Dora Celebrates 10 Years, Rolls Out Pro-Social Campaign

In celebration of Dora the Explorer's 10th anniversary, Nickelodeon has launched a pro-social campaign to prepare preschoolers for school, called "Beyond the Backpack."

The initiative includes a PSA, featuring Salma Hayek Pinault and Dora, as well as a fundraising auction of limited-edition Dora backpacks with designs by Hayek Pinault, John Leguizamo, Slash and Shakira. A limited quantity of the backpacks will be auctioned off in the U.S., France, the U.K., Mexico, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. All of the U.S. proceeds will go toward the Children's Defense Fund. International funds will go to childhood education in each respective country.

Additionally, there will be financial grants, a Web site with downloadable toolkits for parents and educators and local community activities nationwide. Dorabeyondthebackpack.com will launch in April. National PTA, which has signed on as signature partner, will distribute educational materials and will co-author a parent's toolkit.

Nickelodeon also plans to celebrate Dora's birthday with four prime-time TV specials, an original documentary produced by Brett Morgen ("The Kid Stays in the Picture") and new online Dora content.

"Dora has had a positive and indelible impact on millions of young kids around the world since she first said 'vamanos' nearly 10 years ago and this Latina heroine is the perfect representative for this important new campaign to help preschoolers and their parents prepare for the big adventure of school," says Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. "We are proud to be partnering with Salma Hayek Pinault, The Children's Defense Fund and National PTA in this effort, and are thrilled that there are still many, many more adventures yet ahead for Dora to continue to explore with our audiences around the world."