It only seems natural that as the calendar turns to spring, we pay tribute to our natural surroundings: our home planet. And since we’d love our kids to spend more time outdoors and not take nature’s beauty for granted, Earth Day seems like the perfect excuse to get them interested in how to preserve their home turf. In celebration of this important day, PBS Kids will be airing special episodes of its beloved preschool powerhouse shows on April 22. Among the eco-friendly featured shows will be Caillou, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Sesame Street and others. This cast of characters will explore everything from cooking with solar energy, to understanding nature in the backyard.
If you want to join your child in her learning experience, check out www.pbskidsgo.org and visit the EekoWorld section to discover the effects of pollution on the environment and the importance of conservation. Visit www.pbsparents.org for recyclable craft project ideas and tips on how to throw an eco-friendly birthday party for your child (hint: be sure to incorporate a little “green” into the color theme). And of course, don’t forget the best way of all to celebrate Earth Day: Unplug and get outside!
Every parent knows Nickelodeon, either from their kids, or from growing up themselves and tuning in each morning. Did you know that originally Nick was named after a show it carried? On December 1st, 1977 a channel called Pinwheel launched and ran only six hours a day, showing classics like Video Comic Book, Pop Clips, America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks, By the Way, and its namesake Pinwheel. Two years later, the channel re-launched as Nickelodeon, but it still favored Pinwheel as a central show. This show was widely popular with kids then and it’s just begging for an introduction to your kids now!
I know some of you are either flipping out at my mention of Pinwheel, or you’re completely clueless as to what I’m talking about.
So here are some facts:
Pinwheel ran from 1977 to 1990.
There are over 260 one-hour episodes of the show.
Usually the show was broadcast 3-5 hour blocks of the show, much like Sesame Street is now.
It’s the fourth longest running show on the network.
It incorporated puppets, live action, cartoons, and stop motion.
There was always a ton of music in each episode and much of it is still ingrained in the heads of those of us who watched it
I haven’t even gotten into the content besides the puppets and such. The list of mini shows and shorts included in each episode is crazy.
How many of these do you remember?
Alfie Atkins
Bagpuss
Bod
Bolek and Lolek
Bunny in the Suitcase (A Kockásfülű nyúl)
Chapi Chapo
Charlie
Curious George
Emily
Flower Stories
Hattytown Tales
King Rollo
Lilliputput
Magic Coco
Mole
Magic Roundabout, The
Mixometric
Musti
Paddington Bear (airs on Nick Jr. Classics in UK)
Picture Pages
The Pilis
Professor Balthazar
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
Tip and Tap
But that’s just the facts, you need to watch some to really get the gist. Here’s the opening:
Pretty sweet, right? I know some of you remember that song! I myself have been spending hours now searching for Pinwheel content online, as it’s hard to find a lot of the material. However, I did find that Hulu is hosting an entire episode:
Here are a bunch more clips:
Paddington Bear:
Coco (the live action mime on the show):
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (I love this intro song):
Hattytown Tales:
Check around online and you should be able to find some episodes streaming, or try and grab some DVDs of the seasons.
