Monday, March 28, 2011

Ceebeebies : Great programming for kids

Thanks to Ri and her liking for Teletubbies, I’ve discovered what a great channel CBeebies is. What I like about Cbeebies is that most of their programs have realistic figurines and soft settings as opposed to noisy cartoons in harsh settings. The presenters are friendly, the language is great and children can really learn so much from these shows.

This morning, I learnt ( in my very very late 20’s), how a Kangaroo moves thanks to a program called Boogy Beebies. Children are encouraged to be active and move their muscles to peppy songs, usually with a theme like animals, nature or sports with the hosts guiding them from the screen. Today’s movements were focused on The Kangaroo and some of its friends, the elephant, the emu and the giraffe. I carried Ri and tried to copy all the movements and we both found ourselves laughing. What fun! Small value-adds that I appreciated on the show was the presenters reminding the children to take deep breaths after the fun work-out, stretch and relax.

I’ve also turned into a huge fan of Mr Maker who is really cool. Making his creations could be a great birthday party activity or a really good recreational
past-time for children. Ri is too young to really understand everything the channel has to offer but enjoys seeing the characters of Waybuloo, In the Night Garden and Five More Minutes on screen.

Their website is pretty comprehensive as well, each show comes with a small note to adults on what the aim of the show is and how it will benefit the child. The only downside is that all the online songs are not playable in India. Hope Ceebeebies will do something about that soon.

Otherwise, great shows, great programming and great concepts, a channel that does not make a parent feel guilty for allowing their kids to watch Television.

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