PBS Kids – Super Why & Martha Speaks – DVD Reviews

PBS Kids is a very popular channel with my four year old daughter.  It’s the one channel she is constantly watching. Yes, I know watching more than 2 hours of television is bad for a kid her age but if it’s PBS, who cares, right? She’s learning, having fun and singing along.  A lot of the times I find myself watching it along with her, especially the Super Why episodes.  Never heard of Super Why? Well, it’s an animated series designed to help kids ages 3 to 6 gain the critical skills that they need to learn the alphabet, word families, spelling, comprehension and vocabulary so that they can become good readers in the future.

You can’t go wrong when this is their motto: Reading is power and Super Why helps kids learn the fundamentals of reading through interactive story book adventures.

We recently had the chance to preview two DVD’s before their release date. My kids love when we get to see DVD’s before they are released to the public. Who am I kidding? So do I!

My daughter and I really enjoyed both titles.  I can tell you that we have watched each DVD about 6 times in a short amount of time – That is how much we love PBS kids.  The first one we reviewed was  Super Why: Peter Rabbit and Other Fairytale Adventures (available TODAY!).  It consists of 4 reading adventures.

1. Peter Rabbit – Little Red Riding Hood wants to find the perfect present for Grandma, but she’s stumped! Super Why and his friends visit Peter Rabbit and find Peter, a mischievous bunny who’s on the hunt for some delicious fresh vegetables for his Mama.  The superheroes must help Peter before his big appetite lands him in hot water.
2. Tom Thumb – Pig is ready for an adventure, but his brother tell him he’s too young. The superheroes jump into Tom Thumb, who knows how it feels to be little.  He’s about to go on his own adventure, and lucky for him Super Why and his friends are there to help.
3. Goldilocks & The Three Bears – Whyatt accidentally messes up jack’s room and is in BIG trouble.  The superheroes pay a storybook visit to Goldilocks & The Three Bears and find Goldilocks surrounded by three broken chairs, three bowls of porridge and three times the mess.  How will they solve this problem before the bears get home?
4. Rapunzel – Princess Pea’s kitten is stuck in a tree.  Super Why and his friends jump into the Rapunzel book and meet Rapunzel, who is also stranded high up in her tower.  When climbing Rapunzel’s hair proves to be a hair-raising idea, the Prince and the superheroes work together to come up with a brand-new rescue plan.
5. ***The DVD also includes special features such as interactive games, printable activities & coloring pages and resources for the parents.

The next DVD that we reviewed was Martha Speaks: Martha Says It With Flowers (available March 9th).  Martha Speaks is an animated series on PBS.  She is a dog who loves to talk and her main goal is to teach kids new words.

The DVD consists of 8 short stories and has special features for parents and coloring pages for kids.

The stories are:

1. Raiders of the Lost Art – TD passes in the wrong drawing in art class.
2. Martha Says it with Flowers – Martha decides to do something really special for grandma’s birthday.
3. Martha gets Spooked – Someone, or some ghost, is fixing up the haunted house.
4. Martha Changes her Luck – Martha walks under a ladder – and breaks a mirror – so now she thinks she’s jinxed.
5. There Goes the Neighborhood – Martha can’t believe that Helen and Alice are making a fuss about a kitten.
6. Ice Scream – Alice is shocked to discover that Truman has never actually tried ice cream.
7. Martha Sings – Martha wakes up singing and she can’t stop.
8. TD Makes the Band – TD recruits the gang to join his band and then sets out to write a hit song…about Belgium?

Each DVD has a running time of 100 minutes.

Full Disclosure: I received both DVD’s for reviewing purposes from Click Communications. I did not receive any monetary compensation. All opinions are mine and were not affected by the company.