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.

Instead of the normal edition of activities for a specific show I am going to write about Toon Disney’s Passport to Reading website that I discovered the other day.

The Toon Disney Passport to Reading website looks like a fun way to encourage kids to read and discover the world through books. It is a great time of year to get kids reading with the next school year coming up, especially if they have been slacking off all summer. The site has three sections: Reading Fun, Reading Tips, and Reading Lists.

The Reading Fun section has some activities to get kids more excited about reading. One is Tish’s Bookball game that is a brick type game in which you help clean up the books in Tish’s room. For some actual reading there are Fillmore! Comic: Boosted Boxers and The Emperor’s New Throne Comic. There are also some Passport to Reading Bookmarks featuring some Toon Disney shows to print and make to use for reading.

The Reading Tips section has many tips to help make reading more interesting and encouraging kids to read more often.

The Reading Lists section has book suggestions based on age. It includes suggestions for kids from ages 6 - 11.

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.

Avatar The Last Airbender: Book 3 Fire, Volume 4 - This new release of Avatar The Last Airbender contains the final six episodes of the series. The last four supposedly wrap the series up well.

Go Diego Go! The Great Dinosaur Rescue - Gee, they have a pretty regular release schedule for Go, Diego, Go! do not they. Well, at least it is a good show worthy of DVD release. The main feature is a double length episode about Diego going back in time to help a dinosaur. It also includes two bonus episodes.

Nickelodeon’s All About Fall - Another Nick Jr. collection of shows trying to be on theme. In case you have not noticed I am not at all impressed at Nickelodeon’s ability to stay on theme. They seem to have done okay with this release, but the Jack’s Big Music Show episode leaves me wondering if it actually is a fall themed one. Also, the Dora one is about her helping with the class pet and I am also not sure if that has Fall references in it. At least the Yo Yo Gabba being Halloween themed and The Wonder Pets being the start of a new school year sound Fall themed to me.

Phineas and Ferb: The Fast and the Phineas - This contains 112 minutes of the show, so probably 5 episodes. It is about their summer vacation. I am not very familiar with this show, so not sure that limits it to obvious episode choices or if that is actually what all the episodes are about. It is just one of the very few Disney shows I never understood.

Pokemon: Battle Frontier Volume 1 Box Set - I do not think Pokemon is as popular as it once was, but it sure is still hanging around. This release contains 24 episodes making up the first half of the final season in the Pokemon Advanced Generation series. No bonus features, though!

The Wiggles: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - What would a Wiggles movie be if it did not try to get the kids dancing? Thus, of course, this is another Wiggles DVD with music sure to be enjoyed by Wiggles fans, as it contains 20 new songs.

The Wizards of Waverly Place: Wizard School - This Disney Channel show makes its DVD debut with 4 episodes. It also includes behind the scenes bonus features about the making of the show.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1, Volume 1 - Tiny Toons is a one of the classic cartoons for kids in my opinion. This set of 4 discs contains 35 episodes (There are 65 total episodes in Season 1!) with a run time of over 700 minutes, so this is sure to give a good fix of Tiny Toons to new and old fans.

Nick Jr. is having a dinosaur themed morning of 7/28 and 8/1 from 6:30am to 10am. This includes episodes of the regular line up of Nick Jr. shows showing dino themed episodes (see line up below). Also, they have some activity ideas related to the Dinosaur Play Date online here. The online stuff includes a Diego Dino Rescue Coloring Page, Dora Spanish Words of the Day: Boot’s Cuddly Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Cake Recipe, and some Dinosaur themed online games.

6:30am - Wow! Wow! Wubzy!: “Widget Gets the Blooey Blues/Escape from Dino Island,” second part is Dino themed with them encountering a Sillysaurus on Dino Island

7am - Dora the Explorer: “Baby Dino” This episode is about Dora and Diego helping a baby dino get home.

7:30am - The Backyardigans: “Eureka!” In this episode Uniqua and Tasha are looking for dinosaur bones.

8am - Wonder Pets!: “Save the Pigeon/Save the Dinosaur” In the second part they save a triceratops.

8:30am - Dora the Explorer: “Boot’s Cuddly Dinosaur” In this episode Boots loses his cuddly dinosaur that he sleeps with and Dora and him set out to locate it.

9am - Go, Diego, Go!: “Diego’s Great Dinosaur Rescue” This is a double length episode in which Diego, Dora, Alicia, and Jaguar go back in time to the Cretaceous Period and help a Maiasaura dinosaur get back to his family. I believe this is the main part of the morning and the reason for the dinosaur themed morning to be this particular week is because this episode is going to be the main episode on the new Go, Diego, Go! DVD coming out Tuesday.

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 Mountain Standard Time as given by TV Guide for my local DirectTV listings, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, July 28

11am on Nicktoons - Edgar & Ellen: This new episode is called “Parent’s Night/Pet in Love/The All-Knowing Head of Poe/Sweet on You.”

Tuesday, July 29

11am on Nicktoons - Edgar & Ellen: This new episode is called “When You Wish Upon a Well/Baby Talk/Nod’s Limbs’ Public Access/Pet-o-matic.”

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Little Einsteins is part of the regular line up for the Playhouse Disney segment of the Disney Channel. This animated show is among the better educational shows out there for preschoolers. It has the aspect of adventure, which appeals to most kids and draws them into the show and enjoying it. The adventures involve the four main characters going on trips that regularly involve real world places, such as China in “The Dragon Kite” episode, as part of the episode’s mission. Thus is teaches a little about the diversity of the world, but the real thing it teaches about is art and music.

Art and music are two things most kids enjoy and/or can be taught to enjoy through experiencing it. The thing is, though, that they are not always exposed to a wide variety of art and music that is out there. The show at least in the case of the art does a decent job of showing different art styles in the beginning segment that shows the episode’s featured art. The featured music does not end up quite as varied, but it does at least expose kids to classical music, which these days many do not come across otherwise. In regards to music it also teaches kids about music basics such as patting to the beat of the episode’s featured music.

Overall Little Einsteins is a fun show for kids to enjoy and learn a little about music and different art styles. The main thing is that it is an entertaining show for preschool age kids that is not entirely mindless, but also is not too educational to make them become disinterested.

Disney Channel Games 2008 begin showing as a half hour show tomorrow night (July 27, 2008) on the Disney Channel at 8pm Pacific Time/Eastern Time. The Disney Channel Games are a reality often wacky mini-Olympics with the contestants beings stars from Disney Channel shows and worldwide stations. This time around there are only 5 events and thus only 5 episodes. The following four will be aired in the normal timeslot at 8pm Pacific Time/Eastern Time on Saturdays starting next Saturday, August 2.

The episodes begin with the event for the episode and end with a post-event concert from one of five performers. The five performers are Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana), Jordan Pruitt (has done songs in Disney Channel movies such as Read It and Weep), The Jonas Brothers (they are in Disney Channel’s Camp Rock movie), The Cheetah Girls (they have their 3rd Disney Channel movie coming this August), and Demi Lovato (from the recent Camp Rock movie).

Personally I love the Disney Channel games because they can often be quite funny to watch while at the same time have a fun sense of competition in them. I am not so sure about the music part, but it seems to be what the kids like on the Disney Channel considering the popularity of Hannah Montana’s show and the recent Camp Rock movie.

So, What team will you be rooting for this time around?

The teams are The Green Team - Cyclones led by David Henrie from The Wizards of Waverly Place, The Yellow Team - Comets led by Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, The Blue Team - Lightning led by Kiely Williams of The Cheetah Girls, and The Red Team - Inferno led by Brenda Song from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

The Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour movie is premiering on the Disney Channel tomorrow, July 26, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. This is the same movie that played for a little while in theaters, so it may not be exactly new to all Hannah Montana fans, but at least it is a free way to see it again or for those that did not want to pay the money to see it in the theater or go to the actual concert.

The movie will be shown in the 3D format on the Disney Channel, so you probably will want some 3D glasses to see. You can supposedly get them for free in the Back to School section of Wal-Mart and in the July 21st edition of TV Guide Magazine.

The main aspect of the movie is showing the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert as filmed live in Salt Lake City last year. The theatrical release of this was pretty popular because it was slightly easier to get tickets to it than going to an actual concert, however, the initial release in some theaters was still pretty hard to see, so now everyone can easily see it or see it again.

The movie is even better than going to a concert, though, as long as you are a fan of Hannah Montana as a singer. The movie includes several behind the scenes segments with the transformation between Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.

I do not know if this is worthwhile, but being on television is certainly a better way to check it out than having to go to the theater or an actual concert at least in my opinion, especially since I only slightly like Hannah Montana.

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 Total Drama Island. Yeah, I personally think the real Survivor show is stupid and this animated version is even worse, but I know some kids think it is awesome, so I am doing a post for those fans. Also, not a normal Beyond the Show post because I was too lazy to do much thinking and surfing the Internet on this one. Thus what I am highlighting for fans of the show (or really for parents of fans to know about) is one activity.

Total Drama Island Interactive - This is basically Cartoon Network’s official site for the show. It is interactive in a way that some real reality shows have taken to having interactive online parts nowadays. Basically there are different things you can do, such as collect Killer Collectibles, which you buy with marshmallows you get from playing the games. The games change every week based on the actual challenges featured in that week’s new episode. Another part of the interactive aspect is that the characters talk as you scroll over them (hint: definitely a site that requires sound on to really enjoy). Do not forget to create your camper to join in the fun. Actually I have to admit I kind of liked the site even though I do not like the show.

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.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Fastest Thing in Time - This is one of several video game tv series with releases today. This one I believe has a complete series DVD release, already, so kind of a redundant release, but fun action show for Sonic fans nevertheless.

Captain N: The Game Master - Adventures in Videoland - This is a new DVD release for Captain N: The Game Master, which is a Nintendo show with characters based on Nintendo games. It is pretty pointless, though, as the series is already all on DVD as a set and this new release does not have any bonus features at all. The series may be fun for Nintendo fans, but it is probably a better choice to go for the whole series if you want to own episodes of this show. Might be a nice 1 DVD way to rent and see if you like it, though, however it supposedly has poor episode choice.

The Legend of Zelda: Power of the Triforce - This Nintendo animated show is based on The Legend of Zelda game characters. It has a run time of 75 minutes, which would be about 5 episodes of the 15 minute show. It may be worthwhile as a short DVD to see if you like the series, but does not appear to be worth it if you really do like the series considering the whole series is already on DVD.

Sesame Street: Count on Sports - This DVD is a sports themed one that teaches math concepts. Good time for the release with the Olympics right around the corner. The sports include tennis, basketball, gymnastics, and soccer. Math concepts taught include numbers, shapes, and size. Includes sports stars such as Venus Williams.

Sonic Underground: Secrets of the Chaos Emerald - Another Sonic series release and another video game based TV series release for today. Not sure if this is one of those with the whole series out, but it might be.

Super Mario Bros: Mario of the Deep - This is another Nintendo show with a new DVD release and yet again I believe it has the whole series already on DVD. This one contains water themed episodes including parodies of Moby Dick, Mark Twain, and Washington Crossing the Delaware.

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 Mountain Standard Time as given by TV Guide for my local DirectTV listings, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, July 21

8am on Disney Channel - Little Einsteins: This new episode is called “Quincy and the Instrument Dinosaurs.” This episode’s composer is Bedrich Smetana and the artist featured is Andy Warhol. The plot is about them searching for a lost dinosaur in the jungle.

9am on Disney Channel - Handy Manny: This new episode is called “Felipe’s Hiccups/Book Drop.” This first part is about Manny putting a sound system in at the community center and Felipe getting the hiccups. The second part is about Manny making the book drop area at the library easier for kids to use.

2pm on Disney Channel - The Replacements: This new episode is called “Glee By the Sea.” This episode is about them being on vacation and different love relationship situations.

3pm on Nickelodeon - Back at the Barnyard: This new episode is called “Barnyard Idol.” In this episode Pig is pressured into a singing competition and ends up losing his voice.

Tuesday, July 22

3pm on Nickelodeon - Back at the Barnyard: This new episode is called “The Haunting. In this episode Pig becomes possessed by a grumpy bunny’s spirit.

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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 Recess.

Kick Ball: Kick ball is one of the sports most often shown in the episodes of Recess. Get outside and play a real game of Kick Ball with your kid or kids. Round up some kids from the neighborhood or invite some of your kid’s friends over and have a game with full teams. Only you and the kid? You can still do a mock one-on-one game going through the different motions. Sure fielding does not work out too well this way, but it still can be a lot of fun and at least it is something active to do. Not sure about how to play kick ball, then check out the Wikipedia entry to give you a brief overview or refresher.

Recess Online Games: The show’s site on Toon Disney’s website has several online games to play including Dodgeball, Gus’s Bubble Trouble, and Recess Special Operations.

Recess/Playground Coloring Pages: I could not find any official Recess coloring pages, but I did find a Swing Set Coloring Page, a Slide Coloring Page, and a Seesaw Coloring Page.

The DVD Hello Kitty Tells Fairy Tales contains episodes from the animated television series called Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theatre, which originally aired on the Family Channel back in 1986. The show may be a little out dated, but the popularity of Hello Kitty certainly has not entirely faded away. The show is basically a series of parodies of classic fairy tales performed by Hello Kitty and her friends. The show may seem a little on the cutesy side, but not all the plots are entirely cutesy ones, as one of the episodes on this DVD is a parody of Robin Hood.

This DVD contains five episodes (really they are half-episodes of 15 minutes each, but play from menu as separate episodes). The first episode is “Robin Penguin,” as a Robin Hood parody with some interesting twists, although overall a plot quite similar to the original. The second episode is called “Hello Mother Goose,” which is an unique compilation of different nursery rhyme characters involving a mystery, but it is however a horrible episode to keep up with what is going on since the plot moves very fast. The third episode is called “The Ugly Quackling,” which is not all that much of an unique telling of the classic story, but interesting nonetheless for those into the Hello Kitty characters. The fourth episode is “Pinocchio Penguin,” which is another fast story, but it still almost easy to follow. The fifth and final episode is “Little Red Bunny Hood,” which is not only an unique telling of the classic fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, but is also has the best plot pace.

Overall this is a decent DVD to entertain young kids, especially young girls, but it may not be right for all because the fast moving plots make it hard to get interested in some of the episodes. Also, I was annoyed that none of the special features worked when I try to check them out on my Mac.

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is one of the few Cartoon Network shows I find bearable to watch and almost enjoyable. The show has some nonsensical aspects to it and stupidity like other Cartoon Network originals, but it is not among the worst, although it can get annoying at times still. The main characters are Max and his imaginary friend, Bloo. The show is about the happenings at Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and is mostly about Bloo causing trouble.

The show has its positives, such as interesting plots with the imaginary friends that end up at the home when the kids that imagine them no longer want them. It also is full of unique characters to go with the idea that they are imagined. Some of the frequently recurring ones include Wilt tall basketball player like friend, Coco a bird like friend that speaks only by saying Coco in varying forms (definitely among the negatives), and Eduardo a monster like looking friend who is scared often.

The main thing that makes the show something kids and some adults can enjoy watching is that it is funny. The kind of mindless humor is more the sort kids will like, but there is stuff in there that adults may like too. I personally do not like it that much, but there are some good episodes and it is not totally annoying, which seems to be what most Cartoon Network original shows are in my opinion. The annoyance of this show does not go very deep beyond Coco only talking using her name, but she does not always talk much and remains bearable.

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 Mountain Standard Time as given by TV Guide for my local DirectTV listings, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, July 14

5pm on Nickelodeon - Avatar: The Last Airbender: This new episode is called “The Western Air Temple.”

Tuesday, July 15

5pm on Nickelodeon - Avatar: The Last Airbender: This new episode is called “The Firebending Master.”

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The Nick Jr. magazine is one of my favorite ones I subscribe to. It is great for kids and those that take care of kids, especially parents. Below is a short wrap up of what is found in the July/August issue of the Nick Jr. magazine.

This edition’s cover features the Duck from Wonder Pets, Austin from The Backyardigans, and Dora from Dora the Explorer all dressed like pirates. Diego from Go, Diego, Go! is also on the cover, but he is kind of hidden in the top left corner.

As can be expected this issue is summer themed. The Parents Connect pull-out magazine gives 102 Things To Do This Summer. It includes how-tos, recipes, book suggestions, quick ideas, and games to play. You do not have to do them all, but it sure can be a useful thing to pull out for ideas to entertain the kids when boredom strikes.

The main magazine is full of fun summer themed activities for the preschoolers to do along with the usual great tips along the bottom for parents to further the fun and learning. Just a few of this issue’s activities are Save the Pirate Parrot Maze, Kai-Lan’s Backyard Campout Spot 10 Differences, Dora and Diego Picture Sudoku Puzzles, and The Backyardigans Pirate Camp. One of my favorite things that they have in this issue is the cut out Go Fish! and Go Bug! cards. It makes for a fun game with the kids and the Fish ones help teach numbers because some of the cards have the same color fish, but with different amounts of them.