Disney Junior Holiday Lineup December 2012 #disneyjunior

With December comes holiday specials and holiday themed episodes!

The first few Saturdays in December you can catch

• Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (Dec 1 11am)
• Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (Dec 8 11am)
• Santa Buddies (Dec 15 11am)

plus December 29 11am, during the after Christmas boredom, your children can watch Secret of the Wings (a Tinkerbell movie.)

Throughout December your child will also want to watch for holiday and winter themed episodes of their favourite Disney Junior shows and especially, holiday specials and movies around the clock on December 24 and 25.

*Disclosure: No compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

WordGirl Celebrates Halloween

The WordGirl Word of the Month is…

SPOOKY*

*adj. Eerie, Scary

Be sure to check out the WordGirl Halloween Special on October 26 and a BRAND NEW episode on October 29.

The new one is called Scary with a Side of Butter and is about an evil artichoke! Join WordGirl and Captain Huggypants to see what happens!


*Disclosure: I received the product(s) mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

October Brings Halloween Episodes on Disney Junior

Starting October 6 at 9 am, Disney Junior will have Halloween themed episodes of some of it’s favourite shows for your little ones to enjoy.

These episodes will be featured every Saturday and Sunday morning throughout October from 9-11am EST.  Look for brand new Halloween themed episodes of Jake and the Never Land Pirates (Oct. 7),  Doc McStuffins (Oct. 14) and Handy Manny (Oct. 21) plus more.

*No compensation was given for this post, I’m just sharing information from my children’s favourite TV channel.

Justin Time Series Premiere on Disney Junior Sep 16

Sunday, September 16 marks the series premiere of a new Canadian cartoon called Justin Time. Tune in at 8:30 am EST to see Justin and his friends Olive and Squidgy travel using their imagination to historical places.

The episodes contain two 11-minute stories. The first episode “You Forgot to Say Arrgh!” has the friends looking for buried treasure when they meet Captain Redbeard.

Justin Time’s regular time spot will be 8:30 am EST weekend mornings.

Justin Time is available on Disney Junior, a children’s commercial-free channel in Canada.

*No compensation was given for this post, I’m just sharing information from my children’s favourite TV channel.

Disney Junior–What’s New for August and a Peek at September #disneyjunior

Our family really does love Disney Junior. My kids pretty much watch the channel exclusively now and even I love the shows on it (can you guess my favourite?)

August on Disney Junior:

TICKETY TOC – IT’S PLAY TIME MARATHON
Sunday, August 19 beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Catch four back-to-back episodes of one of the newer shows, Tickety Toc (my girls LOVE this one.) Included is a brand new episode that sees the twins attempt to build a model version of the Clockhouse.

YO HO LET’S GO SUMMER!
Mondays at 5:35 p.m. throughout August; check listings

Every Monday throughout August, Disney Junior will air a premiere episode from one of its hit series followed by a movie. Starting August 6 with a new episode of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, followed by the 45-minute special Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns, where Peter Pan returns to Never Land in search of his shadow.

SUMMER MORNING MARATHONS
Monday, July 30 to Friday, August 31 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Summer Morning Marathons continue throughout August. Viewers’ favourite series including Doc McStuffins, Special Agent Oso, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Tickety Toc will all be in the spotlight.

Coming in September…

• Justin Time (Canadian Original Series) Series Premiere
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates (Disney Junior Original Series) “Jake Saves Bucky” Special 45-minute Episode
• Handy Manny (Disney Junior Original Series) Firefighter Manny Special 45-minute Episode

So have you guessed my favourite Disney Junior show?
HINT: It’s not one of the ones mentioned in this post. See if you can guess! (If you don’t have Disney Junior – which one of the shows mentioned above sounds the most interesting to you?)

(Windsor) INFO/GIVEAWAY: The Wiggles! Big Birthday! is at the WFCU Centre!

I've decided to host more local content on this blog. Local for me is Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Anything I post local to Ontario will start with (Ontario) in the title. If it's Windsor/Essex County Specific, it will start with (Windsor.) That way my readers who aren't local can skip it. Don't worry, there will still be lots of generic content too! To celebrate the local focus, I have some info to share and a giveaway for Windsor/Essex County readers.

NOTE: If you live in Toronto or the surrounding area, visit Toronto Teacher Mom, a great canadian blog, for your chance to win by June 28. 

Also Windsorites can enter at Whispered Inspirations too for another chance to win!

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The Wiggles! Big Birthday! Tour is coming to the WFCU Centre on Thursday, July 28 at 6:30 PM.

Tickets are on sale now, and go from $15 to $75 for VIP seats (additional facility fees and service charges may apply) $75 tickets are limited and will include the best seats in the house, an exclusive gift, an activity sheet and a chance to dance along with the Wiggles themselves.

Audience participation for the tour includes:

• Create a giant wiggly birthday card or sign at home
• Have fun with the Wiggles as they sing and dance through the audience.
• Dress up as your favourite character.
• Yelling "Wake Up Jeff" whenever he falls asleep on stage!

While you are waiting for the show date to get here, check out http://www.wiggletime.com, a virtual world for preschoolers and their parents. Parents can monitor their child's progress and will have access to premium promotional offers, contests, merchandise discounts and presale Wiggles tickets.

Click the graphic above to buy tickets!

To purchase tickets, click on the image to the right.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

Super Why is showing February 2010 in Movie Theatres (US ONLY)

Two SUPER WHY episodes, Comic Book: Attack of the Eraser and The Big Game, will be in movie theaters on weekends in February as part of the Kidtoons program.

Soar to new places in February with SUPER WHY, as Super Why, Princess Presto, Wonder Red, and Alpha Pig go on reading adventures like you’ve never seen before. Wham! Pow! Join the superheroes inside a comic book, where they’ll use their literacy powers to stop the diabolical eraser from erasing the words in Reader Valley in Comic Book: Attack of the Eraser. Then get ready to cheer for Super Why and his friends as they learn the importance of practicing in The Big Game. Visit http://www.kidtoonfilms.com for more information and to find SUPER WHY in a movie theater near you! Super Duper!

The Kidtoons program is dedicated to helping parents connect with their kids by bringing family friendly animated movies to the big screen every weekend at participating theatres across the country. Participating Kidtoons theatres showcase a fun, affordable family friendly matinee movie and provide a family experience filled with entertaining, kid-friendly characters, as well as cartoon shorts, music videos and sing-alongs before each movie. We even have fun giveaways for the kids, such as stickers, temporary tattoos, activity books or toys after every film.

Super Why soars into a new kind of book!

GET A “TASTE” OF READING WITH SUPER WHY!

Hip Hip Hooray!  Super WHY whips up a whole new reading-powered adventure when the Super Readers soar into the pages of a cookbook for the very first time!  Super WHY and the Cookbook will premiere January 29 on PBS stations from coast to coast (check local listings).  Whyatt wants to bake his little sister a special birthday cake - but he doesn't know how.  So Super Why and his friends soar into a new kind of book  - and get the information they need from a rhyming chef with a silly sense of humor as well as a recipe for fun!  In the end, Whyatt learns how to create the perfect birthday for Baby Joy.

Here are some awesome tips to help you cook up your very own yummy reading adventure!  Encouraging preschoolers to read recipes, signs and more helps them navigate their world and gives them a real reason to use their new-found literacy skills.  Asking questions will expand their creativity as well as reinforce comprehension.  It can also inspire them to write their own signs, recipes or stories! 

• Pick out a simple and tasty recipe with your budding Super Reader.  Ask them to point out all of the letters and words they already know in the ingredients
• Write a grocery list together, sounding out the words as you go along
• At the supermarket, have your kids help read the signs so you can find the ingredients you need
• As you cook, read the recipe out loud every step of the way
• Before serving your delicious treat, create colorful place cards for each member of the family, assisting your preschooler in writing out the names.  Have fun – and bon appetite!

Each episode of Super WHY, the award-winning literacy series from Out of the Blue Enterprises, engages young viewers in fun, interactive alphabet and word games, as well as imagination-stimulating spelling, vocabulary and comprehension activities, helping to instill a life-long love of reading all along the way!

Game Shows

What is it about game shows that I love so much? I think it's the test of knowledge that most of them are about. My favourites are Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Power of Ten and Deal or No Deal a close second.

It is my aim to know as many tidbits of information as possible. Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a Millionaire are the best for learning new things.

Do you watch Game Shows? Which ones? What do you like about them? I wish I could afford the Game Show network.

Game Show Links:
A Salute to Game Shows
Game Shows at Wikipedia
Game Show Network
All Game Shows Page

What I Believe: Children and TV

I believe that used in the correct quantities and with the correct shows, television can not only not fry your child's brain but enhance their intelligence.

I most certainly would never park my kid's in front of the TV at all hours of the day or let them watch shows that aren't age appropriate (with the exception of when they are too young to even notice what's going on in the show.)

However I won't take the TV away from my kids either. I don't have anything against parents who do not own a TV, but it's just not for my family. My daughter has learned new words by watching TV and asking what a certain thing is on the TV. After just 2 times of telling her what it is, she can shout out the name as soon as it shows on the TV. I will be using some educational TV shows as part of my homeschooling, just as we were shown the odd show/movie in grade and high school.

Most importantly though, no matter what I believe, I will NEVER tell you that you are wrong just because you disagree with me. There are many ways to do things and I know that what's right for me is not necesarily right for you.

So what do others believe?

Thursday Thirteen #10 - Commercials

My 13 Favourite Commercials (current ones)

1. The phone commercial where the son and father talk backwards: "You can tell me what to do. I raised you to talk to me like that." It's hilarious.

2. Dairy Queen - girl pretends she has an invisible friend so she can get her parents to throw a party for the friend and she can eat a Dairy Queen cake.

3. It's for Cogeco or Rogers, not sure but the grandfather is trying to get his sons attention and can't. The daughter in law says he's Televisiophoneanetting. Using the television, phone and internet all at once.

4. Hidden Valley Ranch - all the kids love to eat their vegetables and eat them like their cookies.

5. Malibu alcohol ones where the Jamaicans act like Americans. Talking about how his phone has an address book but it's really an address book stuck to the back of his huge cellphone. They are in a hurry and whatnot.

6. All the What Now? commercials. eg. A guy is in his car doing last minute preening with his car door open before picking up his date. A truck blares past ripping the open door off the car. Then it flashes, Now What?

7. Subway's fresh moment with the umpire saying how he took off points for no good reason.

8. Lotto 649 Happy Dance. They are so funny looking.

9. Telus - talk your gills off. The purple fish just keeps "talking" and all the other fish are like OMG stop talking all ready!

10. Canadian Tire - the one where the shopping car barely taps a car and the whole thing falls apart. Then a sign for rust-proofing swings down and they advertise products.

11. Power Washer (also Canadian Tire I think) where the guy is power washing his house then sees a bird poop on his (expensive) car so he turns the power washer onto his car and ends up power washing the paint right off.

12. Meijer - new shoes where all the high school students are walking around and their shoes are squeaking. It's funny because it really sounds like that for the first week of school.

13. Rogers phone - your 5. The guy is packing and the friends are looking at his five. They ask who Ellen is and he says a girl. They get all excited till it's revealed that Ellen is his mom.

Happy Thursday!

What's So Special About Anime?

Somebody, please Explain! I guess I can understand kids liking it but I don't understand the large amount of adults who enjoy watching anime on TV and playing it in games. The characters are silly looking, especially their expressions and all they do is fight or battle.

What is the appeal? I like cartoons. I do. I like Bugs Bunny the best. I even don't mind watching most of the TreeHouse cartoons with my children. I find them more interesting than Pokemon or Yu-gi-oh.