Written by Frank Baker  ©2004
Invite Frank to your classroom to conduct this
activity with your students..details here.

NEW

Watch this classic segment from the series "Buy Me That" in which young people test a toy (Typhoon 2--left) seen in a popular commercial Click on the image (left) to go to the lesson plan that incorporates this classic segment

This is designed to be a lesson plan activity, and at the same time, a valuable resource for educators and parents who want their kids to become media literate when it comes to television and advertising.

I first conducted this "activity" for teachers in Orlando, Florida while employed by the Orange County Public School system, where I was a media educator and someone interested  in providing teachers with professional development opportunities. Typically, I would conduct  this workshop in late October, because this is the time of year when toy commercials become  increasingly more prevalent. But this activity can be done anytime and with any toy commercial.

Since this activity was first created, the explosion in children's media has created numerous new television and cable networks on which toy commercials can be found (e.g. The Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, just to name a few). Fair use guidelines of the copyright law allow you to record commercials and use them in the classroom for instruction.

Use the Table of Contents (left) to navigate through the resources here.

Let me know what you think of this resource: My email is fbaker1346@aol.com
I'm also available to come to your school/conference and conduct this workshop with your students.

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Site updated on: 08/07/2008