After a long day of nonstop playing and learning at child care, my kids--especially Miss "In the school-age room we don't take naps"--usually want nothing more than to veg in front of the TV for awhile. I can't blame them. But I do feel bad parking them in front of the tube after we've been apart all day.So when I can, I at least hunker down and watch with them. Recently, thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network, we got a sneak preview of an upcoming PBS Kids show: Word World. Its clever premise is that the six main characters, as well as many of the places and things in their environment, are made up of letters. Check out the cute puppy and house above to see what I mean. The idea is to subtly teach kids to recognize words just by seeing them in context. Plus, each episode has one featured word that is explicitly featured and spelled out--for example, we viewed "Runaway O," in which Sheep and Bear have to chase down that O so it can resume its central spot and spell B-O-X.
The kids and I thought the characters were charming and the stories were cute. And I am all for a TV show that promotes early literacy concepts like print awareness and letter recognition. But I honestly have to wonder about the basic premise. The letters-as-things concept sailed way over my 2-year-old's head (to be fair, the show is designed for 3- to 5-year-olds). And while my 5-year-old knows her letters and can read and spell a bit, I think it was hard for her to make out the bubbly, morphed characters used in the art.
Will we watch when the show debuts next month? Yes--we'll enjoy seeing what new adventures the animals get up to. And if my beginning reader's skills get a little boost? I'll consider that a nice fringe benefit.
What we liked: The kids thought the characters were funny. I enjoyed seeing how the artists used the letters as building blocks to render a bridge, a train station, a bird's nest, and much more.
What we didn't: The kids enjoyed the show, but it hasn't risen to the heavy-rotation level that we're currently experiencing with Hi-5 and, um, High School Musical.
Who it's for: Preschoolers fascinated with letters, words, and learning to read--or just into cute animal stories.
3 comments:
I have to admit my kids friggin loved the show. I'm soooo sick of watching Runaway O it's not even funny. But my kids - at almost 3 & 19 months - are a bit younger than yours, so maybe that's the difference.
I love the idea of letters as characters. And even though I'm not planning on any TV for Myles until he's three or so (yeah, we'll see how long I can actually make it) this sounds like a cute, benign show for little kids.
Thanks for getting us off to a great start on the site! :)
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