Are Your Preschoolers Ready For Kindergarten? Don't Wait Til They Get There To Find Out!

Wow! Kindergarten sure isn't the same thing as it was when I was a kid!  The half day sessions that oriented children to going to school filled with snack time, nap time and play time mixed in with some time spent on learning letters and numbers are a thing of the past.  My 6 year old twins are in Kindergarten this year at a local public elementary school which is now a full day filled with learning about reading, doing math, and completing science projects combined with art, music, gym and Spanish classes.  If your child doesn't know their ABCs and 123s they are starting out behind the curve.  It is a good thing the day care and preschool programs our kids were enrolled in alerted us about how Kindergarten has changed and assisted our children in becoming prepared or we probably would have been caught off guard; but fortunately when the time came our family was all set to go.  Are your preschoolers ready for Kindergarten? Don't wait til they get there to find out!

Nickelodeon has an online quiz you can take to see where your child ranks in being ready for Kindergarten and provides a customized learning plan, educational games, interactive video and printable activities to help get preschoolers ready for school.  The learning plan provided to parents will help ensure their preschoolers have the appropriate development skills necessary to be successful in school and its interactive and skill building activities will help kids meet necessary milestones.

CLICK HERE to TAKE THE QUIZ

The preparedness quiz is part of the 2015 Nick Jr. Beyond the Backpack campaign which is geared to help parents and caregivers prepare preschoolers for academic success.  The campaign's spokesperson is Tia Mowry-Hardrict, from the television show Instant Mom, who alongside popular Nickelodeon characters Dora, Wally and Blaze will be appearing in a PSA series airing across Nickelodeon's TV and digital platforms.  Beyond the preparedness quiz and PSAs, Beyond the Backpack features an advisory committee comprised of leaders in children's education who are lending their expertise to the program, a dedicated website, bilingual (English/Spanish) educational materials, and a parent-targeted mobile program providing weekly tips and information.  Nick Jr's Beyond the Backpack focuses on five key areas deemed critical to educational achievement: family engagement, health and wellness, early literacy, social and emotional development and fundamental STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills.  If you would like to opt-in to receive a weekly text message with tips to make learning more fun for your preschooler, text BACKPACK to 91757.

Originally founded in 2010 as part of the 10th anniversary of the curriculum-driven Dora the Explorer, the 2015 Beyond the Backpack campaign has expanded to include a broad range of educational and socio-emotional topics using a variety of the Nickelodeon's programs and characters, including Wallykazam! (literacy), Team Umizommi (math), Bubble Guppies (socio-emotional development), Peter Rabbit (problem-solving), PAW Patrol (social skills), and Blaze and the Monster Machines (STEM).

Are your preschoolers ready for Kindergarten?!  That time in life arrives much sooner than many of us parents realize it so don't get caught unprepared.  For more information, visit www.beyondthebackpack.com

WALLYKAZAM! Nickelodeon has a "Big Goblin Problem"

An actor from one of my favorite televisions shows, Parks & Recreation, is guest starring on one of my children's favorite Nickelodeon shows this week, Wallykazam!  It's going to be a goblin of an episode when Ben Schwartz, voices Wally's Uncle Steve, a master dragon rider who goes on adventures and stops trouble, in a special hour-long special airing on Friday, February 6 at Noon titled "The Big Goblin Problem" The Wallykazam! television series is great for preschoolers and kindergarteners because of the fun and interesting way it incorporates literacy curriculum into its stories.  Phonics, letter and sound identification, rhyming, and vocabulary development and comprehension are all important educational topics highlighted in these shows.  Nickelodeon very kindly gave my twins the opportunity to have a sneak peek and watch "The Big Goblin Problem" before its public debut and the kids' review on the show is that it is "GREAT!!!"

In "The Big Goblin Problem," Wally's Uncle Steve and his dragon, Victoria, visit and bring magic bubbles that double what they pop on.  Bobgoblin finds the bubbles and doubles his favorite thing...himself!  Wally and Norville must save the day before the Bobgoblins cover the town in their favorite snack - strawberries and pickle pudding.

Wallykazam! follows the adventures of a troll named Wally and his pet dragon, Norville, who live in a forest with giants, goblins, orgres, sprites, and other mythical creatures.  Wally uses his magic stick to make words come to life on screen that playfully transform the world around him.  The half hour shows regularly air weekdays at 10:00 am (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

Our family appreciates Wallykazam! because its format ties into our children's sight word lessons at school.  Sight words are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so they can automatically recognize these words in print when first learning to read.  Sight words account for a large percentage of the words used in beginning children's reading materials which allow early readers to identify the majority of words in a text and concentrate on the meaning and comprehension versus spelling out every single word.  Because of its entertaining stories and educational benefits, Wallykazam! gets A GEEK DADDY nod of approval.

For more information about Wallykazam! visit nickjr.com/wallykazam

A Wave of the Wand in Salute to Wallykazam!

I've been fairly critical recently to Nickelodeon's efforts to revamp its Dora franchise with a tween modeled version of the show aimed at preschoolers, so I did want to give the network a positive nod for a new show that I believe they are doing right called Wallykazam!  This new series that debuted at the beginning of this year is a perfect fit for children ages 3 - 7 years old.  Wallykazam! promotes literacy with its viewers through weaving educational lessons into comedy-driven stories filled with funny characters and adventures.  One of my parenting mottoes is strive to make education entertaining so that children will embrace learning as fun challenges rather than dread it as required tasks.  Wallykazam! does a great job of getting children engaged into learning letters and phonics through participating in the show's adventures.

Wallykazam! follows the adventures of a troll named Wally and his pet dragon, Norville, who live in a mystical forest filled with giants, goblins, ogres, sprites, and other mythical creatures.  Wally has a magic wand, well actually it's a stick that he picked up off the ground but it works as well as a wand from a Harry Potter movie when it comes to hocusing and pocusing, that he uses to make words come to life in each episode's adventure.  Each show begins with Wally selecting a specific letter and than using words that begin with that selected letter to magically create things with the wave of his wand (oops I meant stick) to help him get out of a predicament.

In addition to helping children identify letters, the show takes things a step further working on sounds associated with letters, rhyming, vocabulary development and reading comprehension strategies.  Beyond just  talking about letters and words and showing items that Wally kazams into existence, the show also captions on the screen the letter and words being spotlighted to assist with reading development.  Using this phonics approach helps develop key reading skills by connecting sounds with letters or groups of letters. My 5 year old twins really get into sounding out, and yelling out, the words as they are being conjured up on the screen and it is nice to see them enthused about learning about words and vocabulary through their interactions with this show.

Season 1 of Wallykazam! premiered on Nickelodeon on February 3, 2014 and consists of 26 original episodes.  The show was created by producer/writer Adam Peltzman, who also was involved with creating the Emmy Award-winning The Backyardigans and Bubble Guppies television series.  Check your cable guide for when Wallykazam! is airing on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr or you can also download the episodes for a fee on iTunes or other digital download sites like Amazon.com.  As parents, I know it is important to limit our children's television exposure especially during the preschool years but I can vouch this is one of the good ones that if you are going to let them watch TV to tune into.

I've included a youtube video of the season's first episode below if you want to check out out the show.  In "Naptime for Borgelorp" Wally is persuaded to babysit his friend Ogre Doug's hyper and unpredictable pet Borgelorp.  Wally is given two instructions, kinda reminds me of Gremlins here, for Borgelorp's care.  First, get Borgelorp to take a nap.  Secondly, and most importantly make sure Borgelorp doesn't eat any purple flowers.  Wally tries to follow these rules but his nemesis, and the show's lead comedic element, BobGoblin the hobgoblin does his best to cause havoc.  Conjuring up magic words that start with the letter "S" are the only way to tire out the rambunctious pet and keep it away from those dreaded purple flowers.  Wally is very creative when it comes to creating magical words using somersault, sandwich, and symphony to get the job done.

In addition to the animated television series, Nickelodeon also recently introduced a FREE video game that features the characters from Wallykazam!  In this game BobGoblin drops by Wally's house and casts a spell causing all the fruit that Wally was planning on using for his lunch to hop around uncontrollably.  Game players need to help Wally gather up the runaway fruit in this platform style game by bouncing, hopping, leaping or jumping in order to save the day...and Wally's lunch.  The game uses a special letter to create magic words to help Wally get out of jams.  Each time you play the game the magic letter changes too keeping the game interesting through multiple plays.  When I played it with my son the letter was "H" and all the magic words conjured up started with the letter H, while when I played with my daughter the letter was "J" having Wally kazam things up like jumping jellybeans and jetting juice boxes.

 

There is also a FREE "Word Hunt" game where game players help Wally & Norville look for hidden words that start with the magic letter designated at the beginning of the game.  Not a bad game for preschoolers and parents to spend some time playing together.  It has some fun interactions with the characters from the television show and works on helping with connecting sounds to the letters they are associated with.

 

To play these games CLICK HERE.  You can also watch some episodes of Wallykazam! for FREE on this website and download some coloring pages and activity sheets for your kids off of it.

A Fun & Free Birthday Surprise for Families with Preschoolers in their Home

Here's a birthday treat that is sure to thrill any preschool/kindergarten aged child...a surprise phone call from their favorite character from the NickJr line-up of animated television shows.  The Nickelodeon cable network is making phone calls from their most popular characters like Dora the Explorer, the Paw Patrol puppies, Wallykazam, and Peter Rabbit, among others, available for children 1 - 13 years old to help them celebrate their birthdays.  You can select your child's favorite character to provide a personalized birthday greeting that I am sure would make their day...and best of all it is FREE!

Just agree to receive the NickJr birthday club emails and you can schedule up to 5 personalized birthday phone calls per year.  By signing up for the NickJr birthday club you'll receive an email with party planning tips and free birthday printables prior to your children's special days plus occasional promotional emails about programming, events, and special offers involving the Nickelodeon cable network.

You can sign up to receive the calls via the NickJr. Birthday Club website and have them directed to a mobile phone or a landline.  If you select a mobile phone, a text message will be sent the morning of the scheduled call.  Just click the link in the text message when you are ready to receive the call and it will be initiated.  If you sign up to receive the birthday greeting by landline, than you must select a specific time when you register online to receive your call.  Either way you go be prepared to put your child on the phone because you only have 10 seconds to put your child on the phone before the message starts.

For more information, visit www.NickJrBirthdayClub.com