Sid the Science Kid: The Dirt on Dirt

My youngest kid is probably my dirtiest. After two boys and an older sister, the "baby" girl seems to be the one with the most enthusiasm for being outside.

The episode "The Dirt on Dirt" summarized:

In an Earth Day-themed episode, Sid wants to know what makies dirt so dirty. At school, Sid and his friends discover that dirt is really important to the Earth because it helps things grow, and it's also filled with tiny rocks, pieces of leaves, and even living things like bugs and worms!

I had Emersyn watch the Sid the Science Kid episode first. Then Sammie watched with her. Then Zach watched it with them when they watched it again a 3rd time.

The kids have all planted seeds in dirt and grown things during the spring during projects at school starting from when they were preschoolers. We live in Iowa. We know a lot of about dirt here since we're an agricultural state, so my kids may by osmosis know slightly more information than a kid who doesn't live in an area heavy with farming.

But in the usual PBS programming style, the show does a nice job feeding a kid's curiosity and speaking to them in their language but also not dumbing it down. The show is geared for 3-6 year olds (which fit with my viewers, my girls who are 5 & 6 quite enjoyed it but my 10-year old was outside the target audience) and I think it does well with the information for that demographic.

I particularly liked the song Sid sings in the car about how great his mom is. Obviously.

DO NOT MISS this episode of Sid the Science Kid, it airs tomorrow April 22 on PBS KIDS. Check your local listings to find out when it's going to be on in your area.

School House Rock! Earth & Handy Manny: Go Green Edition

Earth Day is coming up. I never heard anything about Earth Day until I was in high school despite it being started back in 1970. Then we got a day out of classes and spent time cleaning up trash and other earth-friendly activities, such as they were in the late 80s.

Certainly though, when I was a kid in the 70s, seeing litter in ditches was commonplace. I guess until somebody decided that to teach people to stop doing it, you'd get a ticket for littering. A penalty for being stupid with the planet.

Litter is so visual, though, it's an easy reminder about being nicer to Mother Earth. However, there are other ways that, as our society is becoming more environmentally conscious, we can do.

I've started thinking about the ways in our family life we can change. I've implemented things that are more "green" but also, more conservationist and save me money.

The Disney DVDs School House Rock! Earth and Handy Manny: Manny's Green Team have these themes for the kiddie set.
My kids get a lot of information at school about being good to the planet. And no, I really don't think it's some kind of left-wing, Al Gore, tree hugger conspiracy that they discuss it at school, but it does comes up. Even without having the kids watch the DVDs, they could already tell me a lot of things to do that are good for the Earth.


I got my kids the School House Rock DVD with all the songs from when I was a kid many moons ago. They've already become fans so I figured they'd like the Earth one too. The thing I like is that there are some old cartoons I remember but they've given them all the "old" vibe like the ones I watched as a kid.

The Handy Manny DVD is obviously, newer content. Handy Manny is something that's just been around here with my girls watching stuff (which is too bad, I think my boys would have liked it when they were small) but the show itself already has a "problem solving" vibe anyway where people work together...well, I guess really just Manny and the tools do. So an Earth Day theme for episodes isn't really outside the norm for Handy Manny. My younger son, who is almost 11, actually sat down with his little sisters to watch it and was enjoying it too. I didn't find that there's a suggested age for watching Handy Manny, but if that tells you anything, he liked it too.

So, for some kiddie entertainment for Earth Day, they just might learn a new thing or two from these Disney DVDs. These just came out, so should be pretty easy to find for your kids.