Word World

I love WordWorld.  It's a kids show on PBS Kids and I thought I'd share it for any parents (or grandparents) out there who are unaware.  There are all sorts of philosophies out there about when kids should watch TV and how much they should watch.  Personally, I've found that parents tend to go to extremes.  They are either against TV altogether, or they allow too much.  I don't have a problem with children watching TV.  Actually, I've found that now days, there are more educational shows than there are mindless shows for little kids.  As always, I think you need balance.  I don't think television should be used as a babysitter, nor do I think it needs to be on at all times.  But kids learn in a variety of ways, and often education hidden in entertainment is the best way.

Here's what the website said.  I thought they could say it better than I could.

Come along for an adventurous romp into a colorful, vibrant world of words with the lovable, legible WordFriends–animals whose bodies are made up of the letters that spell the word they are.....

The WordFriends go on comic adventures and face challenges that can only be resolved with the right word. That word is built letter by letter, sound by sound, during the funky “Build a Word” song at the end of every episode. Once the word is built, it “morphs”–comes alive–into the thing it is!

Word building reinforces the pre-reading concept that letters (and their sounds) make words, and that words have real meaning…and power. The series also introduces literacy concepts that preschoolers will encounter as they become readers, such as sounding out letters and rhyming. But most of all, WordWorld helps children get excited about reading and see words as their friends.

The curriculum of WordWorld is designed to introduce, support and foster emergent literacy skills in children ages three to five. The curriculum draws from four skill sets critical for young children’s emergent literacy: print awareness, phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge, comprehension (including vocabulary development) and socio-emotional skills.

 You can go here to see when it's on in your area... or, you can check out the DVD's at the library.