(edit, I thought Bluey was a boy, not a girl)
My wife and I are both very strict on what we let your three-year-old daughter watch. Since I have a degree in psychology and we're both religious, we don't want to contradict influences on our daughter. So when she grabbed the remote and started playing a new show that I hadn't vetted, I quickly corrected her.
This was a couple of days ago, so we decided to watch the show and see if it was any good. The episodes are only about 10 minutes long, this is nearly always a red flag because the shorter shows tend to change the camera angle every two seconds. This lowers a child's attention span and patience. The show doesn't do this. In fact, it prolongs the camera angle past the average cartoon, even for teens.
The premise of the show is a mom, dad, and 2 daughters that live together and are a close family. They're Australian and they kept the accent in the show, which adds to the fun. They use imagination throughout their day, with the dad more often than not playing with them. I really can't tell you the last time that I saw a dad playing with his children in a show. The typical setup of other cartoons is the child going off on his own and facing a situation that is beyond his maturity level to handle.
Not this show. There's no big conflict or obstacle to overcome in each episode. It's a show that completely and utterly understands playful imagination. Watching this show would give you 20 different ideas to try on your own kids, some messier than others.
For example, the younger daughter, Bingo, pretends she is a statue. The older daughter, Bluey, negotiates with her dad to sell her his sister. The dad dog, Bandit, agrees and picks her up to take her into the other room to place her as a decoration. The dad leaves the room for a second and Bingo runs to a new spot and freezes again.
He reenters and pretends to be surprised and confused. He sees her on the couch and moves her back to the spot and then complains to the shopkeeper (Bluey) that the statue is magical. It continues with an escalating scale of imagination.
I love this mode of play. One of my favorite games is to pretend to be oblivious to something my daughter does. An example is taking a stuffed animal and walking away with it under my arm. She pulls it out and runs away, then I pretend I didn't feel anything and act shocked when I go to put it down.
The show reminds me of having to do imaginative play with my daughter while we stay in a high-rise apartment during too polluted days, or during the day to fill in the gaps. I've only watched a couple of episodes, so I can't vouch for the whole series. It also gently reminds parents that children model our behavior and to loosen up a little over mistakes or inexperience. It's a great reminder to myself to not care so much all the time.
The show is incredibly realistic and relatable. It really understands the world of children and the things they face, like getting bored on a long car ride, or having to help their younger siblings, not breaking the rules when they're pretending (no matter what!), needing to go to the bathroom, etc.
I can't believe how much I laughed at this show and had to share it with the mothers of the hive community as soon as I could write about it. It's available on Disney+ and Disney Junior. It's also available somewhat on youtube. They even made a montage of imagination games that don't need props.
Lately, since my daughter has turned three, I've been studying different methods of learning and even had a rant post about the failure of the public school system, (link below). One of the main areas I've been studying is interest-based learning and learning through playing, so I was delighted to see new methods of imaginative play.
Thank you for reading and feel free to post your thoughts. I welcome any well-thought-out comments.
The Public School System Was Designed to Suppress Education
@steveparma/the-public-school-system-was-designed-to-suppress-education