Today, I want to tell you about Blue's Clues, my son's favorite show when he was a toddler. He's twelve now but all the fellow parents I knew back when he was a toddler shared the ability to sing all of the songs from Blue’s Clues episodes (“Head, shoulders, knees and toes”) and the songs from Blue’s Big Musical Movie and there wasn’t a parent around who didn’t sing, “Mailllll time!” [This youtube vid is too cute]. Blue’s Clues was in production from 1996 – 2006 and is still in reruns today, not to mention all of the DVDs available.
Nickelodeon set out to create a show for pre-schoolers that would use all of the wealth of research on child development and early childhood education that had been performed since Sesame Street. They wanted to create a classic and they did just that.
The Kaiser Family Foundation by the Center on Media and Child Health, Children’s Hospital Boston prepared an issue brief, The Effects of Electronic Media on Children Ages Zero to Six: A History of Research, that had the following to say about BC:
Specific Findings
Television and learning
• Children who regularly watched Blue’s Clues,
a curriculum-based interactive TV program for
preschoolers, scored higher on standardized
measures of problem solving and flexible thinking
than children who did not watch Blue’s Clues,
even though both groups of children had scored
equivalently on a pre-test prior to Blue’s Clues
exposure (Anderson, Bryant, Wilder, Santomero,
Williams, et al., 2000).
• Viewing of educational programs like Dora the
Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Dragontales, Arthur, and
Clifford between six and 30 months of age was
associated with accelerated language growth,
whereas overall television viewing (including adult
programs) was associated with reduced vocabulary
(Linebarger & Walker, in press). (p. 9)
Blue’s Clues the television show
What parents need to know: Parents need to know that this educational interactive show has a playful, energetic feeling and no content to worry about. The human host, Joe, interacts admirably with his friends on the show and at home, and Blue is a smart, loyal companion. [note: the earlier host Steve was wonderful, too]
Not only is Blue's Clues colorful and fun, but it allows young viewers to interact in the problem-solving challenges. Some puzzles may require sounding out words. Others may involve numbers, shapes, or even geography and physiology. The plots are generally good quality, and are always interactive without being bothersome. In other words, though Blue's Clues is suitable for the youngest viewers, it does not lie flat -- there is some complexity to the lessons at hand.
On top of it all, the sets are very creatively fashioned, often appearing to be collage or multi-media in nature. The background soundtrack plays a gentle jazz that doesn't condescend to the viewer, and Joe sometimes gestures in American Sign Language to match what he is saying. The discerning eye will discover many such details. In fact, Blue's Clues does a very fine job of treating its young viewers as the multifaceted individuals that they are.
What parents need to know: Parents need to know that this program is perfectly shaped for kids three and up: challenging, but not too complicated. The video presents many lessons in organization and categorization, and encourages song writing. The musical composition segment teaches tempo and rhythm, and preschoolers learn important lessons about empathy and perseverance.
Blue's Big Musical Movie rises above other Blue's Clues offerings with its discussion of music and character. The musical composition exercise segment is long, but even a two-year-old viewer remained enthralled. As fun as the music segment is--Ray Charles provides the voice of G-Clef--the real appeal of this video is Sidetable Drawer's story, which is heartbreakingly realistic; timid viewers will connect with her and find inspiration in her eventual bravery.
Much soul-searching by the characters dulls the participatory elements of the show-- because of the Sidetable Drawer saga, for example, the audience knows the answer to Blue's Clues from the beginning--but the video is still a powerful, affirming experience.
Back to me… the message I take from the Kaiser brief and from Common Sense Media is that it is ok to let your toddler watch Blue’s Clues while you *gasp* make dinner or take a shower or need to keep your toddler happy while you have the flu. Yes, I am particularly fond of Blue’s Clues for comforting a toddler while his parents had the flu for three days. Steve was our hero. (Other moms at the preschool tried to make me feel horrible for ever letting Drew watch tv so this is a big raspberry to them. I know that is childish but we don’t all have the luxury of a nanny or au pair.)
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