In the latest VeggieTales DVD, 'Twas the Night Before Easter, the Veggies serve up an opportunity to give back in conjunction with the charity World Vision.  The organization World Vision allows families to sponsor a child with a monthly donation. The money helps bring that child life-saving essentials as well as education. And, the sponsoring family receives updates on the child and can even correspond with and get to know the child, which makes the service that more meaningful and personal. What a great opportunity for kids to learn not only about service, but also about another culture and way of life in a different part of the world.

I often wonder what it would be like if we all gave our children the opportunity to learn about the human suffering that goes on around the world, and in our own backyards, and taught them that we all, each and every one of us, have a responsibility to use the resources we are blessed with to alleviate the suffering of others and help lift those who are in need of lifting. How would our world be different if we taught our kids that it's not okay to just watch it all on TV and think, "Oh, how sad for them," but that we actually have to get up and do something? No matter what religion we are, or whether we watch VeggieTales or not, the job to make the world a better place rests upon all of our shoulders.

So, how does your family provide service in your community and around the world? In our family, we haven't been very consistent about serving. We try to come up with a family service project around Christmastime each year, but other than that, we just take part in random opportunities here and there -- like when a disaster happens somewhere around the world. However, my kindergartener has the most service-oriented heart I've ever known, and she inspires me to want to do better.

Just the other day when we went for a family walk, she ran into the house before we left to grab a bag for gathering trash around the neighborhood. She befriends the kids at school who are in need of a friend, no matter their gender, race, religion or past mistakes they might have made. She says that she wants to grow up to be a builder, so that she can build homes for the homeless. She doesn't wait around to organize a service project, she sees opportunities to serve all around her. Isn't it amazing how children can set such an example for us adults?

But, trying to figure out how to allocate family resources to service is tricky. How much of the family budget should be devoted to charities or serving others? And, there are just so many worthy causes, so how you do you decide which one to help? I would love to start a new tradition in my family this Easter season --  maybe a quarterly family service meeting to go over how much of our time and resources we can contribute and what causes to contribute to. This is something I really want to instill in my kids, because watching my daughter has caused me to ask myself, how can I know about the suffering that goes on around me, and around the world, and not do more?

We all have a circle of influence; it may be small, but we have it just the same. I am determined to do more with mine, so please share any tips and insights you have using the "comments" link below...

(Photo © Big Idea Entertainment)

African Cats hits theaters tomorrow, Earth Day (April 22). The True Life Adventure follows the story of Mara, an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother's strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a once banished lion.

As with the two previous Disneynature films (Earth and Oceans), Disneynature  will donate to a related environmental organization in honor of each ticket purchased for opening week. This year, Disneynature is partnering with the African Wildlife Foundation. The cooperative campaign is titled "See African Cats, Save the Savanna." Strong advance sales for African Cats movie tickets have already translated to the conservation of more than 9,500 acres of land within Kenya's Amboseli Wildlife Corridor, so I can't wait to see how many acres will be saved by the end of the campaign.

The great thing is, in addition to the money, these campaigns bring awareness. As we go throughout our busy lives, we're not always thinking of all the worthy causes we could be donating to or working on. But hey, if there happens to be a great, educational movie that we can all go see as a family, and if our ticket purchase happens to contribute the an amazing cause, well then that makes it pretty easy to get involved. Kids can even follow the progress and see what a difference we can make when we all work together. Also, you can donate directly to the cause or find out more about the project on Causes.com.

Also, if you plan on taking your kids to the movie, check out the online educational guides offered on the African Cats website. The materials are just phenomenal, and they are great for parents, teachers and homeschoolers to help kids have fun learning more about habits and habitats of African cats.

(Photo © Disney. All rights reserved.)

Rio soared to the top of the box office over the weekend with the biggest 2011 debut so far! The film is so full of facts and great cultural references, I decided to make up a little question game for my kids so they wouldn't miss the good stuff. You can download a PDF version of my Rio Movie Scavenger Hunt here. The questions are meant to be read before watching the movie, because they may be a little challenging if kids don't have a heads up of what to look for. Also, here are some interesting facts about the movie:

• Those adorable marmoset monkeys in the movie are trained in the Brazilian martial art of caporeira
• Animators created 50,000 human "extras" for the Carnaval stadium scene
• Anne Hathaway makes her big screen singing debut in this movie
• In order to get the animation just right, filmmakers visited Rio to study the area, and even the Bronx Zoo to study the birds
• Blue Sky Studios came up with innovative new ways to render feathers (with the Ruffle Deformer) and skin to look more realistic

If you've seen Rio, let us know what you thought in the "comments" section below. Or, write your own review of Rio here.

(Photo © Blue Sky Studios/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.)

Nickelodeon's new comedy-adventure series, Supah Ninjas, premieres tonight, Saturday, April 16, at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The new 26 episode, half-hour action series follows three high school friends - Mike (Ryan Potter) , Amanda  (Gracie Dzienny) and Owen (Carlos Knight) - who are drafted into a secret world of crime fighting when Mike discovers he is descended from a long line of ninjas. He connects with the spirit of his recently deceased grandfather (George Takei), who appears to Mike and his friends as an interactive hologram offering wisdom and training. Supah Ninjas is comic book in tone and cinematic in style.

This new series breaks the current mold.  We've got martial arts going on instead of the usual performing arts and ensuing fame and fortune that many kids' shows are glamorizing today. I'm certainly not saying that I don't like performing arts, but I am a little sick of the fame trend, so this show helps to mix things up a little.

The question, of course, is will kids like it? The "kids save the day" formula has definitely proven to be a winner, and the secret martial arts crime fighting makes for an exciting premise, so Supah Ninjas has that going for it. The characters seem fun, proficiently fighting crime and spewing sarcasm at the same time, and there is even already a love connection brewing right from the premiere episode. The episode is unfortunately predictable, though. Even though predictability is in line with the comic book tone, there needs to be at least a little intrigue to keep kids' attention. And, though there is a lot of sarcastic crime fighting humor, the writers need to kick the LOL factor up a notch.

All that being said, I've only seen one episode, so I'm holding off on a full review until a few more episodes air and we can really see what it has to offer. I'm not sure a cinematic style can really work well in a half-hour series. But, I'm willing to give Supah Ninjas a fighting chance, as long as the crime-fighting kids don't blow their cover and suddenly become famous with their own ninja show within a show or something like that. In the meantime, if you catch the show with your kids, let us know what you think using the "comments" link below.

(Photo credit: David M Moir/Nickelodeon)