Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Launches Curious World, An Interactive Content Service that Redefines Playful Learning

NEW YORK — Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a leading provider of pre-K–12 education content, services, and technology solutions, announced today the launch of Curious World™, an interactive content service that offers an expanding collection of games, videos, and eBooks mapped to key early learning areas. Available initially as an app for iPad® and iPhone®, Curious World is a subscription-based experience, featuring a carefully selected collection of playful learning content for kids aged three to seven, as well as a parent dashboard and tips for offline learning activities.  

A child’s Curious World journey begins when parents complete a simple profile on their behalf; Curious World then delivers custom recommendations for kids to play, read and watch. Chosen and curated by HMH’s early learning experts, a balanced diet of content is served up across eight key learning areas: science, math, language and literacy, health and wellness, creative expression, social and emotional development, executive function and family and community.

Curious World videos, games and eBooks feature well-loved HMH® content and characters, from classics like Curious George®, Gossie and The Polar Express to original exclusive games like Math Arcade, Skyscraper Builder and Coral Reef Explorer, alongside acquired content from a range of partners, including National Geographic Kids, StoryBots, and PBS Digital. Within Curious World, a child might read along with Curious George and learn to draw with Young Rembrandts, dance to Caspar Babypants’ music videos or make bubbles with Full Time Kid Mya of PBS Parents fame.

 “Curious World encourages children to learn through play, with content and activities that foster curiosity and imagination both online and offline,” said CJ Kettler, Chief of Consumer Brands and Strategy at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “Early learning research also shows that parental engagement is key, which is why we built a parent portal featuring practical ways to balance digital screen-time with activities that families can enjoy together, in a safe environment that parents can trust.”

The Curious World parent dashboard, available within the app and at curiousworld.com, is designed to allow parents to share in their child’s learning journey by providing them with feedback on progress, interests and natural talents. CuriousWorld.com also features recommendations on extending the learning journey offline, with enriching real-world activities that encourage family fun and engagement.

“Cross-disciplinary research demonstrates that learning through play is vital for healthy development in young children,” added Susan Magsamen, SVP of Early Learning at HMH and Senior Advisor to the Science of Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University. “Play allows children to explore, to imagine and be curious, building a strong foundation of critical skills for school-readiness and lifelong learning.”

Curious World contains over 500 unique titles, with new content added to the service on a weekly basis, ensuring a fresh and dynamic experience every time kids log in. In the coming weeks and months, hundreds of new pieces of content will be added to the platform, including original HMH videos and games, additional partner content and eBooks.

The Curious World iOS app can be downloaded for free from the App Store℠ with a limited sample of content and basic features. Access to the full customized content experience is available on a subscription basis at $7.99 per month or $64.99 per year.  The companion site for parents where they can learn more about their child’s personal learning journey can be found at www.curiousworld.com.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ:HMHC) is a global learning company dedicated to changing people’s lives by fostering passionate, curious learners. As a leading provider of pre-K–12 education content, services, and cutting-edge technology solutions across a variety of media, HMH enables learning in a changing landscape. HMH is uniquely positioned to create engaging and effective educational content and experiences from early childhood to beyond the classroom.  HMH serves more than 50 million students in over 150 countries worldwide, while its award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.

Follow HMH on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Curious George®, created by Margret and H. A. Rey, is copyrighted and trademarked by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. IPhone and IPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Curious World™, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt™, and HMH® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

This news release may contain certain statements that are not historical facts, including information regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies, the industry in which we operate and potential business decisions.  Those statements constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in state and local education funding and/or related programs, legislation and procurement processes; adverse or worsening economic trends or the continuation of current economic conditions; changes in consumer demand for, and acceptance of, our products; industry cycles and trends; conditions and/or changes in the publishing industry; and other factors discussed in our news releases, public statements and/or filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation, and do not expect, to publicly update or publicly revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.