Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Sesame Street are all part of my childhood — I can safely say that through them I learned the basics of English that summer before heading to school. Recently, my little man and I were invited to a PBS Kids Demo day and my eyes were re-opened to the educational richness that is PBS Kids.
See how focused Little M is? And there he is meeting his "amigo" Curious George!
PBS Kids are always working on new and innovative shows, learning tools including Apps and are constantly in conversation with parents and kids to really get to the core of what matters to us.We got a sneak peek at the new Peg + Cat show, got to test out new educational Apps for kids and best of all got to hang out with the cutest monkey around, Curious George!
Peg + Cat launching October 7th
Little M was absolutely STAR STRUCK when he met his idol Curious George. I am not kidding when I say he ADORES him! And I love that he loves George — the show itself is calming (no loud yelling or ridiculous over the top emotions) and he actually learns from him. He recaps episodes and tells me what George has been up to — I am always surprised by just how much detail he remembers and he recaps it back to me in Spanish. It's bilingualism at it's finest!But back to PBS Kids — we certainly had a great time but more importantly this very busy mamá got to see and hear first hand all of the research and work that goes into producing top quality educational content for our children.
Here, I put together 10 reasons to LOVE PBS Kids!
1. Any show were a kid sings "I love my mom, my mom is cool..." is a winner! Who doesn't love a little Sid the Science Kid? When it comes on, my little man and I do dance in the living room.
2. A new show called Peg + Cat will debut on Monday, October 7th which focuses on problem solving and foundational math skills (I may need to watch this too!) One of the show's creators is also the brains behind Wonder Pets.
3. PBS Kids is parent friendly! They not only want the kids to learn and grow, but they have tools to help parents help their kids with our very own site called PBS Parents — along with a section in Spanish as well. ¡Me encanta!
4. They have made it easy to find educational Apps! No more sifting through hundreds of games — now it's been simplified with a PBS Kids page in the iTunes App Store.
5. The PBS Kids page in iTunes features more than 25 apps all designed to foster children's development of math, literacy and other early learning skills. Just the other day, Little M said he needed to do "research." I asked him where he got that word and he couldn't remember, but said "It was on PBS Kids." I kid you not.
6. The PBS Parent Play and Learn and Wild Kratts Creature Math games have all been tested extensively with educators, parens and kids — so you can be sure you are getting top quality information!
7. PBS Kids gives you peace of mind. I really don't have to worry about what is on TV and as I mentioned before, most shows don't have loud yelling that over excite my child. One example is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood — it is easy on the parent's ears as it is on the kids.
8. Every purchase you make on the PBS Kids site goes to support them and their work.
9. You can shop official PBS Kids gear including clothing, party supplies, CDs and books by specific shows. I know if Little M had a Curious George shirt or anything clothing, it would be a struggle to get him to change out of it!
10. It brings back memories of your childhood! I don't know about you, but I really like the idea of my child watching, enjoying and learning from the same station that was such an important part of my life. To be honest, it's just cool.
So there you have it — ten reasons to love PBS Kids! There are MANY more but I suggest you stop and watch with the kids one day, you will be pleasantly surprised, I was. And let me just say, those Apps are B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T!
¡besos!
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Disclosure: We were invited to PBS Headquarters and received Apps free of charge. No other compensation given. Opinions and childhood memories are all my own!
