New character brand will promote healthy emotional development in children.

Jelly Jam Entertainment has unveiled a new character-based brand that aims to educate, entertain and enhance the social and emotional development of children.

The new brand, called The Moodsters, is uniquely positioned to help strengthen and support children’s emotional health and emotional intelligence–which research shows can have a lifelong effect on children’s behaviors, relationships, physical and emotional well-being, as well as school success. The Moodsters are also poised to be the first in creating a new emotional intelligence and wellness category for children.

The Moodsters, a team of five detectives, help their friends Zach and Zoey solve mood mysteries. Through the brand, preschoolers are able to learn about feelings and simple strategies to handle the everyday challenges of growing up.

“Children’s emotions and how they deal with them have been the focus of my academic and professional work for many years. I’ve traveled the globe to work with children who are in crisis, helping them understand and process their feelings and discovered an enormous and untapped need for products to help the emotional development process which was the catalyst to create The Moodsters,” says Denise Daniels, creator, The Moodsters. “The one thing I discovered in my work is that all kids’ feelings are universal. The Moodsters’ new category of preschool products magnify the brand’s dedication to enhance the social and emotional development of every child as well as help them manage their emotions so they are better equipped to handle the everyday challenges of growing up.” 

To help accelerate the brand’s growth, Jelly Jam Entertainment launched a line of interactive toys exclusively at Target late last year. The line included the Moodsters Mirror, which helps kids recognize their own emotions as well as identify non-verbal cues in others; The Moodsters Meter, which helps children identify and express what they are feeling; and the Feelings Flashlight, which teaches kid simple strategies for expressing and managing their feelings. Each toy is also accompanied by an educational storybook.

Additionally, the company has expanded the line with a Moodsters Feelings Notebook and Feelings Crayon Set, and will add talking plush characters and an activity book set in the near future. 

Jelly Jam is currently looking to expand into new product categories and is also planning Moodsters Yoga Mats and developing the “Moodsters Learn about Feelings” app.

All Moodsters products incorporate an EQ curriculum developed by Dr. Marc Brackett of The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

The company has also expanded its distribution and can now be found at Toys “R” Us, both online and in-store.

Jelly Jam will showcase The Moodsters are this year’s Licensing Expo, June 21-23, at Booth #H226.

“Licensing Expo is hands down the best opportunity to showcase one’s brand to the broadest group of licensees, retailers, promotional partners and more,” says Maureen Taxter, executive vice president, Jelly Jam. “We are excited to share The Moodsters’ mission of helping children begin a lifetime of healthy habits and engage with potential partners who can take the property into media, publishing and other categories.”