For new parents, it can be tricky figuring out which shows are actually good quality for kids. My husband and I certainly had no clue when we were expecting our daughter. We actually tried a few out out of curiosity, and found them completely unbearable. They were not just simple, they were just dumb. Very dumb. One could say they were interactive, I suppose, but certainly not of any educational value.
When my kids were about 18 months and 3, I asked a group for suggestions. One of them was "Dinosaur Train," and thankfully, it was on Netflix! Here, we only have that and Amazon Prime's video watch.
Apparently, this show has been around for several years now, but I had never heard of it until I asked for suggestions. It is a Jim Henson show that is aired on PBS. Not only is it on Netflix, but there are even more episodes on Amazon Prime! You can get some episodes on DVD, too.
The premise is pretty simple, but actually great, especially for homeschoolers and unschoolers. There is a happy family of pteranodons- a mom, dad, two girls, and a boy- who (inexplicably, somewhat) have a tyrannosaurus rex boy in the family. We do know he was adopted, and they do bring up that fact several times throughout the series, but the exact details are unknown. The theme song just shows that the three pteranodons hatched, they noticed a fourth egg, and there he was. He was immediately considered family.
The tyrannosaurus, named Buddy, has a big passion for learning about other dinosaurs. In fact, each child has an interest in different things. One likes collecting shiny things (probably because she is shiny and named Shiny). One, Tiny, often joins Buddy on his adventures and shares a desire to learn about other dinosaurs, but she also has a deep appreciation for nature, particularly flowers. The third pteranodon, Don, tends to follow along with what everyone else is doing (although he does love collecting rocks and digging holes). Neither child goes to a formal school of any sort, but they do go on trips frequently with their parents when they have a question they want answered. These trips are typically on the Dinosaur Train, which apparently has the ability to travel through time tunnels in order to go back and forward through prehistoric time and meet different species of dinosaurs. The train is ran by a friendly conductor who is always more than happy to help the family learn new things.
Basically, these kids are unschooled.
When they are not going on adventures on the Dinosaur Train, they are often at home exploring around their nest. As they say, they, "Get out, get outside, get into nature." They have built hurricane shelter, fished for their own food, grown their own garden, and much more. When they are going out, they make friends with any species they can find (even one whose main food was pteranodons) and of any age. Usually, they are of child age (judging by their voices), but many times, the species they meet are adults. The children are always with a trusted adult, either a parent, or the conductor. The kids then compare their features to whoever they are meeting and often play guessing games to guess what sort of dinosaur they are. They discuss where they live, which era they are from, what they eat, and other facts. They also say the full name of the species- no simplifying it. They flat out say, "We eat these guys, but we won't eat you guys because we are friends now." They keep it real without letting it get scary.
In addition, the show has segments with Dr. Scott the Paleontologist. He gives a brief and more realistic summary of the lesson the show is teaching, such as what their fossils looked like and where they lived. He, too, encourages going outside to make discoveries of your own.
Now, real quick, I want to take a moment and discuss Don.
Very quickly, I noticed something about him, and I am not the only one who has noticed this, according to a quick Google search.
I suspect Don to have mild Asperger's. He is very quirky. He has obsessions with very random things, like the aforementioned desire to just dig holes. He likes to collect things, and has quirky little sayings and happy sounds. He can be socially awkward, and he is often a bit slow catching onto things. At the end of the day, he has learned just as much as the other children, and never (from the episodes I have seen) have they actually directly said that he has any sort of mental disability. They have certainly shown that everyone is aware he is a bit different, but still treat him with just as much respect and patience as everyone else.
So, as far as social subjects go, we have:
•The main character being an adopted, possibly abandoned, child, and while he cannot do things the pteranodons do, like fly, they still treat him with full love and accommodate his needs.
•A possibly Asperger's (or some other special needs) child.
•Making friends with people of all ages and types, and staying with trusted adults in the process.
Other topics covered include:
•Overcoming and expressing fears
•Taking initiative to teach yourself
•Helping others in need
•Having respect for nature
•How to survive natural disasters
•Setting time for yourself to calm down and find a happy place
•Embracing and celebrating differences, but also acknowledging the bonds between those with similar issues, traits, interests, and needs.
Overall, the kids are very happy, well-mannered, and intelligent. They do have the occasional sibling squall, but it's always worked out without major issue. The parents are always very supportive of their kids and take excellent care of them. There are plenty of songs for kids to learn from and sing along to (my little boy loves babble-singing with them). It's a bright, sweet, and fantastic show for any young child eager to learn about dinosaurs. It's honestly I show I feel perfectly fine letting my kids watch this on days I have more work than usual (I don't like using TV as a babysitter, but everyone has those days). Adoption and *possible* special needs does not get in the way of their bonding or love for each other. It's just a good, clean, and educational show on multiple levels, and I would recommend this to anyone.
I know, this show has been around since about 2009 or so, but I had no idea of its existence until I had two kids. Hopefully, this is something that will help other parents out there who may need guidance, too!
This show is really meant for younger kids, about ages 2 to maybe 8 or so. Kids can still learn from it at later ages (Heck, I learn from it), but the feel may be too babyish after that age. Because of this, I would not recommend any full on reports or anything to coincide with the show. Alternate options are:
•Draw a scene of dinosaurs with a theme: Mesozoic ones, ones that lived in the water, carnivores, etc. Maybe even write a story about them, build some of clay, or use any other art form they like.
•Write a song! The show has songs in every episode. If you kid loves to sing, help them write a song or poem about dinosaurs.
•Share projects that the Pteranodons do. Build a garden, look for shells, collect rocks, and more.
•Purchase fossils (you can get excavation kits for kids and even bags of fossils on Amazon). Scatter them around the yard and let them dig them up! If you really want to get creative, lay fossils of trilobites by the pool, leaf and bug fossils by the trees or bushes, and the rest in other coordinating places. It all depends on what fossils you have.
•Do crafts with fossils. Match up the fossils, learn what they are, and make magnets, picture frames, stamps, maybe even jewelry with them.
So, that is my completely honest and unbiased opinion. I'm going to look for "Dinosaur Train" birthday party supplies for my soon tomorrow.
Here are some examples of products used for homeschool paleontology. Please note that I have not used these items before and cannot give an accurate description of them.
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