Are you a mom wondering if television benefits your preschooler at all? Well, if you choose just the right television show, you might find your child will learn a thing or two. For starters, television for preschoolers should be both educational and fun. For four years, this mom has seen every show Nick Jr. and Sprout has to offer young children. Of them all, Super WHY seems to offer preschoolers more in regards to education. Preschoolers definitely have a lot to learn from Super WHY.
The show is about four Super Readers who are all about saving the day with their various powers. Alpha Pig has alphabet power. Wonder Red has word power. Princess Presto has spelling power. Super Why has the power to read. These four super heroes focus on the reading fundamentals that have been identified by the National Reading Panel. According to pbs.org, these skills include: letter identification, word decoding, phonemic awareness, word encoding, and phonics and reading comprehension.
The show uses popular story books, like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs, to solve everyday childhood problems. The Super Readers fly into the book to help solve the problem with the alphabet, rhyming, and reading words. The Super Readers ask your preschooler to interact the entire way through, and you will see they will be more than happy to help save the day!
No way is television a substitute for parenting, but this show is great practice for the skills parents are already teaching their children. When my three-year-old started watching this show, he could barely recite his ABC’s. Three months after watching it, and practicing with Mommy and Daddy what we saw, he could say them, recognize them, write them, and he could read about 20 words. All of a sudden, he was more interested in books and writing than his cars and blocks. There is just something about this show that kept him engaged and wanting to learn more. The repetition from one episode to the next is really useful for kids in early learning stages. They know what to expect and get very excited by the level of interaction the show asks for. This mom has nothing but good things to say about Super WHY! It comes highly recommended to any parents whose children are struggling in these learning areas. It teaches your children more than SpongeBob ever could!
Source: http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html