Super Why

Here's a super hero team that any parent can get behind... although I'm still partial to Spidey and the X-Men, don't get me wrong! Super Why, also known as Wyatt, is a story book character who comes to the rescue of his story book world friends by using books with characters who are experiencing similar dilemmas.

Now, you're probably thinking, "I don't know of any story with a character named Wyatt in it," and you would be right. However, when I tell you more about Wyatt's family, you might recognize him... or at least his older brother. They reside in a giant beanstalk house, and his older brother's name is Jack. Jack is now a teenager (recently headed off to college, in fact), and Wyatt has taken over the job of being the rambunctious boy of the family.

Wyatt's friends, also known as The Super Readers, are also popular storybook characters. There is Red, who roller skates to and from Grandma's house now. Pig is the smallest of the famous three, and loves to build things. Finaly, there is Princess Pea, who is known for her sensitivity to a particular legume beneath her mattress. All four have special Super Reading powers: Pig turns into Alpha Pig, who is well versed in the alphabet. Red becomes Wonder Red, who loves to rhyme and find similar sounds. Princess Pea becomes Princess Presto, with super spelling powers. Wyatt becomes the titular Super Why, with the power to read using his Why Writer, which highlights words as they are read, and helps him zap the right word to complete a sentence.

In more recent episodes, a new character named Woofster has been added. He's Wyatt's new pet dog, and he has Dictionary Power, to help define words that are new to the Super Readers. What kid doesn't love a cute puppy?

Viewers are also encouraged to watch for "Super Letters", which Wyatt plugs into his Super Computer to give them the answer to their dilemma. The letters tend to pop up throughout the story, and are sparkly and red. My son gets quite excited when he spots them, and loves "yelling to Super Why" to "alert" him to their presence.

Super Why currently airs on PBS, a free over the air channel, and PBS Sprout on certain cable network providers and satellite services.

Suggested ages for this program are toddler to about age 6 or 7. I think older kids may find the reading lessons a bit below them, but may still benefit from spelling and sentence completion lessons. Younger viewers may not enjoy the reading aspect as much, but rhyming and finding the Super Letters will be a lot of fun for the 2-3 set.

What your child learns:

• Reading Readiness: Identifying letters (both upper and lowercase), completing sentences with the correct word, context, rhyming words, spelling.
• Social and Emotional development: Helping others, compassion, friendship, following directions, listening to others.
• Critical Thinking: Identifying and solving problems, using context to answer a question, finding similarities between parallel situations. 

As a parent watching, you might find the pauses to allow your child to answer to be a tad on the long side, and some of the situations may be overly basic. There is a little humor thrown in for the adult crowd, in that some of the story book characters the Super Readers meet are obviously neurotic, but aside from that, there isn't going to be much you'll enjoy other than watching your child respond to questions.

It's a cute little show, without loud and obnoxious characters. That's always a plus in my book. The reading aspect of this show, I find, is almost unparalleled in other programs. Your child will love having a super hero of their own to identify with, and seeing characters they recognize from some of their favorite stories on screen is a special little bonus.

Barney

 

Another old stand-by, Barney the big purple dinosaur. Barney is one of those shows you either love or hate. (And by hate, I mean WOW do people hate this show. I had no idea a show for children could be so vehemently disliked in my LIFE. Barney is apparently quite polarizing!) Believe it or not, next year Barney's show turns 20 years old, although the Barney character is even older than that, as initially Barney was a straight-to-VHS program. After the success of the video series, the show was produced for television and aired in 1992. 

The original format of the program was focused around a group of kids at school, whose stuffed dinosaur friend magically came to life to play with them. The ages of the children ranged from kindergarten to around fifth grade, and even an 8th grader came in from time to time (one of the younger girls' sister). Usually the kids were playing together after school, albeit without any adult supervision until Barney shows up. Then songs would be sung, lessons about bugs, homes, friends, and family would be learned, and Barney would become a stuffed toy once again when it was time for them to all go home. Some latch-key program, huh? The show is always closed with a singing of the "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...." song we all know.

Later on in the series, the location shifts from the school itself to a tree house, which is supposedly outside of the school, and then to a local park and rec center shaped like a train caboose. In more recent episodes (although according to online sources, the show has not been produced new since 2009), the kids are even mostly phased out and Barney's dino friends take center stage. 

Barney's friends have been added slowly over the years. Baby Bop, the green dino, is a three year old girl, and has been around mostly since the start of the series. She also had some appearances on the original video series. She is known for having a yellow blanket that she adores and sings about, and wearing ballet shoes all the time. BJ the yellow dino is added about 6 years into the series. He is the seven year old brother of Baby Bop, which is interesting because he's obviously a different breed of dinosaur. (I know, minor detail, gotta suspend disbelief, yadda yadda yadda...) BJ is noted for pretending to be a superhero called Captain Pickle. Finally, towards the end of the series, Riff the orange dino is added. He is apparently a 5-6 year old cousin of BJ and Baby Bop, and loves to play music (I'm assuming the reason for his name). Towards the end of the series, the three friends of Barney become the focus of the series, with only occasional interaction with real children, and as a parent, I am not a fan. Originally, it was the imaginations of the children who brought Barney to life, and without them it's just another cheesy show with people in costumes.

Many of the songs from the Barney catalog have remained throughout the series. Baby Bop's "My Yellow Blanket" song, BJ's "I'm Captain Pickle", the "A Home is a Place to Live In" song, and of course the "I Love You" song are all standards that you will recognize from early on. 

The show is more of an educational program as well. It focuses on various topics, such as shapes, bugs, art, music, reading, and so forth. Sometimes, due to the fact that there are kid actors, the lessons come off a little preachy, and your child may get bored with those parts of the program. However, the characters break into song, and attention is once again grabbed.

Barney also still tours live, most recently with Sprout's Sunny Side Up Show mall tour, which we got to see come through Cincinnati late last summer. 

I think I was more excited than my son was, although he did shake Barney's hand (second picture). By the way, just for the record, I have lost 15 pounds since then. Thankfully.

Barney can be seen on your local PBS channel as well as on PBS Sprout. PBS itself is a free over-the-air channel while Sprout is a channel that is only available through a cable or satellite provider. As always, be sure to check your local listings for times and channels. There are hundreds of Barney videos and DVDs available as well, and I'm sure CDs. In fact, the Barney merchandising was quite feverish in the 90's for those who may have been too young to notice/remember/care. There are toys and accessories galore available for purchase by parents.

What your child learns:

• Mathematics: Shapes, counting, simple addition and subtraction.
• Art: Colors, how to use various art materials, how to make costumes and toys out of household materials.
• Social and Emotional Development: How to be a good friend, empathy, feelings and emotions, how families are different and the same.
• Reading: Alphabet, small sight words, Mother Goose rhymes, rhyming words, spelling.
• Science: Bugs and their life cycles, animals, various simple experiements.
• Music: Different instruments and their sounds, songs to sing along with.
• Movement: Exercise ideas, dance.
• Cultural Education: Spanish language and culture (more in earlier episodes when two of the girls were Mexican), countries around the world and their languages, cultures, and traditions (more in the later episodes).

Barney is a diverse show, and they make a point to make sure that many different cultures, ethnicities, and family styles are represented. It's a show that also teaches children to love one another and treat each other the way they want to be treated. Even if Barney bugs the crap out of you, that's a lesson I'm sure we all want our kids to learn.

Children of many ages will likely enjoy Barney as well. He is brightly colored and an upbeat, happy dinosaur, as are his other dino friends, so even the youngest children will be attracted to him. There is also a lot of music, which is fun for the little ones as well. However, even though older children are often depicted on the show, I don't see it being of much interest beyond the first years of grade school, if even that old. Barney has a somewhat childish reputation, so your older child may feel like it's more "for babies".

As a parent watching, I'll admit, there isn't much for us to like. The kid actors are remedial at best for most of the series, and there's very little if any adult supervision shown for us to relate to or interact with. The premise of the show is one of the more fanciful ones as well, so it might be tough for parents to get on board. You either have to have grown up with Barney, or have a very high tolerance for mundane children's songs and situations. If you fall into neither category, then I suggest you skip it, although it is one of the more educational programs. I, for one, like the older versions of the show much better than the more recent ones, but I can tolerate it for the most part if I tune it out. As you can see from the pictures above, I'm also not above giving a hug to a happy six and a half foot purple dinosaur either.

Caillou

Caillou (pronounced "kai-you" for you newbies... don't feel bad, I called him "kally-oh" at first) is one of those shows that you either love it, or you hate it. I will openly admit, initially I was in the "hate it" camp. However, what I like and what my two year old likes are sometimes two different things. And so, I watch Caillou. He's not as bad as I once thought.

Caillou is a four year old boy who experiences things in life. Caillou has a family consisting of a mom and dad (whose names are not expressly mentioned, however upon digging I found out they are technically named Doris and Boris... I don't blame them for not sharing) and a two year old little sister named Rosie. We also meet Caillou's grandma and grandpa, who I have deduced to be his dad's parents. He also has a pet cat named Gilbert. Depending on which season you watch, you may or may not encounter puppet characters based on his pet and favorite toys (Gilbert and toys Rexxie and Teddy). Caillou attends "play school" aka preschool, and has several friends, including Clementine, twins Jason and Jeffrey, and Leo. He also plays with his older neighbor Sarah on occasion.

For the most part, the show's design follows the original books' layouts in terms of look. Borders of the screen are blurred in a way to mimic illustrations in the books, and the colors are almost a watercolor effect. The show is narrated by an older woman, as if she were reading a story. In the newer versions, the stories themselves are broken up by songs about siblings, friends, and helping... that sort of thing. However, in older versions there are generally two or three stories that are interconnected by topic.

The show itself isn't deeply educational. Caillou learns things about his world in much the same way your child does. He goes places with his parents, he learns things in school, and he just lives life. Most of the lessons your child will take away are those dealing with friendships and the way the world works. He also encounters different people doing different jobs around the city: police officers, postal workers, firefighters, construction workers, etc. Caillou often imagines himself in these roles as well.

One thing I hear a LOT of my parent friends complain about when it comes to Caillou is his voice. During the newer seasons, the voice actor changed, and with that change came a change in the character of Caillou himself. The newer voice actor makes Caillou a lot more whiny of a child than in older years. Along with this, his parents seem to dote on his whines a lot more than they used to, which as a parent watching, can really make you want to reach through the screen and remind them that they are indeed the parents and therefore the parties in charge. They really don't need to cave into what their four year old is demanding of them.

Another often-heard complaint I hear about Caillou is that he is bald. I did some digging on my own (back when I was dying to know what his parents' names were), and found out that the reason behind Caillou's lack of follicles is because that the series is based on a series of books in which Caillou is actually younger than his television counterpart. Younger children tend to have less hair, and therefore, in keeping with the book style, TV Caillou has no hair either. While it's a valid explanation, I still think they could have given him at least a tiny hint of hair, like Charlie Brown, who at least has those strange bangs.

The show does a great job of showing tight family bonds, something I'll admit I don't see a lot of in kids television. The family genuinely likes spending time with one another, and Caillou loves playing with his little sister. Is it realistic? Not a chance. But, as we often tell our children, it's fun to pretend.

Caillou is shown on both PBS and Sprout channels. PBS is available on basic television, while Sprout is only available through cable or satellite providers. Check your local listings for times and channels. I know for a fact that currently Sprout shows an hour of Caillou daily at noon (including weekends) EST, followed by Sesame Street. There are also lots of Caillou DVDs, many of which are available on Netflix instant play. 

What your child learns:

• Social and Emotional Development: Empathy, caring for friends, neighbors, and family, learning about emotions, valuing family.
• Learning about Society: Different jobs, places to go, how to stay safe in public, school life.
• Fostering Imagination: Pretend play, dress up, picturing the future, etc.

There isn't much else I can say about Caillou except that my son is utterly and inexplicably drawn to this program. Recently, putting Caillou on my Netflix instant was the only way to derail a massive "Daddy left without me" tantrum. I'm not sure if it's the soft watercolors, the soothing grandma-esque narrator, or what, but it worked. As a parent, it's not my favorite show, but I'm getting to the point of tolerance after a year and a half of watching it. You may not be so lucky, so consider yourself warned. Your child may just fall in love with it to spite you. Good luck.

Sesame Street

My first evaluation is going to be of the old standby: Sesame Street.

We all know who lives on Sesame Street. The program has been around for more than forty years. 4-0. That's a long time. Kids who grew up on Sesame Street are now parents, and maybe even very young grandparents by this point. That's a great run for any program, let alone a children's show. I personally remember learning to read the words "Cat Food" from an episode of Sesame Street, as well as the "Longest Word" song for my alphabet. So for me, it's neat that my son gets to share in some of the same characters I loved while growing up.

Sesame Street is aimed at preschoolers. There are lessons on letters, numbers, counting, and caring for your friends and neighbors. Characters are both human actors, puppets (Muppets!), and animated.

The latest format of Sesame Street has segments that are more akin to short episodes of other shows. Such segments include "Murray Has a Little Lamb" (where Murray monster and his little lamb Ovejita (pronounced Oh-va-hee-ta) go to various specialty schools to learn about art, music, sports, etc.), "Abby's Flying Fairy School" (an animated segment, that has jokes such as "Zsa Zsa Gabor" being a magic spell word), "Super Grover 2.0" (it's Super Grover we all know and love, with a fancy new outfit and car, as well as the tagline that I find hilarious "Super Grover 2.0: He shows up!"), and "Elmo's World" (real Elmo in an animated crayon drawing of his imagination, which generally focuses on one subject), among other less frequent ones like "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures" (which is claymation). These episode segments are intertwined with segments highlighting the Letter of the Day and the Number of the Day, as well as a portion focusing on some characters actually on the street.

Running time is about 48 minutes on average. While that seems long, the various breaks in the show help to keep a child's attention for the good majority of the show.

PBS stations generally show the newest episodes around lunchtime (12pm EST). Sprout also has instituted an hour of Sesame Street 7 days a week at 1pm EST, however Sprout is not a channel that is in all lineups, and does require a cable or satellite subscription. Check your local listings to find out exact times and channels.

One good thing about the Sprout version of the show is that Sprout has the older episodes. Some from as far back as the late 90's have been shown in the time I've had the channel. The cool thing about that is that the older episodes have little cartoons from even OLDER episodes, i.e. the ones I remember as a kid. The pinball counting to 12, the fireworks that spell out the alphabet, "It's Hip to be a Square", and Cookie Monster's rap about "Healthy Food"...all classics in my book. Even the old "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco" shows up from time to time... which may lead to some interesting conversations about what a Disco was.

Some of the old human actors still remain on the program and there are new faces as well. The characters Bob, Gordon, Maria, Geena, and Luis are all still "on the street", with occasional appearances by Gordon's wife and the deaf Linda. Gordon's son and Maria's daughter are both almost grown up (am I the ONLY one who remembers when Maria was expecting? I feel old!). Geena is now a veterinarian for all the animals on the street. New faces include Chris, who works at Hooper's store, Alan, who runs the local sandwich counter next to Hooper's, and Leela, who runs the local laundromat. My favorite human character is actually one of the newcomers, Chris. He's hilarious, and his acting is so fluid.

The Muppets have remained pretty much the same. Big Bird, Telly, the Count, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Elmo, Oscar, etc. All still there. My son tends to gravitate towards Elmo, as well as newcomer Murray of "Murray Has a Little Lamb", and who also acts as a host of sorts between show segments. The newer Muppets to the gang are Baby Bear, Rosita, Zoe, and Abby Cadabby, a fairy (although Baby Bear, Rosita, and Zoe have all been around a while now). The great thing about Sesame Street is that there is a character for everyone to love, and most likely your child will find one (or many) that they adore. Unlucky for you, the parent, is that fact that if the character your child loves happens not to be Big Bird, Ernie, Elmo, or Cookie Monster, your chances of finding anything with your child's buddy on it are slim to nil.

As a parent watching, it's easy to interact with my son when this show is on. It's easy to ask him questions about what he has seen, ask him what letter is on the screen, or count to the number of the day. Sesame Street has lately taken up having guests on the show. Some guests play characters... an example of which has to be one of my favorites, Neil Patrick Harris as The Shoe Fairy. Others just go over "The Word on the Street" (a segment that helps build vocabulary), and that list is already almost as impressive as Saturday Night Live's hosts... LL Cool J, Amy Poehler, Jennifer Garner, and Ty Burrell (TV dad Phil from Modern Family), just to name a few. Your kid may not care about these famous figures, so I'm guessing the guest stars are purely for Mom and Dad's enjoyment here. (Confession: I DVR'ed the NPH episode, and still watch it with joy several times a month.)

Now, the good stuff: what is your child actually LEARNING from this show?

• Mathematics: Numbers, counting, shapes and colors, categorizing, and simple math functions such as addition, subtraction, and fractions.
• Reading: Letters, the alphabet, spelling, and phonics.
• Problem Solving: What should the characters do in a situation, seek and find, using clues to solve a mystery, answering questions, etc.
• Social and Emotional Development: Caring for friend and cultivating friendships, learning about feelings and empathy, helping out, etc.
• Cultural Education: Spanish words and numbers, learning about different heritages, races, backgrounds, and various holidays.
• Music: Instruments and their sounds, songs, musical styles, and dance.
  

Overall, Sesame Street is a pretty all-encompassing standard in children's television programming. There's a little something for everyone, as well as a broad spectrum of educational redeeming value. As a parent, you'll probably find some parts annoying, and other parts highly entertaining. Your child will likely enjoy at least some of this show, no matter what age or stage of development they fall into. You also won't have to worry that your child will fall in love with it and have the show be canceled on them, so bonus points for longevity.

For fun behind the scenes looks at Sesame, check out the Sesame Street blog. (I wouldn't show that to the kiddos though, it might ruin their childhoods forever seeing that their favorite character is actually two grown dudes.)