Learning with TV Shows- “Wild Kratts” Zebra

Hi!

It was a while since Santoshi and I watched the Wild Kratts episode on zebras.  As usual, at the end of the episode, we had a discussion on what she had understood. Though it was on zebra, it had included a facts on giraffes.

A week or so later, Santoshi, my husband and I went to Nandos to enjoy their vegetarian options and Santoshi got a kids menu which was printed as part of the colouring sheet (giraffe and monkey in a jungle background).  She quickly told us what she wanted to eat and focussed on colouring while my husband and I were trying to figure of what to order.

She announced that she was going to colour the giraffe with a brown crayon and  that she would use blue crayon for the tongue because, “I know giraffes have blue tongues”, with a proud grin! I was taken aback! Then, I probed her, “What else do you know about giraffes?”

She thought for a few seconds and said, “They have long necks, they eat leaves from cacia (acacia) tree and those trees have thorns”.  We were delighted!  Thanks Wild Kratts, for making learning into a fun experience 🙂

 

Learning with ‘Peg + Cat’

While browsing through the list of recommendations in Netflix, Peg + Cat caught my eye.  I realised that the program had cute animation and was linked with maths which seemed to be the perfect show for Santoshi.

The first episode was about counting  chickens, though there were a lot more subtle things that the episode hinted at.  Another thing that they got us thinking was how they matched the number of  pieces of pie to the number of people/ creatures they were and how they solved the issue with an extra piece of pie.  Then, they proceeded to match the size of the piece of pie to how big/ small they were.  That was the first round of discussion that we had.  Though this was not a very challenging concept for Santoshi to grasp, it definitely made her watch the episode without complaining.

When the chicken are running all over the farm, an important message was crystal clear – not to leave the door (of the chicken coop) open.  It was followed by counting (chickens) from one to ten and that one hundred was way more than ten. The first part of the episode ends with getting all the chickens into the coop with the help of wheelbarrows and a baby carrier (again matched to the size of the person pushing it) before the farmer comes in.

The next part was counting chickens in tens in a different planet.  This was particularly helpful as it helped us revise one of the concepts taught in kindergarten (counting in fives and tens up to one hundred).  Bonus learning for Santoshi was ‘safe’ with a passcode to open it.

That’s so much of Peg + Cat that we have explored so far.  If we watch more episodes of Peg + Cat from which we learn something, I will post here.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Learning with Wild Kratts – Fireflies

My daughter Santoshi was learning insects at school as the theme of the month and since we had read about butterflies and caterpillar at school and at home, I thought firefly would be interesting for her.

This episode showed us how male fireflies flash/ blink to get the attention of the female fireflies.  Using their fascinating storyline, the Wild Kratts explained on how they use the flashing pattern to save the fireflies.

After watching the episode, Santoshi and I had our discussion on what happened and what she had learnt.  Once she got to know that the flashing pattern of the ‘girl’ fireflies was used to lure the ‘boy’ fireflies out of the trap, she asked me, “oh, if they wanted to get to the girl firefly, they will use the boy firefly’s flashing pattern?”  I was delighted to know that the episode helped her understand fireflies with little help here and there.

Apart from the flashing pattern, Santoshi also learnt that the fireflies produce cold light (unlike the light bulbs or fire which give light and heat/ warmth) and that the larva of the fireflies is called glowworm.

It was quite an enlightening experience watching Wild Kratts tell us about the fireflies.

Thanks Wild Kratts!

Learning with “Wild Kratts” – Honey Badger and Honeyguide

Wild Kratts was one of my favourite shows while we were in San Francisco.  It was a fun way of learning about animals.  After getting back to India, though the show was available in Discovery Kids, we never watched it.  Currently, with Netflix subscription, I am back to watching Wild Kratts, but with a different purpose altogether, thanks to my husband.  My 5 year old daughter Santoshi and I watch one or two episodes in the afternoon and we discuss about what we learnt from that episode.

The first episode that we saw together was about honey badger and honey guide.  We watched the episode and quietly let Santoshi assimilate whatever she could.

Then, we started the discussion (nothing formal). I asked her to explain what she understood and she was terrified.  Thankfully, my husband intervened and asked very pointed and specific questions.  Then, she opened up and told us what she had understood.  At that point, I realised that I should not do the mistake that I did while trying to teach numbers to her.  I learnt that it was unrealistic to get her to understand everything, leave alone explain her understanding.

Back to the episode, I was happy that we chose this episode as our first because it started with honeybees, how they collect honey, etc. which Santoshi was aware of.  The episode taught us these also, apart from the honeybees:

• The honey badger – it got Santoshi excited because it looks akin to a skunk with a similar defence mechanism when the honeybees are about to sting it.  Now that we talked about honeybees stinging, we strayed away to how honey is collected and how we can protect ourselves from getting stung by the honeybees.
• The honey guide – the bird worked with the honey badger to find honey and how the honey badger shared some honey with the bird.

We talked about team work, how the honeyguide and the honey badger teamed up and worked to get honey, etc.  At the end of it, I  guess Santoshi was thrilled that she learnt something new and that she could draw parallels from what she already knew.

Wild Kratts has given us not only a good platform to learning and discussing about animals, but also a time to bond with each other.

The next episode that we watched together was about fireflies.