Free PBS Kids Games

I started blogging on this website at the suggestion of my husband, who saw my passion for sharing unique toys, products and experiences with clients and friends. There are some days when I meet with people, or hear about initiatives that are completely in-line with my passion as an educator, and I absolutely can’t wait to share the information.  I recently learned all about the free PBS Kids games available through online content and apps, and the words of this blog post began quickly flying off my fingertips.

I grew up with children’s programming like Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood as a staple in my television diet. I’ve watched children over the years continue their love affairs with this amazing programming and since having my own child, who is now 3 1/2, with only basic cable for the better half of his short existence, we relied solely on PBS Kids for his television programming, until we began accessing additional shows from other networks free on our iPad and ultimately upgraded our cable.

We seem to go through phases of shows that he’s obsessed with, mainly because after awhile he watches all the episodes and I get tired of the re-runs. He’s been a fan favorite of Dinosaur Train, and was Whyatt from Super Why! for Halloween this past year. After a few month hiatus, after the PBS Kids event, and maybe it’s a coincidence that preschool is offering him more exposure to letters and numbers, we are back on the Super Why! fan wagon. Though he doesn’t love Curious George the show, he is obsessed with me reading the stories over and over at bedtime. In addition, our DVR is filled with every episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. I personally love Daniel Tiger so much, I shouted it out loud from the rooftops in a love letter to Daniel Tiger this past Valentine’s Day. Hands down, in my opinion, it’s the best preschool television show I’ve seen in a decade.

At an event recently hosted by PBS Kids at our local television station WGBH in Boston, MA, several local area bloggers and their families got together to learn all about the activities for kids and families that are available from PBS Kids. I told Gavin we were headed to PBS Kids and he asked if we were attending a “Thank You Party,” which was something recently highlighted in a Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood episode. That’s only just one instance of how much PBS programming has had a long-term impact on him. Then I realized he was spot-on. We should be throwing PBS Kids a “Thank You” party if you ask me, to applaud them for all their initiatives to serve up young children educational content that helps provide foundational skills that will solidify the future of our children’s academic success.

Here were some tidbits of information we heard about, before we got to experience a lot of the new content, currently available online for FREE as part of the “It All Adds Up” initiative.

– Half of the time children spend online is at PBSKids.org
– 84% of parents want to enrich their child’s learning with in-home activities
– 30% of parents have anxiety about helping their kids with math
– 60% of parents with children 5-8 practice Math, while only 50% of parents of kids ages 2-4 do
– “It All Adds Up” is part of the Ready to Learn Initiative from CPM (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) and PBS that brings content to kids that promotes literacy and math for kids ages 2-8 from low-income backgrounds
– Over 100 apps and games have been launched over the past 2 years from the Ready to Learn Initiative from PBS and CPB
– PEG + CAT is a new show dedicated to teaching children about Math concepts that will debut in Fall 2013
– A lot of content available for kids through PBS Kids online and through downloading of apps is FREE
– PBSKidsLab.org is an additional website dedicated to featuring the new content where parents can search for games, books, and activities to simulate their child’s development by PBS Kids series, skill area, age, and type of technology (mobile devices, computer, etc.)

My family and I attended an event hosted by PBS Kids at WGBH in Boston, MA. We listened to a short presentation, then were able to experience a lot of the new educational content. I did not receive any monetary compensation related to this post.