We’ve all got different tolerance levels for the boob tube, especially when it comes to the viewing habits of our pre-schoolers. Some parents take a laissez-faire approach (if it’s animated, it must be kid-friendly, right?), some impose restrictions on content or duration or both (certain channels are okay for certain periods of time), and some would be just as happy to get rid of the TV altogether (I’m in this camp by the end of the weekend). But generally speaking, most parents prefer educational programming, particularly when it comes from a tried-and-true source like PBS.

Word World is the latest PBS show to hit the airwaves - debuting last Monday - and our parent bloggers (and their pre-schoolers) found it to be engaging and entertaining. While it’s not going to create voracious readers overnight, getting kids excited about letters and the words that they can form is certainly a good first step.

The parents raved about the concept:

• “I cannot say enough good things about the ingenious idea of using the actual words to make the pictures. Hooray for the person who thought of that!”
• “…some of the best voice acting to come along in a PBS show in quite some time.”
• “It’s a clever show with smart animation and characters my daughter seems to really enjoy.”
• “The animals in this show help each other and model good friendship behavior.”
• “The colors are bright, the dialogue is happy, and the stories are captivating enough for a mom to enjoy as well.”

And the kids truly enjoyed the show:

• “Yes, this is an educational DVD, but there are no moments when it gets preachy or boring - my kids were constantly entertained.”
• “[My daughter] is barely four but seems mad at the world that she is not able to read yet, let alone write. To my delight, this show has been something that has actually helped her to get a few spelling words under her belt. Empowerment like that for a frustrated preschooler is worth its weight in gold.”
• “For my son, it turned into a wonderful game of trying to sound out or figure out words he didn’t already know by looking at the picture clue…When a cloud of D-U-S-T rolls in, at first he notices that it is dust, and then he says each letter and realizes that it spells the word dust.”
• “My five year old was pleased to recognize many of the letters and seeing them put together in the show encouraged her to test out writing a few words. My three year old is just starting to work on her letter recognition skills and is pleased to flaunt her new found letter knowledge around her big sister.”

Granted, not all the kids grasped the concept in the same way - neither those who can already read and spell a bit nor those who are just beginning to understand the concept of letters. One blogger noted: “I honestly have to wonder about the basic premise. The letters-as-things concept sailed way over my 2-year-old’s head (to be fair, the show is designed for 3- to 5-year-olds). And while my 5-year-old knows her letters and can read and spell a bit, I think it was hard for her to make out the bubbly, morphed characters used in the art.” Another blogger echoed this concern: “Truthfully, some of the shapes are rather twisty, fluffy, or otherwise a bit tricky to make out the letters once they become the actual object, so it is useful that the letters of new words are shown clearly first (and are articulated letter by letter.)”

A blogger whose daughter is on the younger side of the target age range agreed: “Each piece had one or maybe two words it actually spelled, and after watching it twice [my daughter] was able to say which word they were spelling, which was pretty cool but not as cool as it would be if there were several words spelled during each show.” This blogger (or rather, her sister - who watched the DVD with her nephew, also on the younger end of the age range) summed it up especially well: “The language-based concept is intriguing and well executed, the animals are cute, and the pacing is far preferable to the deathly slow Thomas train show, but the writing is a bit sophisticated for its audience.” She was impressed by the clever concept, but her nephew “cared little for the letters but was intrigued by the walking, talking animals.”

But really, that’s okay. One mother pointed out that “Different aged kids will get different things out of this show, which is perfect…The older kids can recognize mountain and realize that those trees aren’t just making random pattern; they spell forest. The younger kids can learn the easier words, making the connection between the WordFriend or WordThing and the noun those letters represent.” Another mused, “I wonder if it’s just a bit much - if we’re inundating our three year olds (the bottom target age for this show) with way too much educational information…the classes and the preschools with application processes longer than college.”

There’s no reason why kids can’t absorb the lessons along with some fun: “Even if kids can’t read yet, it is slowly sinking into their brain how to spell things.” “Because spelling is where it’s at and I’ll take it over River, Backpack, Map! or however that non-educational type formatting goes any day of the week.”

Word.

Check out Word World on your local PBS station!