides and a large illustrated card across its face. In the original picture, bright shapes surround Dora and Boots while a television shows the corresponding scene. The player responds by choosing a picture or symbol on the card. That invitation to make a choice also suggests a puppet story whose next destination is decided by its audience.
Match the card to the screen
The B9376 manual describes using an InteracTV disc with its activity card in a compatible DVD-player setup. At question points in the program, picture choices appear on the television. The player presses the corresponding picture or symbol on the card in the controller. Arrow buttons offer replay and skip choices.
Before play, an adult matches the controller to the particular DVD player. The manual describes remote-learning, manufacturer-code and manual-search methods, followed by a test using the supplied setup disc and test card. During play, the controller is aimed at the DVD player with a clear path between them. The linked guides explain the full setup and required parts.
This arrangement gives the printed card an active role: it holds the choices the player can see and touch. The original activity below uses that picture-choice idea with a narrator and homemade scenery.
Stage a choose-the-next-scene theater
Draw three large pictures: a forest, a harbor and a moon. Place them where everyone can point comfortably. Choose a puppet, plush toy or drawn character as the traveler, and give it a simple task: deliver a mysterious blue envelope.
Begin with one sentence: “The traveler reached a signpost with three pictures.” Invite another player to choose a setting. A forest choice might lead to a squirrel’s treehouse; the harbor could contain a boat with a tiny library; the moon might have a garden of silver flowers.
The narrator describes the arrival, then pauses for the group to invent who is waiting. Ask one open question, such as “What does this person think is inside the envelope?” Accept a spoken answer, a gesture or a new drawing.
Let the audience shape the ending
Return to the three pictures and invite another choice. Carry one detail from the earlier scene into the next: the squirrel’s bookmark, the boat’s bell or a silver flower. The repeated detail gives the journey something familiar to follow.
When everyone is ready, open the imaginary envelope together. It might contain an invitation for all three places to meet, or a picture of the traveler’s home. Let the audience choose how the story ends.
This is an independent theater game made from your group’s pictures and ideas. A narrator supplies the responses, and the pace can pause whenever someone wants to add a detail.
The historical record
Original Toysit coverage
The complete earlier coverage follows. Its launch-era availability, promotional claims, opinions and broader commentary remain part of the historical record; researched details and qualifications appear in Sources.
Interactive preschool learning platform with wireless control through which children answer questions
In 2004, Fisher-Price introduced a ground-breaking platform for learning called InteracTV, a unique learning system that enables children to interact and learn with their favorite characters from popular preschool shows on their own TVs using home DVD players.
"InteracTV is one of the most highly-anticipated introductions to the learning category this year," says Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Toy Wishes. "It presents an entirely different way to look at children's television. InteracTV takes the comprehensive learning curriculum of today's most popular preschool programming to a new dimension, transforming TV watching into an interactive and fun learning experience."
Using the child-friendly InteracTV controller and DVDs featuring individual, existing episodes from television, children are invited to play and learn. They simply place the InteracTV DVD into their home DVD player, and one of the three activity cards included into the controller, to begin play. Footage from the show begins to play and then, just like on the TV shows, the characters invite the children to interact. The wireless controller enables children to answer questions and interact with the characters simply by pressing icons displayed on the card graphics.
From numbers, colors and counting to critical thinking, problem solving, object identification and more, each InteracTV DVD features more than 100 learning activities and questions to keep children engaged. The questions are also randomly programmed so every time children play, they will have a different and unique experience.
The main system includes an InteracTV controller, a bonus DVD and three activity cards featuring footage and game play from favorite shows and retails for approximately $39.99. The system and individual software titles also include a case to store the DVD and activity cards. Individual software titles, featuring more than 100 learning activities and questions each, retail for approximately $15 each. The InteracTV system and the character DVD titles are now available at major toy retailers nationwide.
InteracTV is the newest addition to Fisher-Price's growing portfolio of learning toys, according to Neil Friedman, president of Fisher-Price. "What began last year with the introduction of two innovative and highly successful entries into the competitive learning category, has been developed into a comprehensive line of learning toys for every age and stage of a child's development," he says.
Fisher-Price offers five distinct platforms for learning that reflect the company's in-depth understanding of the way children learn and develop. The full complement of products help to stimulate a child's growth from infancy through grade school beginning with the experientially-based Laugh and Learn collection for infants; PowerTouch Baby, an extension of the groundbreaking PowerTouch Learning System; the expansion of the hugely successful Learn Through Music System; the continuation of Kasey the Kinderbot, and InteracTV.
Sources and editorial notes
This page preserves the 2004 launch report for the same controller system covered in the companion InteracTV product profile linked below. All twenty-four PDF pages of the B9376 user manual and the complete quick setup sheet were visually inspected, including setup diagrams and the period DVD code tables. These documents carry 2005 revisions; the complete September 25, 2004 launch report is preserved separately. The pictured design matches, but the exact original package revision and every disc’s question content are unconfirmed. Compatibility with streaming, computers or present-day DVD hardware is not established. Period prices, availability and learning promises remain historical; no DVD-player code was physically tested. The companion activity is original to Toysit. No physical toy, audio, software or disc playback was tested.
- Fisher-Price: InteracTV B9376 user manual — All twenty-four PDF pages visually inspected; setup and play text reviewed, including the historical code tables.
- Fisher-Price: InteracTV quick setup guide — Complete large sheet reviewed at readable size; B9376-0920-G4, July 2005 revision.
- Fisher-Price: InteracTV B9376 service record — Identifies the system and links its documentation; hardware compatibility still requires the exact setup.
- Original Toysit coverage — Complete earlier text, original SSI values and historical image inspected and preserved.
Images and descriptions are retained as historical material. How Toysit covers toys.
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