The Wiggles

It’s time to talk about The Wiggles! My son would deny until his dying day that he ever loved The Wiggles but he did. I can tell you that you can listen to their famous tune Fruit Salad 27 times on the way back from my mom’s house. I know this because I decided to count how many times one week during an especially Wiggles intensive week when Drew was three years old. We were introduced to The Wiggles as an add-on to one of Drew’s beloved Bob the Builder DVDs and never looked back.

The education credentials of the members of the group may surprise you; the members of the group, all Australian men, met while studying Childhood Education at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Here is an excerpt from their official website:

The band`s Early Childhood training continues to influence the approach they take with their live shows, DVDs and The Wiggles Movie. Anthony Field feels that a lot of The Wiggles success comes from their knowledge of child development. "A lot of what we do comes from a child`s perspective", says Anthony. "It s got a lot to do with what songs are about and the language we use, and I like to think we know how to write pretty catchy tunes. Right from the start we gave a lot of thought to what was appropriate for children`s music."

Their songs are catchy and are combined with exercise and instructions and are kind of how-to demonstrations. Besides Fruit Salad, your young children will also love Hot Potato and can’t miss Monkey Dance. Sure it is silly but it is fun and read what Common Sense Media has to say about The Wiggles:

What parents need to know: Parents need to know that with millions of CDs and DVDs sold, it's no wonder these Australians have maintained a huge following with the preschool crowd for more than a decade. At first glimpse the show may appear to be lacking in educational content, but the good, wholesome fun and music encourage 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds to listen for musical cues, move their bodies to rhythms, and, most of all, be age-appropriately silly. The four Wiggles and their lovably goofy cast of characters really do know what they're doing.

In this era of high-tech expectations, it's wonderful to see that a show that uses silly skits and simple sets and costumes (each member wears distinctive, long-sleeved, primary-colored T-shirts and black pants) can still capture the attention of preschool-aged children. The other colorful characters -- including a polka-dotted green dinosaur named Dorothy who wears a bonnet and eats roses, a friendly pirate named Captain Feathersword, a purple Octopus named Henry, and a floppy-eared dog named Wags -- add even more humor to the show and have developed their own following.

The format is simple. Usually there's some situation such as Jeff won't wake up or Dorothy loses her voice, and everyone gets together to solve the problem in a few very short skits, using simple dialogue, some quirky sound effects, and lots of facial expressions. Along with skits, songs are performed by The Wiggles as a band, often using child dancers. Quite often they sing songs from other cultures, but they typically do not have many children of color participate on the show. Despite this limitation, The Wiggles will be entertaining preschoolers for years to come.

Me again: The Wiggles was created by people who were and are childhood educators and who have a knack for engaging kids into learning without it feeling like learning. Learning and dancing and moving around…what a great combination!