Kraft is partnering up with Cartoon Network and Strike Ten Entertainment to push Fred Flintstone’s favorite pastime on boxes of Pebbles cereals. Two promotions-one in fourth quarter 2000 and one in first quarter 2001-will encourage kids to visit bowling centers across the U.S. by offering free games and a Saturday morning league.

October 1 through December 31, 13 million packages of Post’s Fruity, Cocoa and Cinna-Crunch Pebbles will sport certificates redeemable for free

bowling games when presented at one of about 2,900 centers participating through industry management company Strike Ten Entertainment. On-pack bursts will also push a Post-sponsored ‘Bowl Online with The Flintstones’ game available at CartoonNetwork.com and Bowl.com.

Then in January 2001, the Cartoon Network Bowling Club will start up for a 12- to 18-week run. Aimed at kids ages six to 12, the league will offer players a Cartoon Network premium when they sign up and reward the kids who stick it out for the duration with a free Flintstones video from Warner Home Video, a T-shirt and one of three character-emblazoned bowling balls.

Support for the ‘Go Bedrock Bowling’ promo will include tagged 30-second spots featuring The Flintstones airing on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Fox Kids during November, as well as POS materials featuring CN characters at the alleys.

Cartoon Network is also gearing up for a back-to-school tie-in with Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid that will see The Powerpuff Girls and other cartoon characters adorning 130 million Hi-C multipacks. Running from August 1 through September 30, the promo will push Hi-C’s new Smashin’ Wild Berry flavor through in-store displays, Web support and a premium-with-purchase offer dangling Cartoon Network key chains and inflatable chairs.

Other Cartoon Network initiatives include a Subway Kid’s Meal program featuring The Powerpuff Girls, slated to run from August 21 through October 1.

Hasbro, already the corporate sponsor of the It’s itsy bitsy Time preschool programming block, has signed up to support a second block on PBS. The toyco will push its Playskool brand through an agreement supporting Toronto-based Nelvana’s Bookworm Bunch, a three-hour block airing Saturday mornings starting September 30. As one of the sponsors for the block, Hasbro will receive six 15-second spots per airing, as well as exposure via related events and educational outreach programs.

Bugs, Daffy and other Looney Tunes characters are getting ready to crash a few fairy tales as they take up the century-old British tradition of the pantomime next spring. The traveling roadshow will aim to build Euro exposure for the franchise with a spring/summer tour hitting the U.K. and Ireland. Warner Bros. Consumer Products, which will produce the show with Associated Entertainment, hopes to take it to other European countries in subsequent years.