I watched the very first episode of Sesame Street when I was a teenager. My dad, Newton Minow, helped get the funding for the show in the late 1960's and I remember how excited he was about transforming what children could learn from television. They would create catchy jingles and short, entertaining segments to help teach numbers, the alphabet, and more. I happened to be home from school with a bad cold the day it premiered, and I fell in love with it immediately, its fresh, insouciant, wildly imaginative, even more wildly funny, and utterly endearing sensibility. I still remember Wanda the Witch, who lived somewhere West of Washington and Wore a Wig. I loved watching it with my children. It was so much fun it was to see Smokey Robinson singing "U've Really Got a Hold on Me" with the letter U tugging on his leg and the day when everyone learned that Mr. Snuffleupagus was really real. I loved its gentle lessons about kindness and feelings. I especially remember one segment with violinist Itshak Perlman describing easy and hard with such simplicity and sweetness.
Forty years later, I still sneak a peek now and then. It's just...ducky.
Sesame Street has a delightful 40th anniversary video featuring guest stars from Michelle Obama to Adam Sandler, Jason Mraz, Paul Rudd, Jimmy Fallon, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Ricky Gervais. I'd love to hear your favorite Sesame Street memories.
The first three people to respond will win DVDs of these two great new family releases. Many thanks to the folks at Nickelodeon for these wonderful prizes.
In Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Kai-Lan's Great Trip to China, the adorable cartoon heroine goes to visit her great aunt, bringing along her friends for adventures and learning about new cultures, new foods, and new words. Preschoolers and their families will enjoy the gentle lessons and colorful journey, especially the pandas.
Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with "Kai-Lan" in the subject line. One prize to a family.
Mr. Troop Mom stars George Lopez, Jane Lynch (of "Glee") and the adorable Naked Brothers (Alex and Nat Wolf) in a story about a widower who becomes the troop leader for his 13-year-old daughter and finds himself in the middle of an all-female campout and competition -- and connecting to his daughter -- in a story that is fun, funny, and very sweet.
Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with "Mr. Troop Mom" in the subject line. One prize to a family. Good luck!
If you saw Where the Wild Things Are this week and loved it -- or if your children are too young for it but want to enjoy Sendak on film, try the Sendak collection from my favorite Scholastic Storybook series. It includes not only the title story but other Sendak favorites like "In the Night Kitchen" and the wonderful Nutshell classics that teach letters ("Alligators All Around"), numbers ("One Was Johnny"), and the months ("Chicken Soup with Rice") to wonderful songs by Carole King. Our family favorite was the one about Pierre, who learned not to say "I don't care!"
Here's a great new DVD from my all-time favorite series, just in time for Halloween -- A Very Brave Witch...and more Halloween stories. In the title story, a little witch who has been taught that humans are scary decides to find out for herself and ends up making friends with a little girl dressed as a witch and sharing a very special broomstick ride. "The Witch in the Cherry Tree" tries to outsmart a boy named David to get his cakes and "By the Light of the Halloween Moon"
Get ready for the release of "Where the Wild Things Are" by reading the book! Reading Rockets has a great site with resources including an interview with author Maurice Sendak. Did you know he originally wrote it as a story about horses?
Thanks to Siva Vaidhyanathan for sharing this delightful interview with the newest PBS superhero, WordGirl, who keeps the world safe from bad guys and poor word choices! Here's to vivid and grammatically correct speech, and to PBS and WorldGirl....
Preschool programs focus on words and numbers and there has not been much about science. But all children are inherently scientists, endlessly curious about the world around them and constantly performing experiments and asking "why." The Jim Henson company introduces...
I am very pleased to see this delightful DVD re-issued. I love the way it encourages kids to read by bringing them inside the stories. Meet Jack and the Giant, the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Ridinghood, and the Princess...
First-time preschoolers can get a head start, kids returning in the fall can get a refresher, and everyone in the family can have fun with this terrific new DVD of counting stories from my very favorite series by Scholastic. I...
Seattle-based teachers-turned-music group Recess Monkey came to Washington DC to play at XM Radio and Jammin' Java this week and I was lucky enough to see them perform before a wildly enthusiastic crowd of very excited kids and very happy...
Children and their families are lining up across the country to see "Dora Live," an interactive adventure that leads Dora the Explorer, her cousin Diego, Boots the monkey, and all their friends on a fun-filled journey in "Search for...
The wonderful Scholastic series has a very special new release, Bedtime for Frances, with three animated stories about the beloved little badger. Author Russell Hoban's Frances stories are filled with gentle humor and perceptive insights about the way children see...
Purim, which comes this year on March 10, is the celebration of the triumph of Queen Esther over the plot of Haman to kill all the Jews. Jewish children love to dress up and to hear the "purim shpiel," the...
The Baby Grands make music for children and their families. The songs are singable and lots of fun. Now they are giving families a chance to make their kids and dogs part of a montage in a new video for...
The third in the award-winning series of Gustafer Yellowgold is coming out on DVD March 17, featuring guest artists Lisa Loeb and Wilco's John Stirratt and Pat Sansone. These tuneful treats from artist/songwriter Morgan Taylor are family favorites, with singable...
Hey you guys! The classic 1970's show The Electric Company taught a generation of kids how to take the letters they learned on "Sesame Street" and turn them into words and sentences. The superstar cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno,...
Kidthing is a safe and secure place to find games and educational content for children. Kidthing recently won The National Parenting Center's 2009 Seal of Approval and has been selected to be the sole digital distribution partner for the National...
Celebrate the inauguration of the nation's 44th president with the help of the fabulously rich and engaging resources of Our White House. The non-profit, non-partisan National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance has created a free online presidential inauguration activity guide...
Be sure to check out Speekaboos -- storybook recordings featuring Kevin Bacon, Kelly Ripa, Marcia Gay Harden, Minnie Driver, Clay Aiken, Bob Saget, Fran Drescher, Tom Arnold, Chazz Palminteri, Harry Shearer, Nick Cannon and many others reading stories for children....
Connections Academy, an online public school, has come up with some great suggestions for using winter season events to help children learn. From baking cookies to talk about measuring and adding to talking about geography on family trips, they have...
Be sure to look at the wonderful gallery of "Twelve Lessons Horton Taught Me" by Hillary Fields. Inspired by the upcoming release of the DVD, Fields describes the spiritual lessons of the Dr. Seuss classic from "a person's a person,...
Set 15 years after the classic Aesop fable about race between the over-confident Hare and the slow-but-steady tortoise, this updated version from The Jim Henson Company out on DVD this week has the two creatures planning a rematch, this time...
My very favorite DVD series for kids is saluting the 40th anniversary of the classic book Corduroy with a beautiful new DVD version. It is the story of a toy bear who goes off in search of his missing button...
Children's book author Erica S. Perl has a gallery in Slate about books for early readers featuring superheroes from PG-13 movies like The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man and even the very violent and disturbing Dark Knight. Perl reports that...
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, the adorable cartoon heroine goes to visit her great aunt, bringing along her friends for adventures and learning about new cultures, new foods, and new words. Preschoolers and their families will enjoy the gentle lessons and colorful journey, especially the pandas. 
stars George Lopez, Jane Lynch (of "Glee") and the adorable Naked Brothers (Alex and Nat Wolf) in a story about a widower who becomes the troop leader for his 13-year-old daughter and finds himself in the middle of an all-female campout and competition -- and connecting to his daughter -- in a story that is fun, funny, and very sweet. 
. In the title story, a little witch who has been taught that humans are scary decides to find out for herself and ends up making friends with a little girl dressed as a witch and sharing a very special broomstick ride. "The Witch in the Cherry Tree" tries to outsmart a boy named David to get his cakes and "By the Light of the Halloween Moon" 
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