The Backyardigans-Your Backyard Friends!

When my daughter was born, I was determined to only allow her to have the influences of the best music, books, and television. I wanted to be sure that from the moment we brought her home, she was learning. I don’t mean to say that I put my newborn through a full school day, only that I wanted her to be learning no matter what we were doing.

I had an easy time with books and music, but when it came to television, I felt that the majority of today’s children’s programs assumed that all children needed everything simplified, and that baby talk was necessary. I also never found a program that I could really enjoy watching; all I did was note everything I thought was wrong.

Backyard Fate?

And then one day, a miracle happened. My daughter was just a couple of weeks old and while she was napping, I searched Netflix for something to watch. I had decided to find an educational children’s program; maybe I thought she would retain something subliminally while she was sleeping, I don’t really know.

Lo and behold, Backyardigans was the first thing to pop up under the “Children and Family,” category. I decided to give it a shot and sat back as some strange little animals began dancing across my screen. I finished the first 20 minute episode in absolute shock; I daresay it was the absolute best thing I had seen in a long time! I had some time to relax before the baby woke up so I watched a couple more episodes and knew that I would be more than happy to watch these over and over again with my daughter.!

The Scenario

The Backyardigans is a show all about the adventures that five children create in their own backyards. The places they go and the things that they do have no boundaries, and are actually very realistic. Their adventures are generally to real places, and the most of the things that they do could actually be done. This saves parents the job of having to repeatedly explain, “No honey, that’s just pretend.”

Their destinations include the North Pole, India, the Wild West, Egypt; you name it. Real people are also mentioned and role-played by the kids, including Cleopatra, Sinbad, and even Medusa. Other roles that they play are realistic as well, meaning they are people, occupations, or characters that actually exist.

If the people and places don’t get you, the music certainly will. I promise you that you will find yourself with Backyardigans songs stuck in your head all the time. The good thing is, the songs are actually really good! Each episode features four songs, one of which is always the Backyardigans recreated version of an old song. Another piece of good news; there are CD’s and iTunes downloads available!

Along with the music is amazing choreography; the characters actually have perfectly choreographed dance sequences. The show has a whole cast of dancers that choreograph and record the dance numbers and then send them to the animators. The animators then give those same moves to the characters; you will be nothing short of impressed.

The sneaky script writers also found subtle ways of making sure your child learns some hard facts while watching the show. For example, in the episode, “Elephant on the Run,” the kids are in India where they are trying to find an escaped elephant. Throughout the episode, “Tyrone,” keeps giving everyone interesting facts about elephants. For instance, did you know that elephants’ feet are padded, which means they make very little noise when they run? I’ll admit that I didn’t!

The first thing I noticed, and one of the major things I truly appreciate about the Backyardigans, is the fact that they speak like normal people. They use words that many kids may not know; giving them the opportunity to learn something new. Phrases like, “What a coincidence!” and, “Well that’s convenient,” are used throughout the show, as well as many other somewhat complex words and phrases.

I don’t at all mean to imply that silly, imaginary things are bad for children. I just think that a children’s show that is fun while still being realistic is a breath of fresh air.

The Characters

The Backyardigans are 5 kids who all live right next to each other and seemingly share one giant backyard. The refreshing and truly amazing thing that I instantly noticed about these kids is that they are real. Each child has his or her own strength and weaknesses. They are not designed to be perfect, and you are not supposed to love them every second. Each child’s personality is completely different, but I believe the creators did a good job capturing the main personalities that most children have (adventurous, shy, bossy, etc.).

These kids are truly what real kids are like, which I believe makes it even easier for our children to relate to them.

Uniqua: This pink, overall-wearing girl’s name describes her perfectly; she’s a species all her own (all of the other characters are actual animals). She’s also the only character to appear in every episode.

Uniqua is very different from the “girly-girl” Tasha, who is the other female character. Uniqua is seen as a scientist, a cowgirl, a police woman, and other very dominating and adventurous roles, that we don’t typically think of girls as filling. She’s very outspoken and always looking for an adventure. This character is incredibly intelligent and always uses logic and problem solving to get out of sticky situations.

Tasha: A sundress wearing yellow hippopotamus, Tasha is the ultimate when it comes to things we typically consider, “girly.” Tasha hosts tea parties, plays the roles of queens, empresses, and Medusa. She’s very sweet but also stubborn and bossy at times. Her infamous quote is, “Oh for goodness sakes!”

Pablo: A little blue and yellow penguin with a bow tie and a beanie, Pablo is nothing short of adorable. I suppose you could consider him the male lead, since I think there is only one episode that he doesn’t appear in.

Pablo is adventurous and some of his roles include a surfer, “Agent Secret,” a robot, a prospector, and a yeti. Like Uniqua, Pablo is also very smart and is portrayed as a leader. He also has little, “anxiety attacks,” every few episodes, which is absolutely hilarious. He essentially walks around in circles, mumbling on and on about whatever the problem is until his friends call his name, to which he calmly responds, “Yeah?”

Tyrone: The striped-shirt wearing moose, who is Pablo’s best friend, is a complete sweetheart. Tyrone is the practical one, a little sarcastic, and extremely even-tempered.

Tyrone is the character who essentially ends each episode with the phrase, “Well that was an excellent _________ adventure!” The majority of Tyrone’s roles are played alongside Pablo; he accompanies him as an agent, a prospector, and a surfer. He also plays roles as Sinbad and Tarzan.

Austin: The sweet, shy, purple kangaroo who moves into the neighborhood during the first season. Okay, I’ll admit he’s my personal favorite. Austin is your typical quiet, shy child, who just wants to fit in. He plays smaller roles at first, but gradually works up to larger ones, such as his role as the, “mysterious lifeguard,” in the episode, “Surf’s Up!”

I could truly go on and on about the Backyardigans; I really have fallen in love with this show. Go ahead and watch just one episode; I promise it won’t be your last. I’m not a big fan of kids watching a lot of television, but it instantly grabs my daughter’s attention and allows me 20 minutes to get ready in the morning- and that is a big deal! As soon as she hears the theme song, her head instantly turns in the direction of the television, and (I kid you not), the Backyardigans is the only thing that will hold her attention.

Entertaining, educational, and fun; they really are, “Your backyard friends, the Backyardigans!”