Join the Sodapop Gang Team for First Friday in Downtown Phoenix!

It's that time again! If you're in Phoenix, join the Sodapop Gang team at our home base at Kitchen Sink Studios for First Friday on Friday, December 4! We'll be featuring the artwork of local artist John Tuomisto-Bell. We'll also be featuring the music of Zella Day, the 14-year-old folk rock sensation who has been called "the next, next, next American Idol" and is a crowd favorite at First Fridays for her energetic blend of original songs and classics.

Kitchen Sink Studios is located at 828 N. 3rd Street in downtown Phoenix (corner of 3rd Street and Garfield). We hope to see you there!

Character Creation 101

Ever wonder where we come up with the style, names and overall look and feel for our characters for Sodapop Gang? We don't have to go too far for inspiration! Just this morning, one of our very talented designers, Doug Bell, will hereunto be known as: Dougie-Two-Shoes within any Sodapop Gang™ virtual world! Stay tuned...







(You would think, after so many years, you would be able to put on a matching pair of shoes before coming to work)!?!?

Join the Sodapop Gang Team for First Friday in Downtown Phoenix!

Hey Sodapop Gang friends and fans, if you live in our hometown of Phoenix, we invite you to stop by and see the Sodapop Gang team at our home base at Kitchen Sink Studios for First Friday in Downtown Phoenix!

On Friday, November 6 from 5:30 to 10 p.m., we'll be featuring a performance by the terrific 14-year-old singing and songwriting sensation, Zella Day. You'll want to bring your kids to hear her eclectic blend of folk songs and children's music!

Local artist Jill Brownley's work will also be featured inside the studio, and you can check out the completion of our bottle cap public art installation!

We're located at 828 N. Third Street in downtown Phoenix. We hope to see you there!

FREE GOODIES!!! NEW CONTEST!!!

UPDATE: Here's the link to some new coloring pages to go along with the ones linked below!

Hey Sodapop Gang Fans...

We've got a treat for you! Just for fun, we've created some coloring, cutting and connect-the-dot pages for your kids to enjoy. You can download them as PDFs at this link!

NOW...we're also turning the coloring page into a contest! All you have to do is have your child take their best shot at the coloring page linked above, and send it back to us...and you'll be entered into a drawing for a 1/2 price photo portrait session with our friends at Eyes 2 See Photography in Phoenix!

AND...any Facebook fan of Sodapop Gang can get 15 percent off of a portrait session from our friends at Eyes 2 See! All you have to do is tell them you're a Facebook fan. (Don't fib...they'll check!) You can see some of their stuff at www.eyes2see.com and contact them at info@eyes2seephoto.com.

Send in your entry by the end of the day October 29 via e-mail to info@sodapopgang.com, or mail it to us at 828 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, 85004.

We'll also post the entries on our Facebook page in the "Photos" section, and we'll post some of the portraits of the winners as well. And if you're not in the Phoenix area? Your kids can have fun with the pages anyway!

Finally...PLEASE send this on to anyone else who might be interested! We want to share our cool online experience with as many kids and parents as possible.

Thanks!

The Sodapop Gang Team

A couple of great tips for parents of preschoolers!

At Sodapop Gang, we want to not only be a source of entertainment and education for children, but for families as well! So we're going to use this blog and our social networking pages (like our Facebook page) to share with you some of the information we come across on raising happy, healthy kids.

We've come across a couple of great articles in the past few weeks. One is a piece in Slate Magazine that talks about ways to get your toddlers and preschoolers to do some of the things parents always struggle with...like getting picky eaters to try new food, kick-start potty training and other common issues. As always, it's all about how you communicate with them!

The second is an older piece but a good one, which originally ran in Raising Arizona Kids Magazine in 2005. We've provided a copy for you as a PDF file, but to summarize, it provides some helpful tips on actually getting your young ones to listen to you when you're trying to tell them something important.

Check back here for frequent updates and additions, and be sure to sign up as a "fan" on our Facebook page for regular updates. Thanks!

Introducing our exciting new venture: Sodapop Gang!

We are proud to announce that we are moving forward with an exciting new venture! It’s called Sodapop Gang, and it’s a fun, interactive and educational experience where preschoolers and their families can discover, explore and learn.

Sodapop Gang is an educational and entertainment brand for preschoolers featuring an interactive, photo-realistic and safe online experience that is fun for both children and parents, and including a wide variety of enjoyable merchandise and products.

The main platform for Sodapop Gang will be www.sodapopgang.com — which you can visit right now to view a Beta version of the site. Keep in mind that we’ve only built out a small fraction of the site and it would be refined as we go along. We’re also examining other Sodapop Gang products, such as mobile applications, toys, merchandise, games and puzzles.

We’re currently in the process of raising capital to make our vision a reality. Once we have the dough, we anticipate the full buildout of the web site will take about a year, although other Sodapop Gang products may be available in the meantime.

We invite you to keep in touch with the progress of Sodapop Gang by becoming a fan of our Facebook page. We’ll send out frequent updates on our progress, as well as related news and links and even some games and activities for kids. And, we’ll be asking our Facebook fans in a couple of weeks to participate in a quick survey to help guide our efforts to create the best experience possible. So spread the word!

We hope you enjoy the web site and share our excitement about the potential of Sodapop Gang to become a safe, enjoyable activity for children and their families. Thanks!