With this coronavirus pandemic causing people to be stuck at home, it is inevitable that people will be watching more television. While I have been sharing our fun picks for the grown ups, I also have some picks for the little darlings in your life. some shows are educational, some are fun, but there is something for everyone!
Check it out below!
CoComelon features more than 500 videos and 150 original nursery rhyme-style songs incorporating extremely relatable, teachable moments for preschoolers and their families that can help make daily routines – such as naptime, bedtime, cleaning up, and taking a bath – go a little smoother. There’s even a catchy and very topical tune about the importance of washing your hands and being “in the clean hands club.” New CoComelon videos are rolling out all the time – with songs about a loose tooth, the alphabet and story-time soon to come – and parents are sure to find them useful, too!
The videos, which feature a super-cute character named JJ, an adorable family and a colorful cast of 20+ characters, bring topics to life in a fun and easily understandable way, which is why the channel is SO popular and has become a go-to resource for parents everywhere. In addition to helping preschoolers learn letters, numbers, animal sounds, colors, and more, the upbeat videos gently impart prosocial life lessons, providing parents with an opportunity to teach and play with their children as they watch together.
- NATURE has made a wide range of documentaries available to stream for free on fascinating topics ranging from Yosemite to horses, volcanos to Arctic wolves. And there are free NATURE educational resources and lessons for parents and educators availablehere. New episodes of the award-winning series kicked off in April with the premiere ofCuba’s Wild Revolution!
- Great Performances is lifting the curtain on some of its most popular Broadway productions for theater fans to stream, including Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, featuring a Tony-winning performance from Kevin Kline; Much Ado About Nothing starring Danielle Brooks and Grantham Coleman; the beloved classic, The Sound of Music; and Alfred Molina as artist Mark Rothko in Red. In addition, classical offerings such as Now Hear This: Vivaldi: Something Completely Different and The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood will be music to the ears of fans from coast to coast. And to help parents keep the learning going strong while their kids are at home, PBS LearningMedia features free educational resources for a number of Great Performancesshows, including Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar and The Hollow Crown
- ALL ARTS features an incredible array of cultural offerings that are always free to stream on allarts.org and via the ALL ARTS app, including full live theatrical performances likeKing Lear (starring James Earl Jones and Raul Julia) and The Soap Myth (featuring Ed Asner and Tova Feldshuh); concerts like Sam Smith / Anderson East; numerous ballets that will delight dance aficionados such as Romeo and Juliet, Balanchine’s Jewels at the Mariinsky Theatre, Alexander Ekman’s “A Swan Lake” – and many more; documentaries on luminaries such as Toni Morrison, Dorothea Lange and Josef Albers; and fun series of digital shorts like Broadway Sandwich and Famous Cast Words
- American Masters presents Unladylike2020, a brand-new multimedia series airing on theAmerican Masters YouTube channel. Narrated by Julianna Margulies and Lorraine Toussaint, the series of 26 short films spotlights unsung women who changed the course of history. They feature gorgeous animation – and are fun and informative as well! The first five films are streaming now with a new short rolling out every Wednesday through August. Streaming free for National Poetry Month, the award-winning arts and culture biography series has documentaries on Edgar Allan Poe, N. Scott Momaday and Carl Sandburg. For families and educators, PBS LearningMedia also has great resources forUnladylike2020.
- Take on Fake, a new YouTube series that debunks claims seen or shared online to show people how to stay informed. Host Hari Sreenivasan (PBS NewsHour Weekend, Amanpour and Company) follows the Internet rabbit hole of COVID-19 misinformation, reading beyond a single headline to find credible sources to uncover the truth. Watch the first episode, “COVID-19 Fake Cures and False Diagnoses,” nowand subscribe for weekly episodes.
- WNET At Home Learning resources for the New York metro area and state of New Jersey:
- NJTV, New Jersey’s public television network, in partnership with the NJEA and theNew Jersey Department of Education, launches a new series of on-air instruction called NJTV Learning Live, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. beginning today for grades 3-6, taught by NJ public school teachers.
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- WLIW21 and WLIW WORLD have newly expanded K-12 At Home Learning resources with new weekday programming schedules to better serve students in the New York metro area who are homebound during the COVID-19 pandemic. These daily, free over-the-air broadcasts focus on all major school subjects. Visit wnet.org/education for schedulesand accompanying resources for educators and families..
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- WNET Education has activities, tips on making TV time learning time, PBS LearningMedia resources, and games from Mission US, an interactive way to learn American history, to award-winning PBS KIDS series Cyberchase that covers STEM subjects, and more for families and educators.
April 2020 – Earth Day All Month Long on Kabillion and Kabillion Girls Rule!
Kabillion and Kabillion Girls Rule! are celebrating Earth Day all April long with special featured offerings including:
Kabillion
Sonic X: Trick Sand
The crew of the Blue Typhoon go emerald hunting on a deserted planet.
Sonic X: Underground
Sonic and the gang go exploring another earth-like planet.
Transformers: Nature Calls
Prowl, Bumblebee and Sari get more than they bargained for when they head out to the remote woods to investigate a mysterious energy signal.
Kabillion Girls Rule!
Bobby’s World: Fish Tales
The Generics go camping in Canada!
Chloe’s Closet: All Green Thumbs
The kids have fun making things grow with water, but when they overgrow a mouse, she’s too tall to get inside her home and reach her babies. They enlist Mac who’s short enough to help.
Chloe’s Closet: In The Fix
Handyman Chloe and friends are called to fix Mother Nature’s run-down cottage.
LEGO Friends: Dolphin Cruise
Olivia, Stephanie, Andrea, Mia, and Emma enter a science contest at school and win a trip on a luxury yacht – but not everything goes as planned when they set out to sea.
Wild Kratts: Amazin’ Amazon Adventure – Premieres April 20 with re-airings through April 26, including Earth Day, April 22, and streams on PBS KIDS digital platforms.
In this new hour-long special, Aviva experiences an invention slump and the Wild Kratts team is determined to help! They take her down the mysterious Amazon River in search of inspiration from the amazing creatures that live there. But Aviva must reclaim her invention prowess fast, because Zach, Donita, Gourmand, and Paisley are seeking to mine the area’s biodiversity for their own nefarious schemes.
To extend the Amazon-themed adventure, two new Wild Kratts activities, My Creature Adventure and Adventure Passport, are now available on the PBS KIDS for Parents website.
Nature Cat: Natural Wonders Week – New Episodes Premiere May 11 to May 15 and stream on PBS KIDS digital platforms
Fans can join Nature Cat, Squeeks, Daisy and Hal as they explore national wonders such as The Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, The Great Salt Lake…and…Niagara Falls? (Water! Why does it have to be water?) In this week of themed episodes, kids will learn about photosynthesis, geysers, volcanic activity, even the impressive hunting and survival skills of the praying mantis – and more.
Air Dates:
5/11 Great Salt Lake/Praying Mantis Hunters
5/12 Tally Ho, A Volcano!/No Rest for the Squeeky
5/13 Niagara Falls/Nature Plant
5/14 The Grand Mystery of the Grand Canyon/The Strongest Show on Earth
5/15 Under Pressure/Rainy Day
Molly of Denali – Week of New Episodes Premiere May 25 to May 29 and stream on PBS KIDS digital platforms
Young explorers will join Molly, Tooey, and Trini on a week of exciting outdoor adventures throughout Alaska! New explorations and lessons will include using reasoning and observation skills to track turkeys through the mud as well as learning how honoring your elders and working together can lead to wonderful things – like a very special cloudberry pie! – and how quick thinking and noticing changes in your environment can keep a wayward canoe trip on track. Each episode emphasizes informational text-based learning and Alaskan Native values, so there will be plenty of fun and educational moments for families to share!
Air Dates:
5/25 Froggy of Denali/Molly Mabray and the Mystery Stones
5/26 Reading the Mud/Unsinkable Molly Mabray
5/27 Busy Beavers/The Night Watchers
5/28 Picking Cloudberries/Puzzled
5/29 Rocky Rescue/Canoe Journey
In addition, a line-up of new Earth Day-themed Cyberchase episodes will debut from April 17 to 19. Kids can tag along with the Cybersquad as they learn about bat pollination, water conservation, underground ecosystems, and protecting forests – all with a mathematical twist!
I would be glad to share descriptions of all of the new episodes as well as hi-res art and clips for your use. I can also provide screener links, so you can check out the upcoming shows for yourself and with the young adventurers in your life!