Donkey Hodie and her friends are bringing a new game to kids, made with neurodiverse kids in mind.
Featuring a full cast of puppet characters, the Donkey Hodie show has all the fun and friendship found in the classic series that inspired it, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood from Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures. The show follows Donkey and her other puppet pals as they navigate their relationships, emotions, and more.
Now, the emotional lessons of the show are coming to a new game launching this month. Cousin Hodie Playdate was designed with neurodiverse kids in mind, making it the perfect game to release during Autism Acceptance Month.
The new game was designed to give kids a space to recognize their own emotions, as well as the emotions of the people around them. It introduces players to the Cousin Hodie character, as he and Donkey Hodie play a game of Dinko Doodle Disc Drop. The game prompts kids to guess how Cousin Hodie is feeling through body language, verbalizations, and more.
Cousin Hodie Playdate was made with accessibility in mind. The game offers a mode with high contrast, a highlighted interactive mode, and reduced visual effects. Players can also edit what emotions will appear and set how frequently they occur.
Cousin Hodie Playdate was developed with guidance from Carleá Jean Magee, a User Experience Researcher, as well as Dr. Natascha Crandall, advisor for the Donkey Hodie series. The game will be released this month on the PBS Kids website and games app.
