Tot TV Watch

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beyond Watching the Show, where I give some ideas of activities for kids that enjoy a particular show that go beyond just watching the show. If you have more ideas of activities for this show please comment and share your ideas. Also, please comment here if you have a request of a show to feature in an upcoming edition of Beyond Watching the Show.

This week’s show is H2O. This seems to be a pretty popular show that was recently introduced in the United States on Nickelodeon. Even I find myself enjoying the episodes I catch. It really is an interesting show about humans becoming mermaids. It is like them having superpowers, but it is not done as a action superhero show, which I tend to not enjoy because in the end they lack plot depth.

What H2O Character Are You?: This is an interesting online personality quiz to determine, which H2O character your personality most matches with.

Mermaid Coloring Pages: Mermaid coloring pages are not too hard to find on the Internet, although I could not find any that are specifically of the three mermaids in H2O. Here are some that are at least not replicating Ariel from The Little Mermaid. This site also has a good variety of mermaid styles including many that are anime style.

Mermaid Cake: This is a really cool cake idea to make a cake that looks like a mermaid. You can change the colors of it to make it look more like the H2O mermaids, especially by making the tail all the orangish color instead of the more varied color shown in the recipe.

Mermaid Crafts: One interesting mermaid craft is this toilet paper template, which can be printed in black and white and colored like the H2O mermaids. I also found this printable template to make a mermaid friend.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

I kept waffling about if VeggieTales counted as a television show, but with the new Indiana Jones movie recently released this VeggieTales parody came to mind as a good one to review on this blog. After looking at the episode list of what VeggieTales DVD stories have aired as part of the VeggieTales shows on NBC and ION I decided this one definitely fits with in with my kid’s tv blog.

VeggieTales - Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush is a parody of Indiana Jones with Larry the Cucumber playing Minnesota Cuke, who is an Indiana Jones like character. The DVD also contains another VeggieTales story about Junior Asparagus dealing with bullies. The lesson taught in this DVD is about dealing with bullies as God would want you to.

The Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush parody is one of the most interesting ones done in the VeggieTales series. It has some adventure to it with Minnesota Cuke getting artifacts such as a golden carrot and Samson’s hairbrush for the Moose Lake Children’s Museum.

The silly song on this DVD is “Pizza Angel,” which is also among my favorite of the VeggieTales silly songs. It is Larry the Cucumber singing about wanting his pizza to come as he waits forever for the delivery guy to come.

Besides the great stories that teach kids how to deal with bullies, this DVD also contains a lot of special features. My favorite being the audio commentary, but there are also some fun things for kids such as a Catacomb Game, Worm Pit Family Activity Idea, and Petunia’s Worm recipe.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Here is this week’s edition of new releases of DVDs that feature kids shows. Some are previously seen episodes from television while others are straight to DVD episodes or movies based on kids TV shows.

Cory in the House - Newt & Improved Edition: This DVD contains three episodes of Cory in the House that have been shown on television before and one never before seen episode of the show. If the new episode is not enough to make this seem worth owning, then consider the fact that it also has special features that go behind the scenes and tell about the making of the never before seen episode.

Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 6: This is a 4 disc DVD collection containing all the episodes of sixth season of the high school drama series. The drama is as intense as ever in this season that includes them losing one of their own.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Volume 2: This contains 13 episodes of the remake version of the He-Man cartoon series.

Minutemen: Minutmen is the latest of the Disney Channel Original Movies. It first aired on the Disney Channel earlier this year and now you can own it on DVD. This is a fun movie about some high school kids inventing a time machine and then having to save the world. Not sure if and what special features it has, but if it does at least have some good behind the scenes stuff like they showed as shorts on the Disney Channel before the movie was released it might be worth owning.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

The Saddle Club is originally an Australian show, but is now shown in other countries including on the Discovery Kids Channel in the United States. The show is based on a series of books and to date has aired two series of shows. The show first aired in 2001 and last ended new episodes in 2004. It seemed like a dead show with only repeats playing, however, a third series is in production and set to start airing sometime in 2008. Not sure if the new series will start airing at that time on Discovery Kids or if they will wait a little before bringing it to the United States market, but considering The Saddle Club is supposedly the most popular repeated show on Discovery Kids and 60% of the website’s traffic comes for the U.S. I imagine it will happen around the same time as it starts airing in Australia.

This may not exactly be an educational show, but it is an enjoyable show for kids (probably mostly appeals to girls) around ages 8 to 12. The show is about kids that spend a lot of their time at the Pine Hollow Stables. The three main characters formed The Saddle Club based on their common love for horses and horse riding. The three main characters and many of the other regular characters are girls, thus the reason why this seems to be a more appealing show for kids. The show is not entirely devoid of boys, though, as there are later episodes with a boy (I think his name is Phil), but he does not seem to be considered a real main character, but more of a recurring character.

Overall this is an interesting show that shows the girls going through different adolescence issues as they come to form in relation to hanging out at the stables and competing in riding competitions. The show is mostly about their friendships and the highs and lows of life.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Welcome to this week’s edition’s list of kid’s television shows that have new episodes airing this week. I try to make this as complete as possible, but I may sometimes miss something. Please comment and let me know if I forgot to include something that has a new episode airing this week. All times are listed as Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, May 26

5pm on the Disney Channel - The Replacements: This new episode is called “The Campiest Episode Ever.”

Tuesday, May 27

7pm on Nickelodeon - H2O: This new episode is called “Surprise.”

(more…)

Video games based on kids shows are not exactly a major genre of video games, but it has seemed to be on the rise recently. Mostly the games are pretty poor in game depth, but personally I think this is a positive thing, especially for games that are based on preschool shows. As I see it, these games aimed at preschoolers, such as the Go, Diego, Go Safari Rescue game for Nintendo DS, should not have too much depth or that makes the kids want to constantly play it, which is certainly not habit they need to pick up at such a young age. I do not think these games should be entirely avoided either because if used right they can keep kids entertained for short periods of time, but not cut too much into the time the kids spend doing more physical and interactive gaming (i.e. playing pretend safari outside with their friends).

Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue is one the best video games based on a preschool show I have tried out. The graphics are great (at least for a DS game) and it uses the unique capabilities of the DS nicely. This includes using the touch screen and the microphone. There are 25 mini games, although several are kind of repeated. There is a safari mode that you go through and end up doing all the mini games or you can just play the mini games without doing the safari story mode. Since the variety of mini games are limited, this game can get boring fast, but for kids that like Diego (and if you can find it at a good low price) this can be game they will enjoy coming back to for short periods of time every once and a while, such as when you go on trips and need something to distract them in the car or on the plane.

There is also a Wii, PS2, and Computer version of this game, but I really do not think it is a good game for use except every once and a while on the go. Main reason I say that is because it has basically no educational value to make it a worthwhile console/computer game. This is quite disappointing considering the show always teaches about animals and then they make a game that does not even minimally teach some tidbits about the animals you spot on safari in the game. It is even very limited in teaching Spanish, as it only uses the Spanish words for colors in a few mini games.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Tomorrow (May 24, 2008) the Disney Channel is having a marathon called If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Brother. It is a marathon of Phineas & Ferb and Suite Life of Zach and Cody episodes. Often marathons or themed things lead up to something. This one leads up to a premiere of a new episode of Phineas & Ferb.

Continue reading for the full line up for this marathon. (more…)

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beyond Watching the Show, where I give some ideas of activities for kids that enjoy a particular show that go beyond just watching the show. If you have more ideas of activities for this show please comment and share your ideas. Also, please comment here if you have a request of a show to feature in an upcoming edition of Beyond Watching the Show.

This week’s edition is a special one that does not focus on a particular show. Instead it is about Disney’s Healthy Kids website, which features characters related to the Disney shows of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Kim Possible, and Lilo & Stitch. I first discovered this website earlier this week and found it to be a great one that I think all kids should be encouraged to check out and learn from. The main thing that makes me recommend this is that it was an 8-year-old that showed this site to me and together we played on the site and had fun with it. The most amazing thing to me is this is a kid that mostly plays action games and this site is mostly trivia, but yet even he liked it.

The Disney Healthy Kids site is set up to resemble a camp competition between Disney’s Champ Camp (you help this team) and Lazy Acres. As you navigate the different areas of the camp competition the site teaches about the new food pyramid and eating a balanced diet. The site says the dialogue aloud, so turn the computer sound on, especially for kids who are not great readers, yet.

You start in the Mickey’s Mess Hall area, where you learn the basics of the food pyramid such as what the different color bars on it stand for. After you have learned about all the basics you take the trivia challenge about the information you learned in this area. You can pick to be Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, or Daisy and you compete against Pete as the Lazy Acres representative. If you get more point than the opponent, then you get a token for the area, which shows up in the bottom right corner of the window.

The second area is Kim Possible’s Science Cave. This area teaches about moderation and how it relates to the food pyramid. The trivia part after you learn about this topic works the, but you get to be Kim Possible characters (Kim or Ron) and play against the Kim Possible villain, Drakken.

The third are is Lilo’s Luau. In this area teaches about proportions and how much of each color bar you should eat compared to other bars. In the trivia part you can choose to be Lilo or Stitch and you are against Gantu.

The final area is Incredible Island. Here the you learn about how exercise is the stair part of the new food pyramid and how much it takes to burn off different food items. In the trivia part you can choose to be Violet or Dash and you are against Syndrome.

After you have token from each area you can take on the Champ Camp Relay. Now this is an action game making the other parts something you want to play through, in order to play this fun game. In level 1 you are Mickey and you just use the up arrow key to jump over obstacles and jump to eat food to keep his energy up. It gets faster as you go and you just try to go as far as you can before you run out of energy. You then get to shoot soccer goals based on how long you lasted before you move onto level 2 featuring you as Kim Possible. In this one you jump using up and duck using the down arrow. There is another soccer shooting bonus game before you proceed to the third level in which you also play as Stitch duck and jump to avoid obstacles as well as collecting the green food and avoiding the red food. After another soccer bonus level you proceed to level 4 in which you us up an down as before and also use the space bar for a force field. One more soccer bonus round after this and you get your final camp score.

To play entirely through it takes at least an hour, but can be longer. It certainly is kind of long to be recommended as something to let kids play through everyday, but letting them do it at least a few times within a span of a few weeks or a month until they have learned all the info well is a good way for them to learn about eating and living a healthy lifestyle. It sure is a fun way to learn about the new food pyramid and even parents may find it fun to play through themselves because the food pyramid sure has changed from its old form.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Bear in the Big Blue House: A Bear for All Seasons is a fun DVD for preschoolers that like Bear in the Big Blue House. Also, since the show is no longer on TV it is a good way to introduce kids to this show who have never seen it before and it is definitely one of those old shows worth showing new generations of preschoolers. The show teaches about different things with its fun plots with fun songs and a lovable big Bear character. The only issue with this particular DVD of Bear in the Big Blue House is that the title implies it covers all four seasons, but it really only ends up covering summer and fall.

The first episode is about summer and is called “Summer Cooler.” The second episode is about fall and is called “Falling for Fall.” The third and final episode is called “All-Weather Bear.” This episode deals with different weather including sunshine and rain, but it in the end seems like another summer episode with them going swimming. It could arguably be classified as a spring episode. One thing is for certain winter is not covered at all on this DVD. Thus while I still think this is a great show and DVD of the show, I think it is important to not be expecting to see all seasons represented as if you then you will be very disappointed as I was.

This DVD also has a nice special feature of Sing Alongs for four of the songs featured in the episodes on this DVD. The songs are “In the Middle of the Summer� from the “Summer Cooler� episode, “Falling for Fall� from the episode of the same name, and “Good Morning� and “Weather� from the “All-Weather Bear� episode.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Here is this week’s edition of new releases of DVDs that feature kids shows. Some are previously seen episodes from television while others are straight to DVD episodes or movies based on kids TV shows.

Pokemon - Adventures on the Orange Islands Box Set: This box set includes the 36 episodes that are part of the season of Pokemon in which the main characters take on the Orange League. These are the episodes from the original Pokemon series that relate to the time the main characters adventures are set in the Orange Islands. Seems like a great DVD release for old and new Pokemon fans, however, it appears it has absolutely no special features.

The Muppet Show - The Complete Third Season: This DVD collection consists of 4 discs and features the episodes from the 1978-1979 season. This season had many famous guest stars including Roy Rogers, Sylvester Stallone, and Harry Belefonte. It also has bonus features such as a brand new behind-the-scenes documentary and original Muppet commercials.

The Richie Rich/Scooby Doo Hour: The Complete Series, Vol. One: This contains 7 episodes of the Richie Rich/Scooby Doo Hour show. One of the bonus features is a featurette called “Golden Boy: The Story of Richie Rich.” The show is about half Richie Rich and half Scooby Doo shorts. The thing is that the included Scooby Doo shorts are usually not mysteries and only feature Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy. While Richie Rich is a good cartoon, the Scooby Doo parts are not even that enjoyable for hardcore Scooby fans.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Welcome to this week’s edition’s list of kid’s television shows that have new episodes airing this week. I try to make this as complete as possible, but I may sometimes miss something. Please comment and let me know if I forgot to include something that has a new episode airing this week. All times are listed as Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, May 19

7am on the Disney Channel - The Wiggles: This new episode is called “Farmer Brown.”

8:30am on PBS - Super Why!: This new episode is called “Beauty and the Best.”

3pm on Nickelodeon - Tak and the Power of Juju: This new episode is called “Ball of Wax/Tikis of War.”

3pm on the Disney Channel - Life with Derek: This new episode is called “Make No Prom-ise.”

(more…)

Tomorrow night (May 16, 2008) the Disney Channel has a special line up ending with a special presentation of High School Musical 2. This includes special shorts about the making of the new Cheetah Girls movie that will premiere on the Disney Channel this summer. These shorts are called Road to The Cheetah Girls One World. As part of the showing of High School Musical 2 there will be music videos of the High School Musical 2 songs being performed in India. Lastly, the new Disney series of shorts called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream.

The line up does not seem all that special (i.e. related to the special aspects of this event as described above) besides the episode of Hannah Montana in which the Jonas Brothers guest star and the episode of The Suite Life of Zach & Cody in which London plays Sharpay in the school’s production of High School Musical. I guess several of the episodes try to relate to the event by being somewhat related to music. The line up of shows is listed below.

(more…)

Tomorrow (May 16, 2008) a new series of short episodes (abbreviated to shorts or more technically called interstitial) starts on the Disney Channel. It seems most of the Disney Channel shorts are part of the Playhouse Disney line up, although, there are several that play at other times of the day, but usually unpredictably (i.e. they at least are not added to the tv guide information). One example is Disney 411 and the old Mike’s Super Short Show.

The newest series of shorts on the Disney Channel is called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream. The first episode will air at 7:55pm Eastern time on Disney Channel after Suite Life of Zach & Cody and before another showing of High School Musical 2.

This is a reality series of shorts lasting about five minutes. The series follows the life of the Jonas Brothers and the rest of their family as they go on their “Look Me in the Eyes” tour. The shorts will feature not only clips of them on stage performing, but also behind the scenes clips of some of the things they do off stage.

Not sure how interesting these shorts will be, but they will likely be a hit among those that like the Jonas Brothers, which seems to be a lot of tweens. It does at least sound a little more interesting than the As the Bell Rings shorts the Disney Channel ran last summer. Sorry, but I just found those totally stupid and worthless. I guess some junior and high school kids may have related and enjoyed them, but I would have rather watched commercials than those segments. As for the Jonas Brothers shorts it cannot be worse than their breakfast to go commercials, which kind of seem like a preview to this new series of shorts.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Clifford: Big Fun in the Sun is a good DVD anytime of year for those that like Clifford the Big Red Dog, although it is an even better DVD for the summer. The DVD has two sections of four episodes, which I believe is due to it combining two previous VHS releases, but I am not positive on that. The first section is called Big Fun in the Sun and the second section is called Look Out, Clifford.

The Big Fun in the Sun episodes are “Camping it Up,â€? “Hooray for Cleo,â€? “Home is Where the Fun Is,â€? and “Lights Out.” The first one is obviously about camping and fits in with the summer, as well as spring and fall, which can be good times for camping out, too. The second one is about beach volleyball. The third one really is not much about any particular season with Clifford showing Emily that there are fun things to do on the island. The last one has to do with summer in that it is hot and everyone is staying indoors using too much electricity causing the power to go out. The bigger thing it is about, though, is how you do not need electricity to have fun.

The Look Out, Clifford episodes are “Clifford’s Charm School,” “Best Paw Forward,” “Clifford’s Hiccups,” and “An Itchy Patch.â€? This is kind of a loosely themed part with them being about things like Clifford trying to no ruin a neighbors party, making a paw print in concrete, Clifford having hiccups, and Clifford having a rash and not wanting to go to the vet.

This DVD also has some great special features. The best features are the Big Idea ones that show a clip from Clifford and then has tips on teaching lessons like playing fairly with some activity ideas.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.

Here is this week’s edition of new releases of DVDs that feature kids shows. Some are previously seen episodes from television while others are straight to DVD episodes or movies based on kids TV shows.

Backyardigans: High Flying Adventures: This new release contains 4 episodes of The Backyardigans. The episodes on this DVD are “Fly Girl,” “What’s Bugging You?,” “Who Goes There?,” and “Chichen-Itza Pizza.”

Bob the Builder: The Three Musketrucks: This DVD contains two Bob the Builder episodes. One is the milk truck Dodger arriving in town. The other is about Scrambler, Packer, and Dodger becoming The Three Musketrucks, which is a play on The Three Musketeers.

Curious George - Takes a Vacation & Discovers New Things: This DVD contains seven episodes of Curious George related to going places and discovering new things.

The Land Before Time: Through the Eyes of a Spiketail: This DVD contains 4 episodes of the Land Before Time TV series.

Sesame Street Dinosaurs: This is a Sesame Street DVD movie.

Please click button below and rate my blog post.