Long are the days of Barney, Teletubbies and Arthur (although they are still seen in some markets). These days there is a new crop of children’s shows that are equally as entertaining and the shows from years ago.
Many of these PBS Kids shows are now making their way to DVDs to add to your family’s DVD collection.
I have heard of Super Why before, and I have seen images of the characters, but I have never watched any episodes before. HOW CUTE!
Super Why features a group of kids (and a cute Pig) who have “Super Powers” such as ABC’s, Spelling, Word and Reading, who go on adventures. Each episode has a “mystery” that needs to be solved by finding letters and entering them into their “Super Computer” to find the “super story answer”.
Each episode on the DVD relates to a classic Fairytale including Peter Rabbit, Tom Thumb, Rapunzel and Goldilocks & the Three Bears.
Each one of these episodes were delightful and entertaining. I love the characters (they are adorable!) and the way the graphics are draw it’s almost like they have a 3-D look to them, making the characters more realistic rather then “flat”.
Special features include four games.
– Alpha Bricks – Help Super Pig fill in the hole with bricks before the wolf gets in.
– Create a Super Hero – Every time you spell a word correctly you get to chose a new item to create your own super hero.
– Storybook Creator – This is a fun game where you pick classic stories (like the Three Little Pigs) and change a word in the story to make the story silly. There are even cute animations that go along with the changes that you made. For example in the story I did it was three smelly pigs who built a bed out of bricks and a mean old spider came along and cried trying to knock it down. LOL!
– Rhyme N’ Roll – Help the character roller blade down the path while skating over words that rhyme.
There are also fun activity and coloring pages you can print out on the DVD/CD too.
This is another show I wasn’t familiar with. Unlike Super Why I have never even heard of Martha Speaks before. This show is so cute!
Martha is a lovable dog who learned to speak after she ate some special alphabet soup.
One thing that really stood out to me is the background. The background looks like textured paper that was colored with watercolor paints. There are even obvious areas where there is no paint or where two colors blend when they over lap. As odd as it sounds I actually enjoy it. The characters are also a bit more realistic looking.
For some reason the show reminds me a lot like Arthur. I don’t know why.
Where as Super Why teaches children about the alphabet, words and reading, Martha Speaks is more like mini-stories that teach a lesson.
I enjoyed this DVD. I think this is geared more towards the older children (Kindergarten to maybe 3rd or 4th grade). Both of my kids liked this DVD.
There are four fun episodes on this DVD.
The DVD/CD also comes with about a dozen coloring pages and activities that you and print and enjoy. The activities are more so games you can play with others rather then words finds and puzzles.
My son used to watch Caillou when he was younger. I love this show. Caillou is adorable! We even have some Caillou books still floating around in our home.
I love that the DVD/CD contains A LOT of cute coloring pages you can print out.
– Caillou the Helper
– Caillou the Builder
Like Martha Speaks, Caillou teaches little life lessons while he explores the world around him. This show is great for the Elementary aged child and younger.
*I received free samples of these DVD/CDs to do this review. There was no other compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
