It's igneous, dude

Last night after a long day of kindergarten, gymnastics, child care, and general running around I forced my children to watch TV. Luckily when I told them it was "The Zula Patrol," they gave in without putting up a fuss. Thanks, Parent Bloggers Network!

Ha! I kid. My children (well, especially the taller one) are always willing to watch TV. And as you know, like most parents I struggle to keep a lid on the viewing. I mean there are only so many times I can sit through High School Musical 2 without spinning off into an obsessive analysis of why that girl Kelsi is channeling Andrea Zuckerman from Beverly Hills 90210.

So. "The Zula Patrol" is of the very few shows that has lately pierced the HSM2 armor. It's a PBS show for kids (pre-K to grade 2) and it's all about science, with a side order of values like tolerance, teamwork, and not bottling up your feelings lest you explode like Mt. Vesuvius. The Patrollers are a group of cute extraterrestrial types who travel the universe--on a flying encyclopedia!--solving problems with handy-dandy experiments (did you know that if you drop a sedimentary rock in vinegar it will fizz like an Alka-Seltzer? I didn't), 21st-century technology (when one of the characters gets a special Zula phone, he wonders if he might be able to watch cartoons on it) and cheesy puns (volcanoes are "lavable").

The two episodes we watched gave a good overview of how three types of rock (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) are formed and why volcanoes erupt. When I quizzed Jo to see what she'd retained (it had been a few days since the last time she watched), she remembered that sedimentary rock is formed when layers of sand, silt, dirt, and other debris are pressed together into layers. Not bad for a 5-year-old. My toddler, on the other hand, just thinks the spaceships and flying are cool. They both like the dopey test tube and beaker who interject silly answers into the learning wrap-up at the end of each episode:

Q: ... and what is sedimentary rock made of?
A: Uhhh, macaroni and gluuuuuue?

I guess you had to be there but in our house, that line killed.

The show is not currently available on our local PBS affiliate, but we can put in a request for it. In the meantime, the show's extensive Web site contains tons of videos, games, coloring pages, book suggestions, and more; plus there's even a Zula planetarium show.

What we liked: The storylines work on multiple levels -- they offer kid-friendly but not condescending explanations of scientific phenomena, plus warm and fuzzy storylines about concepts like friendship and sharing, plus cool! outer-space! adventure! And dig the Jetsonesque theme song.

What we didn't: It's not High School Musical 2. Wait. That goes under "what we liked" for everyone in our household who is over 6 or under 4 years old. Us grown-ups also thought the touchy-feely storylines felt forced, in a "can't we all just get along?" kind of way; but the kids didn't notice or care.

Who it's for: If you've got a kid who's interested in science--and really, what little kid isn't into cool experiments and spaceships?--do check it out.