Dinosaur Train

So your child loves dinosaurs. They also love trains. But never in a million years could you figure out how to combine the two interests. How about a few HUNDRED million years? Well, the folks at Jim Henson studios have remedied your problem with Dinosaur Train. Yes, it's dinosaurs who ride on a train. How simple!

The show is about the Pteranodon family, and you get the basic synopsis in the opening credits. Mrs. Pteranodon has four eggs in her nest. Three hatch, and she names them (from left to right in the picture above) Tiny, Shiny, and Don. Then the last egg hatches, and surprise! It's a baby T-Rex (who exclaims "what am I doing in a Pteranodon nest?!" in the short retelling). She names him Buddy, and promises they'll take a vacation to travel the world and meet all of the other dinosaur species.

 

The Dinosaur Train itself has a Troodon for a conductor, aptly named "Mr. Conductor", who calls out before the train enters a "time tunnel", which allows it to travel between the different periods/epochs/eras of the dinosaur ages. He's also a wealth of knowledge about dinosaur species, as he was the one who helped Buddy figure out he was a T-Rex based on his features.

Each segment of the show is divided by a visit from real-life paleontologist, Dr. Scott (Dr. Scott D. Sampson, a current curator at the Utah Museum of Natural History), who gives the children more facts about the dinosaurs they met in the animated segment of the show. He always closes with "get out, get into nature, and make your own discoveries!", encouraging children to explore for themselves to learn more about the world around them.

Dinosaur Train broadcasts on PBS, which is a free over-the-air channel. Check your local listings for times and channel lineups. There are also DVDs, books, and toys available to further your Dinosaur Train experience.  The program is also fairly new, so expect to see new episodes for a while yet. In fact, they just premiered "Dinosaur Train, Dino Big City" this past Monday, an hour long special with Dr. Scott actually appearing in his home museum instead of the usual green screen with dinosaur pictures. I'm sure that will come out on DVD soon, if not already.

Suggested ages for this program, I would figure preschool and up. The dinosaurs are brightly colored and friendly faced, but some youngsters might still be afraid of them. There are a lot of big words and science-y stuff being thrown around too that much younger children may not be interested. There isn't a lot of singing or music either. I think the appeal could extend well into the elementary years, if not even into middle school for budding paleontologists, especially with a real life role model such as Dr. Scott.

What your child learns:

• Dinosaur species: Names of dinosaurs, their features, when they lived, where they were found, how they lived, how big they were.
• Vocabulary: Words like "carnivore", "herbivore", "mammal", etc. and their meanings.
• Science: How paleontologists work in the field, how fossils are made and preserved, features of the ancient planet, differences in animals, how to categorize animals based on features.

As a parent watching, you might learn some interesting facts that you never learned in school science classes (I never knew America was once two separate pieces of land! See that map Mr. Conductor is pointing at above? That was the US a few million years ago. Interesting!). The characters aren't too obnoxious. Sometimes when Mr. Conductor's mother rides along, you can see him get all flustered, just as many of us do as adults around our parents, especially when they visit us at work! As I said before, there isn't a lot of singing going on either, so the show doesn't get that obnoxious. Personally, I think Dr. Scott needs some pointers about how to not be so strange on camera and to not have dead-eyes, but that's just me.

I do want to add that this is a great program for families with adopted children, as that topic is often mentioned in reference to Buddy's role in the family. Mrs. Pteranodon often tells him that even though he's not the same species, and that someday he'll be much larger than all of them because he's so different, that they adopted him and love him just the same. No matter what, he's their child and they love him. They also take him to see a T-Rex family often so he can learn about himself and what he will grow up to be. This may be a great way for families to integrate their own adoptions into conversation with their children in a loving manner, and I really do love their treatment of the topic.

It's a cute concept that combines the two often-favored topics of trains and dinosaurs into one adorable little program that is also educational. Can't go wrong with this one!

Little Einsteins

Little Einsteins is a unique concept for a children's show, but one that I think many parents will appreciate more than others. You might be familiar with the Baby Einstein DVD series, which exposes your infant to classical music and art. Little Einsteins takes that concept a little further into childhood. Each episode focuses on one famous piece of music and one famous artist/art style/painting. Then they integrate the music and the art into the episode's story line.

There are five main characters in this program: Leo (red-headed boy), June (brunette girl), Quincy (African-American boy), Annie (blonde girl), and Rocket, their sentient rocket ship. Each child has a special skill they bring to the team. Leo likes to conduct music, and therefore he's also mostly in charge of the group. June likes to dance, and as such she wears a tutu and ballet slippers. Quincy likes to play instruments. Annie likes to sing. According to the Wikipedia Page, each of the characters is named after someone famous in a similar field: Leo after the famous composer Leopold Stokowski, June after famous choreographer June Taylor, Quincy after famous musician and composer Quincy Jones, and Annie after famous Jazz singer Anni Rossi.

The plot of the show is usually the same in that they are given some sort of mission to complete at the beginning (winning a race, saving an animal, helping a friend, etc.). The music piece is integrated in a number of ways, while the art piece(s) generally show up in the background. Children are encouraged to participate by clapping, dancing, patting their laps, singing, and answering questions. They are also introduced to music terms such as piano, pianissimo, allegro, and so on.

This program, while no longer being made new, plays on the Disney Junior block of the Disney Channel. Disney is a subscription channel, so cable or satellite will be required, please check your local listings for times and channels. There are also lots of Little Einstein DVDs and toys on the market to extend your child's experience.

As for age appeal, the characters on the show range in age from 5-8, but I would guess the appeal wouldn't last much past second or third grade for most kids. Since there is nice classical music, younger children would probably like it, especially since they are encouraged to dance and sing along with the characters. Normally, with something with so much music, I would recommend it for even infant exposure, but the characters do tend to shout a bit in this program, so it might startle a baby who is getting into the groove of the calm classical music.

What your child learns:

• Music: Instruments, classical music, famous composers, music terms, singing, tempo and time, rhythm, reading music notes.
• Art: Famous artists, famous artwork, colors, shapes.
• Mathematics: Counting, fractions (counting time and tempo in music), simple addition and subtraction.

As a parent watching, you might get bored with the pauses the characters take to allow your child to answer their questions. The plots are simplistic, for obvious reasons, but it won't give you much to enjoy other than watching your child participate.

Overall, it's a neat concept for a kids show. However, it's simplicity and niche subject were what caused it to be cancelled. Your child may or may not mesh with the program, but it's worth a try to expose them to some culture that they otherwise won't see from children's television.

Yo Gabba Gabba

My first post by reader request! Yo Gabba Gabba... I don't even really know where to start. Parents on Yo Gabba Gabba can be divided into two categories: "Love it" (for whatever reason), and "Hate it because it's a toddler acid trip". Now, for me, I think the 70's "H.R. Pufnstuf" was way worse on the latter claim. This is just the 2000's version of that. Really. People in big costumes singing songs in styles popular in the day. It's that simple. I'll admit, initially, I was in the "this is too weird and it creeps me out" category, but after I gave it a chance (with prodding from an awesome set of parent friends of mine, they know who they are), I learned to love it. I'm a huge fan of DJ Lance now.

If you've never seen this show before, let me introduce you to the cast of characters. First, DJ Lance Rock, the guy in the orange furry hat. He's the emcee of Gabba Land. That boom box he carries also houses the figures of the five other critters, who come to life with his imagination. (Stay with me here, I promise, I'm not smoking anything!) The intro song introduces each characters... Muno, "He's tall and friendly" (who you may recognize from those car commercials where the kid's toys borrow the SUV), Foofa "She's pink and happy", Brobee, "The little green one", Toodee "She likes to have fun" (interjection: she's the blue cat thing... I think she gets the short end of the stick as far as the song goes), Plex "A magic robot". Easy enough. Still with me? Okay, good. Take another sip of coffee.The characters reside in "Gabba Land" and each have their own realm. Well, except for Plex. He has a charging station in between Foofa's and Brobee's realms.

Muno---------Foofa---------Brobee--------Toodie

The best part of Yo Gabba Gabba is definitely the guest stars. There are some regulars, and then a list dozens of celebrities long for the "Dancey-Dance" portion. The regulars include Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, who teaches kids to draw random things that then animate themselves to life, Biz Markie, who does "Biz's beat of the day" and teaches kids a fun beat-box noise, and Jack McBrayer who often appears with Paul Scheer to tell the "Knock-knock joke of the day". Jack Black and Weird Al Yankovic have both had entire episodes.  Amy Sedaris (of "Strangers With Candy" fame) was the tooth fairy for Muno in an episode. Other notable guests for "Dancey-Dance" segments have been Andy Sandberg, Rachael Dratch, Melora Hardin (Jan on The Office), Tony Hawk (who cheated and didn't actually dance at all, but skateboarded... a bone of contention for me), and Sarah Silverman, among others. There are also musical guests for the "Super Music Friend Show" portion, where DJ Lance gives the Gabba crew a giant TV to play a song, and they all dance around to it in between snippets of a YGG special music video. Musical guests include (but are not limited to!) The Shins (see the Super Music link above!), The Aquabats, Weezer (dressed as large bugs), The Ting Tings, and The Roots. Needless to say, all of this involvement is more for the parents, and it really does make the show way more awesome.

The show jumps around in small segments, between little stories with the YGG gang learning a lesson about being patient, cleaning up or sharing, musical interludes, segments I've already mentioned, and fun 8-bit animations featuring real kids who "like to dance!" (think original Nintendo or even Atari). There are also segments such as "Cool Tricks", where a real kid shows off a fun hidden talent like playing the piano, doing a hula, or even just balancing a spoon on their nose. The whole thing is wrapped up with DJ Lance reviewing what was done on the show that day, and then dancing to a remix of all the songs they sang.

I can't do this post without some video fun... here is my favorite song from Yo Gabba Gabba, where Muno raps about why he likes bugs so much (sorry for the poor quality, it's the best I could find that was able to be embedded):







Come on, that song is hardcore awesome. Admit it.

Yo Gabba Gabba plays on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. at various times throughout the day and night. Both channels are only available by subscription to a cable or satellite provider, please check local listings. There are also tons of CDs, DVDs, and toys to expand your YGG experience. And recently, there has been a world wide live tour (attended and very highly spoken of by a friend of mine in Australia at the Sydney Opera House)!

Age appeal is pretty broad ranging, in my opinion. The music is fun for all ages, child and adult alike. The lessons might be best suited to preschool, kindergarten, or elementary school kids, but the coolness factor lasts long beyond those years. There are also fun tunes and bright happy colors for the younger viewers. My son enjoyed it from quite a young age.

What your child learns:

• Social and Emotional Development: Emotions, patience, sharing, kindness, caring for the earth, empathy, cultivating friendships, eating healthy, jokes, hidden talents.
• Mathematics: Patterns, counting, colors, shapes.
• Music and Dance: Different kinds of music, dance moves, fun in movement, singing, different kinds of instruments, beat patterns.
• Pre-Reading Skills: Story telling, remembering what happened in a story, reading encouragement.

As a parent watching, there are tons of things to get you interested, including your favorite bands and celebrities. If you grew up in the 80's or 90's, there is also a bit nostalgia factor between the 8-bit animation and random references like Plex playing a keytar. The voices might be a little annoying (Muno is kind of high pitched, and Brobee and Toodie are kind of whiny), but there is so much more to like than just the basic five characters. I implore you to give it a chance. Yes, it's weird for a kids show, but remember that kids like weird. Take it for what it's worth and I bet you'll really like it.

In fact, here's the official Yo Gabba Gabba YouTube channel... go and waste some time watching the awesome :) You can tell your co-workers that you're just listening to your iPod. Our little secret.

Ni-Hao Kai Lan

Today we're going to check out "Ni-Hao, Kai Lan!", or as I like to call it, Chinese Dora. Kai Lan is another animated young girl, this time of Asian decent, who has anthropomorphic animal friends: Rintoo the tiger, Hoho the little white monkey, Tolee the panda-obsessed koala, and Lulu the rhino who flies around by a balloon tied to her horn (not pictured). Kai Lan lives with her grandfather, Yeye (which I'm guessing means Grandpa in Chinese). There is no mention of her parents. Kai Lan's format is similar to that of Dora the Explorer in that it has the character pause and ask your child for a response several times throughout the program, as well as repetitive catchy songs.

Kai Lan has a focus on Chinese language lessons. I'm not a huge fan of how they teach the Chinese. As an adult, it's hard for me to figure out what they're actually even trying to say. Dora at least says "(Spanish word) means (English equivalent)" or "the Spanish word for (thing) is (word)", so you at least have a chance to figure out some equivalencies. Kai Lan doesn't offer quite the same courtesy. There are sometimes whole sentences spoken in Chinese, and we the viewer are left to guess what was said. I've learned quite a bit of Spanish from the likes of Dora and Handy Manny, but as far as Chinese goes from Kai Lan, all I've picked up really is how to say hi ("ni-hao", it's in the title), the color red (sounds like "hong-suh"), how to say thank you (sounds like "shay shay"), how to say listen ("ting"), and numbers 1-3 ("Ee", "are", "sun"). If that's all a college-educated adult can pick up, I can only imagine how confusing the show is to someone who is still trying to get his head around saying words that start with S in his own native language.

There is also a big focus on emotions in this program. Kai Lan's friends tend to have problems dealing with their emotions, and usually it's a lesson from either Yeye or their little ant friends that helps them figure out (clap clap clap) what to do. (It's a song in the show, in case you were wondering.) Now this part, I like. Toddlers and preschoolers, heck, even adults, all have hard times realizing what their emotions are and how to deal with them. Sadness, anger, jealousy, etc. are all dealt with in easy to understand ways. They also focus on teaching about helping, sharing, and cleaning up after yourself.

Ni-Hao Kai Lan is shown on Nick and Nick Jr. channels, which are cable and satellite subscription channels only. Check your local listings for times and channels. There are also lots of Kai Lan DVDs, toys, and books available for purchase.

Kai Lan's appeal may be rather limited to toddlers and preschoolers. The animation is bright and happy, so easy for the younger crowd to be interested in, and there are catchy tunes to sing and clap along with. I think Kindergarteners may enjoy the program for the Chinese lessons, but only minimally for the actual story lines.

What your child learns:

• Cultural Education: Chinese language and culture, including festivals and celebrations.
• Social and Emotional Development: Caring for friends, dealing with emotions, empathy, taking care of your planet and toys, sharing, helping.
• Mathematics: Counting in both English and Chinese, putting things in order, patterns, shapes, colors.
• Music: Singing, clapping, rhythm games.
• Pre-Reading Skills: Rhyming, remembering story details. 

As a parent watching, there's not going to be much that is enjoyable for you. The characters are kind of shrill and "yell-y", similar to Dora. The Chinese is hard to catch on to. There is no parental role model other than Yeye, and even he is only present sparingly. The language is simplistic, and the stories are clearly aimed at the youngest viewers. You're going to be bored and probably annoyed with this program. I know I am. Of course, that usually means my son adores the program, and Kai Lan is no exception to this rule. He loves shouting answers at the television when they're requested of him, and clapping along to the songs. Plus, I think he's starting to develop a thing for foreign chicks. At least it has some educational value, otherwise I'd probably not let him watch it. It's up there on the "hokey, fake" scale. Good luck.

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.