A lot of parents who are millennials and older will remember great Pixar movies like Cars and Toy Story. While those are safe for kids, they are also too stimulating and too long. Up until age 5–8, children usually have short attention spans, which is why short-form content works better for them. Short episodes are easier for them to absorb and grow with.
A good example is the creator of Alphablocks, which has shows on the BBC and YouTube. The creators of Alphablocks also made Numberblocks, Wonderblocks, and Colorblocks. Each episode is about 5 minutes long, which is perfect for toddlers, infants, and even young learners who are about to start school.
Alphablocks has shorts that teach not only the basics of the alphabet and phonics, but also how to read. Starting with just letter sounds, it evolves into sentences, songs, and even reading short stories. Each letter often speaks in words that start with its own letter, making it easier for children to learn letters and word association. The colors and backgrounds are simple, creating a gentle, engaging visual style without overstimulating young viewers. The show also covers rhymes, homophones, and other foundational phonics concepts, including compound words and similar-sounding letters like K and C. I think your little learners will love it!
Numberblocks teaches the basics of counting before moving into foundational math, slowly guiding your little learners into more advanced concepts. They learn to count to 100, explore the first 10 times tables, and even touch on multiplication and division—all while visiting places like an island of fractions! The Numberblocks go on all sorts of adventures, including climbing a mountain and meeting a creature known as Tum, who holds blocks in his belly so kids can guess the missing number. They also learn about telling time and numerical order while enjoying colorful adventures. Each number has a wonderfully unique personality, and no two episodes are the same. These episodes can get a bit longer than Alphablocks, but they are never too long for young viewers.
Wonderblocks follows the adventures of Go and Stop as they learn about sequence, patterns, process order, and critical thinking. They feature plenty of fun friends like Secret Agent Chicken, Cow, Toad, and Arty the Artist. These shows teach kids how to break down big problems into simple steps that make it easy for little learners to follow along.
Colorblocks is, of course, all about colors—and what wonderful colors they are! Starting with the primary colors, the characters color the world around them while teaching kids about everyday objects associated with each color. They also cover color mixing, as well as light and dark shades. Every color block has its own personality, even if it's just a light or dark variant of another color. So come join Blue on his boat, hang out with Sky Blue in his plane, or explore with Deep Blue in his submarine; the Colorblocks are waiting for you!
Each of these series features plenty of catchy songs to learn and play along with, inviting our little learners to become active adventurers. Once your child learns these core concepts, you can apply them to everyday routines and tasks at home. If they get frustrated, Stop has the perfect song to help them pause. If they need encouragement walking up the stairs, counting along makes it fun. You have so many opportunities to learn together with these friends!
#TVshows #EarlyLearning #EducationalShows #Numberblocks #Alphablocks #Colorblocks #Wonderblocks
