Tot TV Watch

As I was surfing through the web tonight I came across a site that made me stop and go “huh?” The site is titled “Backyardiknits” which quickly drew me in. You see, knitting is one of my favorite hobbies these days. I love it so much that I have even created my own knitting blog to track my progress and share my current projects. Coincidently, The Backyardigans just happens to be one of my favorite kids shows on the air right now. So, when I stumbled on this site it grabbed my attention.

Backyardiknits is an unofficial knitalong for folks who love the Backyardigans. Beth, Brandy, and Laura are knitting lots of fun things Backyardigans style and are encouraging others to join in. If your little tot likes to dress up like their favorite Backyardigans characters and you have a knack for knitting, you should definitely check out Backyardiknits. I can only imagine how their eyes would light up for a hand-made Tasha or Tyrone Halloween costume.

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Are you looking for a way to celebrate the Fourth of July with your little munchkins?  How about throwing a Blue’s Clues Independence Day party?  Nick Jr.’s web site has lots of ideas, including printable invitations and activities that you can enjoy with your kids.  That Stars and Stripes cake sure does look tasty!  Go on, check it out.  Then invite your family or the whole neighborhood over to celebrate with you and Blue.

You can also tune in to Noggin beginning July 2nd at 1:00 p.m. to celebrate the holiday with all of the Blue’s Room gang.

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May 13th is quickly approaching and mothers everywhere will be celebrating one of their most important roles in life. If you are still searching for a gift, you can check out the great lists here, here, or here. However, sometimes the best gift for Mom is letting her have some quiet time to relax. I suggest bringing her breakfast in bed (along with hand-made cards from the kids), then whisking the kids away for a while so that Mom can have some quiet time to read a book, peruse her favorite blogs, or just take a nice hot bath without any interruptions. If you need a way to entertain the tots while Mom is relaxing, you can always keep them busy with some of these Mother’s Day specials, new episodes, and activities:

• Dora the Explorer’s Mother’s Day Marathon will be airing on Nick Jr. Friday, May 11th, from 12:00-2:00p.m ET/PT, but you can always record it to a VCR, DVR, or TiVo and save it for the big day.
• Noggin will be celebrating by airing an all-day Mother’s Day marathon on Sunday, featuring an all new episode of Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends. The marathon will run from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET.
• Playhouse Disney will be airing new episodes of My Friends Tigger and Pooh at 10:00/9:00c and Handy Manny at 10:30/9:30c on May 13th. The Handy Manny episode will feature special guest Marion Ross as Mr. Lopart’s mother. Kids can also find some great Mother’s Day craft ideas on the Playhouse Disney web site.
• The PBSParents web site also has some great craft ideas and activities, as well as Mother’s Day breakfast recipes that are definitely worth checking out.

If those don’t interest your kids (but I’m sure they will) you can always watch their regularly scheduled favorite shows. Of course, you could just take the kids out to the park for a couple of hours. I’m sure when you return, Mom will be ready for some snuggly family time.

If you have any other great Mother’s Day tips you want to share, please leave them in the comments section below.

Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Tips, gift ideas, Dora the Explorer, Mother’s Day Marathon, Nick Jr., Handy Manny, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Playhouse Disney, PBS Parents, crafts, recipes

Yesterday, April 22nd, was Earth Day and people everywhere are talking about ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle in order to slow down the damage we are inflicting on the Earth. It is important to teach kids early on about the benefits of taking care of our planet. Recently there have been several new kids’ TV shows that focus on teaching kids about the environment, including Johnny and the Sprites and It’s a Big Big World. A deal was recently signed for a new series called Snapper, that will focus on the environment as well.

I’ll be posting information about those three shows later this week, but in the meantime you can explore some of these great Earth Day activities offered around the web:

• Disney’s Guide for Grown-ups lists several kid-friendly activities, as well as a list of links to other pages related to Earth Day.
• PBS Kids has a list of activities, information about connecting kids to nature, and a list of books about nature divided by age groups. You can also watch three new videos from Milkshake about taking care of the Earth.

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A while back I signed up for an account at Nickjr.com. Once you have signed up for a membership, you have access to Nick Jr. exclusives that they offer from time to time. Today they are offering some exclusive SpongeBob SquarePants stickers for St. Patrick’s Day. If you have some SpongeBob fans in your house, I suggest printing these off and having some St. Patty’s Day fun. If you don’t have any sticker paper handy, you can just print them out on regular paper, cut them out, and use some tape on the back to stick them where you want them. You do have to sign up for an account, but I promise it isn’t too painful. Besides, they’ll send you a weekly e-mail to let you know what special activity they are offering each week.

(Image: Nickjr.com)

SpongeBob SquarePants, Nick Jr., St. Patrick’s Day, stickers, printables

March 20th is International Earth Day and PBS is celebrating! PBS Kids will be celebrating “Share the Earth Day” by running all new episodes of It’s a Big Big World, special online activities, resources for parents and teachers, and several other Earth Day themed shows.

The new episodes of It’s a Big Big World begin on Friday, March 16th. On March 20th, kids can learn about taking care of the environment and doing their part with Miss Lori and Hooper during the preschool block. There will be Earth Day themed episodes of Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dragon Tales, and It’s a Big Big World, as well as music videos from the band Milkshake.

During the PBS Kids Go! programming block, kids can learn about cleaning up the planet and responsibility during episodes of Arthur, Maya & Miguel, Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman, and Cyberchase.

The PBS Kids web site will offer games and activities to help children think about what they can do to help the environment and take care of the Earth. To help them put the concepts into action and apply them to real life, PBS Parents will offer resources and ideas for parents to share with their children and encourage them to explore nature and take an active role in protecting the planet.

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As part of the “Learn Along With Sesame” program, iTunes is offering six free educational episodes from Sesame Workshop. That’s right, I said free.

The episodes, featuring all of your favorite Sesame Street characters, cover topics from health and safety, to handling emotions, to music. Following is a brief summary of the available episodes from iTunes:

Talk, Listen, Connect–Elmo finds it hard when his Dad has to go away. This program helps military families and their young childdren cope with the challenges experienced during deployment.

Happy Healthy Ready for School–Elmo discovers some wonderful things as he learns to get ready for school.

Music Works Wonders–Elmo helps Mr. Hoots put on a concert, and learns a lot about music.

You Can Ask–Elmo, Telly, and Big Bird present four stories that explore fear, loss, bullying, and differences. Their experiences can help parents and kids find positive ways to talk about their feelings together.

A is for Asthma–Elmo and Rosita learn what to do when their friend has trouble breathing.

Lead Away–Oscar, Elmo, and Rosita learn how to protect themselves from the dangers of lead.

In order to download the episodes, you do have to have iTunes installed on your computer. You can download the free application here and then click here to download the episodes. You can also find the Learn Along With Sesame episodes by browsing the “kids” portion of the “TV Shows” section within iTunes.

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Did you know that back in 1994, when Blue’s Clues was being developed, Blue was originally envisioned as a cat. Because Nickelodeon already had a show based on a cat in development at the time, they changed Blue to a dog and Blue’s Clues was born. If you didn’t know that, then you obviously haven’t watched “Behind the Clues: 10 Years of Blue,” a short documentary on Nick Jr.’s Parent’s TV. Besides discussing the creation of Blue’s Clues, the documentary also touches on why Steve Burns left the show (and it wasn’t only because of his music career).

The web site also offers an interview with Joe (Donovan Patton) as well as clips about many other Nickelodeon TV shows, healthy snack ideas, and even crafts. It is a great resource for parents that I will definitely be visiting again.

In order to view the videos you must be using Internet Explorer 5.5 or above. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for us Firefox users so you’ll have to switch over to check it out.

Blue’s Clues, Nick Jr., Steve Burns, Donovan Patton, Parent’s TV, Nickelodeon, snacks, crafts