TV Show Review: Word World

WordWorld, a new animated show aiming to teach pre-literacy skills to preschoolers, is premiering on PBS September 3. I was sent a review copy, and watched it with my kids. I'll tell you what I thought of it, and also how it went over with my 5-year-old and my 2-year-old.

(Disclaimer: I just found out a couple of days ago that a friend of mine has started doing some freelance work for WordWorld, but she wasn't there when I watched it or when I wrote the review initially. It hasn't changed my opinion of the show at all.)

WordWorld was created to get preschoolers used to the idea that letters form words. I think it definitely does a good job of that. All the objects in the world they've created are built out of letters. So the body of the sheep is made of the letters SHEEP, the bridge is formed out of the letters BRIDGE, etc. Each episode I watched was 11 minutes long, with a cute storyline that had some repetition, some surprise and a lot of talking about letters and showing letters jumping apart and back together again to form words.

The CGI is nice quality, the colors are bright, and the voices are expressive.

My 2-year-old loved it. He was entranced, and sat through the 11 minute episodes happily. He's asked for WordWorld several times (the episode about the escaped letter O is his favorite of the two), and I know he'll want to watch it when it's on PBS. He had a pretty good grasp of the concept that letters make words before he saw the show, because we read a ton, and he sees his brother writing, and we watch Wheel of Fortune some nights. But I think this is a nice supplement for him that reinforces the prereading skills he's developing right now.

My 5-year-old thought it was cool, but got bored with each episode at about minute 5 or so. It's really geared to younger kids in terms of storyline and character, so while he thought the objects-built-out-of-letters concept was cool, and liked the animation, it lost him at a certain point. Bear in mind, though, that he's been reading fluently for several months, so a kid who was working on letters and sounds might be more into it even at the age of 5. He was totally willing to let his brother watch it when the little one requested it, though, and took the DVD remote and clicked to the "runaway O" episode for him.

I thought the concept was great and the production was excellent, but I didn't want to sit there and watch it. Maybe it's because it's my second child, but I just don't have the patience with the baby shows anymore. I'll watch Curious George and Jakers, but I think I'd use WordWorld as a way to keep the 2-year-old occupied while I was doing something else. If I'm going to spend time on the couch with letters that involve the TV instead of actual books, I'd rather spend it with the Learning About Letters DVD (Elmo-free) or with Wheel! of! Fortune!

So my quick and dirty on WordWorld:

Definitely yes for 2-4-year olds, no for older kids or kids who are already reading, and bring your knitting if you're going to watch with your toddler.

Comments

[vickie]

Thanks for the review and detail, Moxie. Am looking forward to this show. I hope it doesn't show during naptime.

[Tava]

Oh, my 2-yo (El P's age) will looove this. I hope our local station carries it. Thanks for the tip.

[joanie]

I've been hearing some terrific things about this show. Thanks for the info.

As a mom whose 2 year old has never watched tv at our home, (a few times here and there while away), I'm wondering how you feel about this being a worthwhile show? That is, my son has a terrific vocab is quite interested in books - we read at least half a dozen in the morning and at night but he doesn't seem to "get" yet that words are made up of individual letters. I just thought that was an age/devel "appropriate" but do you think this show is worth showing to sort of help him along on the path to literacy? My goal with him has always been no tv until at least age 2 but with him it has been so easy so why not continue the no tv thing. (Our one tv is in a room he never goes into; the door is always closed when he is awake.) I guess I'm really just thinking while I type here because it seems to be, if I were to give advice to another in this situation, I would say to continue to no tv thing because even if this show is terrific, my son will be too intrigued by this new concept of tv!in!the!house! that he wouldn't learn the lessons. Thoughts?

[Isabel]

Thanks for the review, Moxie!

Joanie, I hear you... I have twin 17-month olds who haven't seen a t.v. in their short lives and I wouldn't show this program to them, or any other... yet. NO JUDGMENT AT ALL for others who let their kids watch. There are a whole host of reasons to let kids watch t.v. including the parent's sanity for 15 min, time to make dinner without endangering your kids, and so on. Here's my take: for kids who are already watching t.v., and for those over 2 years old, Word World is probably better stuff than most out there. But kids learn to read reasonably easily when they're ready to do so. They don't need major prepping from early, early on. Exposing them to books, enjoying reading with them, etc. should all be enough for kids to be "ready" to read when they are formally taught. And no study has shown any significant LONG TERM benefits, intellectually or otherwise, from being able to read earlier than your peers.

I'm also considering the recently published studies that have shown no intellectual benefits for children exposed to "learning" t.v. programs like Baby Einstein. In fact, many of you may already be familiar with the recent study that showed that for kids between 12-18 months (or so), for every hour more that children watched Baby Einstein, they produced or "had" 6-8 words less than children not exposed to the DVDs. This is relevant only for kids younger than what Moxie has been talking about. Now, again, in my opinion, this should be balanced by the fact that for some parents, in some circumstances, the few blessed minutes these programs allow for the parent to bathe, make dinner, and so on are worth their weight in gold. As long as we don't fool ourselves in believing that Baby Einstein will BENEFIT rather than ENTERTAIN our kids under 2, it's all fine.

[Moxie]

Joanie, if your child hasn't seen TV yet, don't start just to watch WordWorld. It sounds like your kid is at a totally normal stage with reading, and he can just be one of the billions of people who've learned to read without benefit of the boob tube.

Honestly, if you read a lot of books anyway, there's nothing WordWorld is going to get into that your kid's not getting already. So you might as well just jump straight to the Food Network so he can learn the proper way to peel a clove of garlic and sweat onions.

Clearly my kids watch TV, and the younger one definitely watches more than I wish he did, just by virtue of the fact that he's the second one and his brother watches a few shows. But if our TV broke, I don't think I'd replace it.

[Tiffany]

I actually found this discussion board by accident. It just so happened that my son, who is 16 months old, watches Word World at his babysitter's house in the mornings. It happened to be on when I was dropping him off one morning. I thought it was great!! After teaching Kindergarten for eight years, and presently working as a Reading Coach, I have seen MANY children struggle with the reading process.

I have hundreds of "learning" videos within my library and have put on a Brainy Baby or Baby Einstein video or two for my son yet, not to have peace but to expose him to certain concepts. Though he's not a big TV watcher, when the videos are on I sit and watch WITH him, pointing out certain things. That is, when he does take a minute to stop what he's doing to pay attention to it. We also paint with Q-tips (for fine motor/pincer grasp development) and play hockey (for gross motor development). Personally, I don't think it's about whether or not the child watches television but HOW and HOW MUCH. Not to mention what else they are exposed to.

I'm not sure if programs such as Word World, Brainy Baby, Baby Einstein, etc. give children an edge; The jury's still out on that one. However, every parent utimately wants their child(ren) to succeed and we do our best to make that happen. So whether your child(ren) NEVER watch TV or they watch it EVERY chance they get, at the end of the day the you are the ONLY one that has to make peace with the decisions you make for your child(ren). As mothers we instinctively have an intuition that drives our course of action. Listen to your gut and follow your heart. Be blessed.

[pauline woloshyn]

I am trying to find tapes of all episodes for my grandchild. He is 26 months old. I have seen only one and he loved it. Please help me find all the episodes.

A very grateful grandmother.

Tks Pauline

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