Recently, a friend told me about a new DVD series called Dinosaur Train by PBS. It’s a cute series that teaches children about dinosaurs and trains and a winning combination for Gavin who’s into trains and dinosaurs!
Here’s a brief description about the series:
Dinosaur Train embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains. The series encourages basic scientific thinking skills as the audience learns about life science, natural history and paleontology. Each of the 40 half-hour episodes features Buddy, an adorable preschool age Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his adoptive Pteranodon family as they board the Dinosaur Train and embark on whimsical voyages through prehistoric jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans. The episodes include two 11-minute animated stories, along with brief live action segments hosted by renowned paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson, that unearth basic concepts in life science, natural history and paleontology.
And a short clip from Youtube:
With all PBS programs, there are Dinosaur Train games for the kids and information and activities for parents to implement.
What do we think? Daddy is critical of the inconsistent facts. For instance, T-Rex would have eaten the Pteranodons for lunch rather than having lunch with them. And of course, dinosaurs don’t ride trains since trains didn’t even exist back then but hey, it’s a series for kids. Perhaps that is the downside of children’s programs.
I have been trying to help Gavin consolidate the differences between what he sees on TV and what he observes in real life. After watching the movie Rio, he has been asking me why Blu and Jewel and all the other birds on Rio can talk but the ones we see cannot. Is this akin to the practice of letting children believe in the tooth fairy and santa claus? Well, I’ve been careful to right that belief but in the meantime, if it feeds his desire to learn more, I’ll close my eyes on the little inconsistencies and address them separately.
What does Gavin think? He loves it. He likes it even better than Thomas and Friends! I think that says it all…
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