Let me start by saying I'm not a prude, nor some high and mighty know-it-all. Just a concerned parent. Backyardigans show has some good merits regarding friends and imagination play. They reinforce teamwork and helping one another...BUT, there is so much disrespectful talk and negative behavior that we are starting to cut our kids off from watching the program anymore. I have to screen shows before letting them watch. A song called "I Quit" teaches bad attitudes and my kids use it regularly during tantrums, and the Volcano Sisters are bossy and mean - also a common theme in their playtimes. There seems to be a lot of mean type of play in the show that my kids admit is usually centered around Uniqua. Admittedly it is not present in all episodes, but enough that it concerns me as a parent of young kids.
After a recent to Canada I'm reminded why good kids programming is so important to the positive development of children's young and impressionable minds. My children loved Treehouse and all the interactive shows, and how all the characters worked together to help learn and reinforce positive behavior. I would happily let my kids watch this without concern. Kids story lines (especially in American programming) has become more sophisticated than their minds can comprehend and tend to allow poor attitudes and "mean-kid" ideas be introduced because the character "sees the light" their actions in the end. Negative behavior has still been taught and reinforced by these cartoon role-models instead of introducing positive actions to reinforce working together in the first place. It seems that commercialized dribble wins out down here instead of a more conventional positive means of teaching.
Maybe this is why we have all forgotten how to help and take care of each other, and why we thrive on programming like "Housewives of...", and "Jersey Shores", etc. as adults. Where have the days of Fraggal Rock, Mr. Dress Up, and the old Hercules cartoons gone? Just good old fashioned positive programming!
This is a cute, fun, and educational show. It really shows kids how to use their imagination. The music is decent too. I really like it and so do my kids. It is one of the better cartoons on these days.
We love The Backyardigans! These characters remind us that kids don't need an elaborate toy or play set in order to have a great time...in fact, they are probably much better off without them! Using nothing but their imaginations and (naturally) the backyard, the Backyardigans surf Tiki beach, travel the Nile, battle robots and swamp monsters, and much more. The songs have nice melodies and don't grate on adult ears. The variety of scenarios is likely to hold the most appeal for older kids. I think it could be an easy springboard for cultivating your child's more unique interests - a little one particularly fascinated by the pirate episode, for example, might have a great time learning about real life pirates or designing treasure maps. One caveat, the show can occasionally be scary for the under 4 crowd (though my 2 year old daughter doesn't seem to mind).
my youngest (2) loves the music, while my five year old still loves the music, characters and adventures the backyardigans get up to each episode. and as parents, this is one of the least annoying show out there... impressive music for a kids show, that will have you humming along with the songs too!
My kids love this show. We have every DVD and even my teenager is prone to picking one of these DVDs for her young siblings to watch over anything else. The characters are cute, imaginitive, and the music is good. My teenager makes fun of almost every preschool show on television, but admits to liking The Backyardigans. Notice that I keep mentioning DVDs; that's because Nick Jr has removed this show from their daily lineup. Big mistake. This is why we watch Disney Channel now.
I like the fact that the characters poke fun at stuff. It is mostly music. And, whaddya mean "older kids and adults are not likely to be as enthralled"? Me, my 16-year-old brother, my parents, and my little bro LOVE this show!!! (and the pink thing is NOT an alien. It is a Uniqua, a made-up species of animal. It's just like a spork weisel.)
This is a great show in a lot of ways. The music is great, themes are fine, et cetera. But it is a show. Shows do not teach kids how to use their imagination. That is a fallacy. Imagination and creativity are nurtured only by using creativity and imagination, and shows, toys that light up and make noise, et al only constrain the creative process.
obnoxious behavior and language you don't want your child imitating.
while my 3 1/2 year old likes this show, I have to screen them and there are only a few that I let her watch, due to there is almost always a "mean" character who treats the others badly as well as obnoxious language that my kid immediately uses, which results in more parenting battles for me. Despite the mean person always seeing the error of their ways - that part is lost on my child, the bad behavior is the only thing reinforced. The different music genres are the only redeeming quality. She also finds it scary at times.
My son loves it, but @ 5 years old he's starting to prefer more action-oriented fare, like The Transformers cartoon. Still, we love the songs and have all of the music on our ipod. The songs are really catchy. The stories are well-crafted and have lots of humor. There is a real intelligence at work here that you don't get in other shows. Overall, I think it's heads and shoulders above most kids TV out there.
Love it, love it, love it! I fell in love with this program before I became a mom. My young cousins watched it when I would babysit, then we would go outside and act out the episodes. It was the first program my daughter watched. Even my husband enjoys the show and will sit down and watch it. We love the music and dancing, even own a couple of the music CDs. I love that my daughter has been introduced to so many different musical genres. Every episode has a new imaginative adventure and a different style of music to go along with it. They are always playing a new role that is appealing to children; astronauts, pirates, aliens, pilots, castaways, ghosts, detectives, trash collectors, mailmen, etc. My three year old loves to pretend and sing along. We LOVE the Backyardigans.
My three year old loves the show but when he started having a fear of the ocean after an episode involving sharks and started using aggressive, sassy language used by the characters I've decided it's probably not appropriate for him anymore.
My son loves it and has since he was 2, and it doesn't torture us parents to watch it. My son loves music and the Backyardigans are always singing and dancing. It is not particularly educational, but it's great fun for my son.
My 3 and 6 year old boys love this show. One of the few that they will watch together and not fight about it. Most times when the music comes on the the 3yo will be on his feet dancing along. I like the exposure to different styles of music and dance. I think the characters are nice and I have never had a problem with any of the story lines. It definitely encourages imagination and pretend play, both things I think are very important part of growth and development. My boys have even acted out the show later on in the day--with their own take on it.
fun for the patient and music/dance-obsessed preschooler
The vast majority of pop-cultural references that pop up in these "kids'" imaginations fly right over my son's head. That's fine for segment-based shows like Sesame Street that invite adult interaction and have to keep those adults involved, but in this show, those details are needed to support the complex story-lines and consequently, the show just doesn't hold my son's interest for long, despite the clever musical themes and well-choreographed dance numbers. I suspect that by the time his attention span has grown long enough to sit through the elaborate plots, he'll consider himself too big to watch the cutesy little-kid characters.
The fact that the dance numbers are done by real people before getting mapped onto the animated characters makes it possible for a real kid to emulate them and actually learn some real dance skills in the process. Definitely the coolest thing about the show. Worth giving it a try on that basis, alone, if your kid's a mover and shaker in the literal sense.