Rubbadubbers (Sprout)

Rub-a-dub-dub, it’s a tub full of fun for preschoolers as a group of bath toys come to life in RUBBADUBBERS. This British series is set in a bathroom, where bathtime pals Tubb the frog, Terrance the croc-shaped bubble-bath bottle, Sploshy the starfish sponge, and the rest of the gang pass the time until their house's pint-sized humans (who are sometimes overheard but never seen) need a dip. Playtime usually leads to off-the-wall ideas and oversized dreams, which then transport one of the friends to another world -- where they get to act out their wish before returning to the tub with a better sense of the wish's real-life implications.

There’s nothing on the surface that's at all iffy about this high-spirited series, and it’s a sure bet that imaginative preschoolers will enjoy the colorful characters and their interplay. But in an age when parents have come to expect a little more from their kids’ entertainment, Rubbadubbers falls slightly short, lacking obviously positive messages that really stand out.

The one thing kids will take away from the show is a sense of consequence, which is illustrated in each story as a character learns how his or her dreams would affect the world as he or she knows it. With some encouragement, preschoolers might learn to apply this kind of sequential analyses to their own musings, helping them predict the outcome of choices they face or ideas they have.