It might be ‘Kidfun,’ but it’s cool for the creator as well
“Balloons are the best,” says Sharla Feldscher as she discusses inexpensive but creative ways children can have fun with everyday objects found around most houses.
Feldscher ’s name is known mostly in media and business circles as an effective public relations person who has been garnering attention for clients in various fields for 45 years. She is also an educator, author, and broadcaster whose topic is play and whose name for what she offers is called “Kidfun.”
Feldscher has brought ideas for entertaining children at home to radio and television is various forms since 1977, when she was a regular guest on Channel 48’s “Delaware Valley Today” with Marty Jacobs.
Time has not staled Feldscher’s imagination or enthusiasm for play. At 8:15 a.m. Friday, she will do her regular monthly spot on Channel 17’s “PHL17 Morning News,” now 14 months in the running and received positively enough to keep it going indefinitely.
“I spoke about holiday gifts last month,” Feldscher says by telephone from Florida, where she is hibernating for the winter. “This month, I’ll concentrate on things families can do together, especially as gatherings may be fewer and smaller than usual. I’ll be giving suggestion about how to use things I usually pick up at the Dollar Store to keep the holidays lively and busy.
‘People are feeling constrained about meeting as a large group, so the things I’ll be talking about can be easily done by one family in their own home.”
In addition to her Channel 17 spot, Feldscher has a new book, “KidFun: 401 Easy Ideas For Play,” that was released earlier this fall. It puts her book output since she published her first in 1979 in double digits.
“I remember, when I wrote that first book, mostly because people asked me where they could find the activities I suggested, there were no computers and no electronic gadgets. I had to type every word and have copies made.”
Feldscher says a lot of things made her look for ways to entertain children.
“First of all, I love children,” she said. “After my enthusiasm for children comes my love of creativity and then, an understanding of how much play does for a child, not only in terms of triggering their imaginations, but because children learn so much from play, and they learn more, and learn it more quickly, while they’re having fun.”
Feld scher said she learned this when she was a kindergarten teacher at the Henry Lawton School, in Philadelphia, in the 1960s.
“When I got to Lawton, the building was really old. It would be rebuilt in time, but the space I had to work with was small and badly equipped.
“I asked the principal if I could use the gym for structured play. It had no fixtures and no equipment, just bare walls and a bunch of benches.
“It was really bleak and not a very good place to inspire creativity.
“Yet did. I’d have the children put the benches together and tell them to pretend they were not benches, but bridges, bridges that could take them anywhere. The question became where we want the bridges to go. That got the imagination going and made going to the gym exciting and fun. It made the kids happy. It made them more open to expressing things and learning things.
“I’ve always had a passion for children. My daughter, Hope, my partner at Feldscher Horowitz Public Relations, tells people her mother is a big 12-year-old.
“I just want to see children have a good time.
“It doesn’t take much to do that. I recommend that people look around their houses and keep some things around their house, things like balloons and paper plates and ping pong balls and nerf balls and paper cups.
“I get most of these items at the Dollar Store, which I find to be a treasure trove of inexpensive items that can be used creatively for play. You’re at home with the kids on a rainy day, and everyone is restless, grab a paper cup, get out the nerf or ping pong balls, and see who can get the ball in the cup the most often.
“It ’s basketball on a kitchen table, but kids love it, and it’s something they can do together and with you.
“Just seeing how long someone can balance a paper plate on his or her head can be fun. Treasure hunts are another activity that children love.”
“I liked what I was doing, and parents liked it. I wrote my book because someone suggested it. What did I know about publishing, but I plunged ahead. I was already writing a monthly column about creative play for a national teacher’s magazine. The first publication I submitted my manuscript rejected it, but another one didn’t, so I was writing on a regular basis.
“I never thought of myself as a speaker, but I learned that if you get me talking about children, play, imagination, and creativity, I have plenty to say. It become a natural burst of enthusiasm. I was speaking one day, and Marty Jacobs asked if I wanted to be on his television show. It became a monthly appearance, like I do now on Channel 17. I learned a lot about television from Marty and my first producer, Linda Munich (also my first producer and now a lifelong friend who went from Channel 48 to a legendary career at Channel 6).
“Next came by first major public relations job, at the Please Touch Museum, working with children. I had to go on television a lot to talk about the Museum and what it offered. All of this adds up to parallel careers that are equally long in broadcasting, working with children, and public relations.”
In this Feldscher is being modest. She is one of the most famous and effective public relations professionals in the area, with clients in many fields. She is in the Philadelphia Public Relations Association’s Hall of Fame, deservedly.
She is right that her broadcasting, which includes stints on “Captain Noah” and a weekly spot on KYW Newsradio, and writing are ongoing.
“There are just so many things people can do to have fun as a family. This is especially important to remember now when families are sheltering together and spending a lot of time in each other’s company. Making sure fun is part of the plan, and realizing how to create fun, are so crucial. It keeps everything happy and makes it more pleasant for everyone to be together.
“It also gets children away from their tablets and other electronics. My granddaughter, Sari, 9, loves crepe paper. I have a rule about not taping anything to walls. Sari enlisted her sister, Jaclyn, 6, and built a crepe paper lattice in a zig zag pattern in my bathroom. She wrapped the paper around things or under things to keep it firm. She built a zig-zag pattern that was not only imaginative as design but had to be figured out. Then she enhanced her game by making pretend the crepe strands were laser beams, and she and Jaclyn had to dodge between them.
“What I want to do is turn the switch on to such creativ it y. T hat’s what Kidfun’s about, and I’m my granddaughters have caught my passion.”
Flores comes in to take over NBC10
The title was once simply News Director.
Now, at most stations, it’s Vice President of News, and Channel 10 just announced its next holder of that title is Elizabeth Flores, who arrives in the NBC 10 newsroom January 11.
Flores also oversees news operations at Telemundo 62. Her position puts her in charge of all on-air and online news content and coverage at both outlets. She is the first woman and first Latinx to take helm of the newsroom at either station.
In introducing Flores, Channel 10 general manager, Ric Harris, said, “She is an exceptional strategic news leader who embraces innovation in journalism and digital engagement in all platforms in two languages.”
Flores comes to NBC 10 from New York where she was Assistant News Director at WABC-TV since 2018. Prior to that, Flores was in South Florida where she held several news management positions, including Assistant News Director and Senior News Producer, for NBC’s WTVJ-TV and Telemundo’s WSCV-TV.
Flores is from Miami. Her parents emigrated the United States from The Dominican Republic and El Salvador. She has a B.A. from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. She has earned three regional Emmy and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.