‘Unboxing’ Gabby’s Dollhouse with an Interview with Creators and FREE Craft and Recipe Ideas

January 8, 2021

If you love kittens, hug attacks and cupcake sprinkle parties, the new Dreamworks show Gabby’s Dollhouse is for you. The show is about a girl named Gabby, played by Laila Lockhart Kraner, who hugs her stuffed cat and magically transforms into an animated character in her own dollhouse.

The show has an adorable concept of diving into a dollhouse, and it teaches a valuable lesson about growth mindset. For Gabby, learning is a process that doesn’t mean getting it right every single time she tries.

Each episode begins with Gabby getting mail from her bright neon purple mail chute. The box looks different each time to hint at the adventure of the day. In the first episode, the mail arrives in a black box decorated with sparkly space stickers. The second episode has a new adventure to unbox with a red and white striped box decorated with music note stickers.

In this beginning mail scene, I could see a similarity to Blues Clues, which creators Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey worked on. Traci Paige Johnson created Blues Clues, and Jennifer Twomey produced and wrote it. While Blues Clues is one of my favorite preschool shows, Gabby’s Dollhouse has a modern appeal with the color scheme and unboxing concept.

When I learned that I would be interviewing creators Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey, I was excited. I teach a class that shows students how to make a movie either with live action video or stop motion featuring their American Girl dolls. My students create an original story, and they act it out with their dolls as they picture themselves diving into their doll’s world, just like Gabby does in this show.

I thought it was interesting to ask the creators about mixed media animation and developing strong scripts. They gave helpful tips and ideas. You can also see pop-in appearances from each of my daughters and our puppy. Check out my interview below.

Check out these fun craft and recipe ideas.

Celebrate the space theme in episode 1 of season 1! Make a space chain using simple materials. Only pipe cleaners are needed.Create delicious Sticky Cat Paws to enjoy while watching the show.