A Look at PBS Educational TV Shows for Children
On traditional PBS stations, the children’s programming will start in the morning and continue on until around after-school time. At my home, I get two different PBS stations and they each show different programs at different times; therefore, you should check your local viewing schedule for more information.
Arthur airs on PBS Kids and lasts for an half an hour. Arthur is based on the popular children’s book written by Marc Brown. Arthur is popular because it explores common problems or situations that many children may encounter at home or at school. This show is fairly realistic in dealing with important issues in a fun animated way.
Until my daughter discovered Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues, Barney and Sesame Street used to be playing on our television every morning. One of the most interesting aspects of Barney was the dancing and amazing lively songs that they sang. Barney is an imaginary character that comes to life and takes children on amazing and educational adventures. This show also focuses on real life social situations. For example, Barney episodes can focus on moving away from friends and exercising to stay fit. According to the PBS website, Barney will have around twenty new episodes airing this year.
PBS allow airs two programs called Clifford the Big Red Dog and Clifford’s Puppy Days. The Clifford television shows are based on the popular books for young readers. Clifford the Big Red Dog encourages children to learn about and explore family and friendships. This program often shows Clifford interacting with his animal friends and helping out neighbors. Clifford the Big Red Dog deals with many popular social situations that children may face and they do it by adding animation and a touch of humor. Clifford’s Puppy days is almost exactly like Clifford the Big Red Dog; however, the show focuses on Clifford’s adventures and lessons that he learned as a tiny puppy.
At some point in your life, you have mostly likely heard of Sesame Street. Sesame Street has been airing for many years and is still popular as ever. The Sesame Street television show uses popular characters to educate their audience by teaching Spanish, math, reading, geography, and much more. A few of the Sesame Street characters include Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, Zoe, Cookie Monster, and many more. Every episode has a number and letter of the day, which is often used throughout the program. Grover travels around the world and introduces viewers to other cultures and way of life.
Elmo’s World is a popular segment of Sesame Street, that has also lead to some spin-off movies and videos. In Elmo’s World, Elmo will focus on something like animals, food, music, and other topics. In one episode, Elmo’s World focused on bananas. The bananas segment showed how children ate bananas, where they came from, and different ways that they can be used in food. Journey to Ernie is also a segment on the Sesame Street show. This segment has Ernie and Big Bird playing hide and seek. Ernie usually travels to a different scene and Big Bird must find him with clues and help from other onscreen characters.
PBS’s programming for children is often referred to as PBS Kids. If you have cable or satellite, depending on your package, you may obtain the station PBS Kids. This channel offers public broadcasting shows around the clock, just for children. PBS also offers wonderful, exciting, and educational shows such as Berenstain Bears, Teletubbies, Dragon Tales, and Between the Lions. PBS is also home to the older, but the amazing Reading Rainbow and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. For quality time together on a rainy day, snuggle up with your child and enjoy the educational programming that PBS has to offer.
