Zula Patrol manages to turn even the simplest activity into a science lesson. This Space Dance illustrates how day and night happen, leading the way for you to talk to your offspring about daytime and nighttime activities. Find even more Zula-based ideas on their website.
The STA’s Summer Tips are ideas for projects and activities inspired by your kids’ favorite shows, to help them learn while the TV is on and after it’s off. Look for more tips all summer long, to OutSmart the 150% Summer Spike in childrens’ television viewing.
We love summer. Flip-flops. Swimming pools. Ice cream on a semi-regular basis just because it’s too hot to eat “real” food.
But as temps climb, so does the amount of time your offspring will likely spend in front of the TV. According to data from Nielsen, kids’ TV-watching spikes an astounding 155 percent during summer vacation. That’s kind of, well, gross not good.
So…today we launch our new campaign, OutSmart the Summer Spike. Each day for the next 92 days, God help us, we’re going to post a new activity your kids (and you) can do rather than zone out in front of the tube. Crafts, games, treasure hunts, the occasional song and dance — all (here’s the hook) inspired by the best kids’ TV shows on the air.
Have your own cool activity/TV alternative you’d like to share? Shoot us an email. Otherwise, keep checking back to see how we do. (Trust us, once we get to, oh, #75, those tips are going to start getting really creative.)
The N, Nickelodeon’s 24-hour TV network for teens, just released results of its new, unfortunately named research study, “The Story of Girl.” The findings, drawn from a pool of girls between the ages of 13-24 over the past few months, are a mix of what we expected (girls today are happy and optimistic, yet worry more than boys) some relieving news (moms are better role models than celebs), and a few wackadoo hints of narcissism. We break it down for you after the jump.
Faithful readers of Smart News will know although we recommend the animated show Franny’s Feet to other parents, we like to pretend the TiVo in our own home isn’t able to record it. Don’t get us wrong — it has a fabulous concept. (Girl transported on magical adventure each time she tries on shoes in grandpa’s cobbler shop.) We love cobbler shops. But the show is just a wee bit precious for our own personal tastes. (Are there really any kids out there who say, “Applesauce!” when things don’t go their way? And parents who encourage it?)
But like we said, we’re in the minority here. Franny’s Feet just got picked up for an additional season on PBS KIDS. As did Ni Hao, Kai-Lan on Nick Jr. And we just received word that Wow, Wow Wubzy! (another Nick Jr. animated show) is coming to DVD this fall for the first time.
Do you see where we’re going here? Just because a show is dubbed a “good” show for kids doesn’t mean you have to love it, too. Or do you? (This is like one of those voice-over questions Carrie asks on an ep of Sex and the City, although not as, well, sexy.)
Did you know that kids’ TV viewing spikes by 150% in the summer? The Smart Television Alliance is proud to announce the OutSmart the Summer Spike! campaign to raise awareness about the need for busy parents and caregivers to make smart viewing choices and to use technology to control what their children watch.
The STA is known for showing parents how to find the best stuff on TV, so our website is the perfect place to go to OutSmart the Summer Spike…after all, if you’re in control of what’s on the screen, you can actually bring educational time to a long summer outside of the classroom. That’s why organizations like the National Education Association, National Council of Women’s Organizations, National PTA, KIDSFIRST!, among many others are members.
There are a lot of great ways for you to participate. A good way to start is by signing a petition to TV producers demanding more educational and age-appropriate programming for kids. Also, look for our Summer TV Tips blog posts to find out how you can use your kids’ favorite shows as inspiration for learning, while the show is on, and after it’s over.
Better yet, sign up for Smart News to get our tips and other great information sent right to you. That way, you won’t miss a beat!
Hey, TV producers: If you’re trolling the web, looking for the next cool thing you can make into a worthwhile series for kids, you better click on The Peanut Butter Diaries.
Granted, we couldn’t track down scads of info about this occasional video series — it’s about “food, culture and urban life,” is made for kids between the ages of 7-12, and is filmed in Philly with and by real kids. But honestly? In just two minutes, we were hooked. It’s so rare you see tweens acting like tweens, not tiny, annoying versions of their parents (or Paris Hilton). These girls are genuinely enjoying themselves and it’s fun to watch.
Check out the clip above, and let us know what you think. And if you have time to play Nancy Drew and find out more about this little gem, shoot us that info, too.
If you cringe at the thought of children under the age of two zoning out for hours in front of the TV, you’re not being a hypersensitive, over-anxious killjoy. (Um, at least we don’t think so.) There’s tons of meaty research to back up that if television watching doesn’t necessarily rot your wee one’s brain out, it’s certainly not doing them (or you) any favors.
And it’s not just us, or American researchers/parents who think so. Friday, Gallic culture and communications minister Christine Albanel and France’s broadcasting authority Conseil Superieur de l’Audioviseul also publicly chastised TV for tots. (Or, as we Google translation addicts like to say, la television des touts-petits.)
According to Variety, Albanel went so far as to implore parents not to use TV channels aimed at very young children, such as U.S.-based channels Baby TV and BabyFirst. (Hmmm. You don’t think they’re still holding a grudge over that whole “Freedom Fries” flap, do you?) CSA’s working group on child protection even called on French satellite and cable providers to inform subscribers about the “harmfulness of TV for children under three.”
Obviously, Titou Le Lapinou is immune to this decree. We’re not even sure what’s going on in this video, and we Can’t. Stop. Watching.
Can kids’ television (good kids’ television, that is) teach tolerance and diversity? All signs point to yes. Or well, at least maybe. Read the rest of this entry »
Today, the beloved children’s story by Russell Hoban’s beloved books, Frances , made its world television debut on PBS KIDS Sprout . For those of you who missed it (or forgot to set your TiVo DVRs to record it), here is a short clip to give you a glimpse of this new program co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and HIT Entertainment. Who said that precocious pre-school comedy is only fun for kids?
Good news for parents of tweens who aren’t into kooky Japanese anime, violent superheroes or high school sitcoms where everybody breaks into song by their lockers. (Yes, we know, it begs the question: What else is there?)
Click and Clack’s As the Wrench Turns, a half-hour animated show, premieres on PBS Wednesday, July 9, at 8/7pm Central. The series is based on real-life brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi’s long-running NPR program, “Car Talk.” You could describe the weekly show as a q&a about car probs, but its 4.4 million listeners would be horrified at that simplistic description. It’s a cleverly done, hilarious gab-fest, basically. Knowledge of fuel pumps and spark plugs unnecessary.
That same goofy, “We don’t take ourselves seriously” sense of humor is on display in the new PBS show. (Check it out for yourself here.) In the premiere ep, Click and Clack decide to run as the first-ever two-man candidate for U.S. president. The next follows the car-talkin’ bros as they outsource their show to India. Naturally, trouble ensues when their on-air Indian counterparts (Rajiv and Sanjiv, the Gupta Brothers) turn out to be automotive problem-solving geniuses.
Oh, and one more reason you should tune in? The show’s partnered with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to push safety messages like “Wear your seat belt” or “Don’t drive and text and talk on your cell and watch a movie and mess with your iPod at the same time.”
The Smart Television Alliance is a new coalition of national nonprofit organizations united by a shared commitment to improving what our nation's children see on television.
Stephanie Booth, a respected journalist and former Teen People contributing editor, is the lead editor and writer of the Smart Television Alliance Blog. Her articles have appeared in Parents, Woman's Day, CosmoGIRL, Seventeen, Teen, YM, and Teen People as well as online and in major newspapers.
Jen Singer is the creator of MommaSaid.net and the author of "You're a Good Mom (and Your Kids Aren't So Bad Either)." She blogs about parenting tweens for GoodHousekeeping.com and Yahoo Shine.
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