An adult who spends time at home with a young child will quickly become familiarized with the array of TV networks offering entertaininment and education to a preschool audience.
The networks that bother to educate and provide programming of value for preschoolers are: PBS Kids (PBS), Nick Jr, (Nickelodeon) Playhouse Disney (Disney Channel), and NOGGIN, which is actually under the same ownership as Nick Jr. Over the years, our household has been partial to each at one time or another, as all of them meet at least some of my criteria for what is acceptable viewing through my children’s eyes.
It was last year that I decided to check out NOGGIN for the first time. We had been on a long run with Playhouse Disney sparked by our love affair with The Wiggles, but that’s a whole other article.
As with most entertainment designed for children, it’s hard for an adult to digest at first, but soon those worldly grown-up thoughts are beaten out of that mind and replaced by intrigue, which soon turns into captivation.
I don’t know how many parents and caregivers actually commit the “TV as a babysitter” sin that many are accused of by “I don’t allow my children to watch TV” folks. For all I know, I may have even tried it at some point, but could not help being sucked into my son’s world of entertainment. And with NOGGIN it is no different.
What [my children and] I have enjoyed more about NOGGIN over the other channels, besides the programming, is all the entertainment between shows. Since it is commercial-free, there is a about a 7 minute gap between shows where the NOGGIN hosts, “Moose A. Moose” and his little blue bird friend Zeeee”, engage the audience in a variety of fun lessons. The moose and the bird, while not the typical duo, are very likeablele, cute and not at all annoying. Zeeee is non-verbal, for whatever that’s worth.
Education of our children seems to be the cornerstone of this operation, and Moose has even taught me a few things, like what a sarsaparilla is and much about crustaceans.
NOGGIN also understands the role music can play in a young child’s development. There are a host of talented musicians whose music videos entertain children and adults alike in the slots between shows. I’ve come to really appreciate many of these and they always grab my children’s attention. Also, for every month a new song and accompanying video is created, and performed by Moose and Zeeee, shown several times throughout each day. These are catchy, well-done songs. A very talented team must crank these out each month.
Now the programming is a mix of NOGGIN’s’s own shows, and some provided for NOGGIN by Nick Jr.
The Nick Jr. shows on the line-up are: Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Lazy Town, Wonder Pets, Max and Ruby, Little Bear, Franklin, Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Blues Clues Backyardigans and Oswald.
Some of these are no longer on Nick Jr.’s line-up and have freed up space for some of their new shows.
The benefit here is that you and your children can enjoy these great, familiar shows without being bombarded with toy commercials that prompt “I want that” responses, and bratty cereal commercials of kids treating adults like idiots.
The shows exclusive to NOGGIN are Oobibi (not a personal favorite here), Jack’s Big Music Show, Pinky Dink Doooo, Connie the Cow, Miffy and Friends, 64 Zoo Lane, Play With Me Sesame and premiering October 16, The Upside Down Show.
With each of these, there is an impressive level of creativity and valuable teaching. These are the characteristics this network is seasoned with.
One last thing I’ll give NOGGIN praise for is being an atmosphere of innocence, which sadly is not the case on many children’s platforms. There seems to have recently been an effort made to insert “edginess” into children’s programming in the form of sarcasm, disrespecfulnessss, and humor that is more appropriate for adults. There is just no place for that in the untainted psyche of a young child.
I know that NOGGIN’s’s goal is to nurture and educate the healthy minds of youngsters, and for that they have my seal of approval and their programming on my TV.
