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On April 10th Noggin will premiere it’s newest show, Pinky Dinky Doo. The show is the brainchild of Jim Jinkins. Jinkins has quite the resume in preschool television as the co-creator of Stanley and JoJo’s Circus. Pinky Dinky Doo is actually based on a series of books that Jinkins authored. The books were inspired by stories made up at bedtime for Jinkins’s own kids.

Each half-hour episode contains two stories, with two short games and quizzes after each story. The episodes feature Pinky Dinky Doo, a seven year old girl, creating a story to help solve everyday problems. In the story Pinky has a great big idea that saves the day. Other characters include her younger brother Tyler, Mr. Guinea Pig, as well as friends with charmingly nonsensical names such as Abby McTabby and Ross Applesauce.

The educational goals of the show are

• To celebrate the power of inventing stories
• To introduce basic elements of narrative
• To provide opportunities to use effective listening comprehension strategies
• To expand vocabulary through stories

Pinky Dinky Doo is a joint production between Jinkins’ Cartoon Pizza and Sesame Workshop.

The family and I took in the premiere episode Polka Dot Pox/Come Home Little Guinea Pig.

What the kids thought

Both of my kids loved the show from the first time they saw it. The problem in the episode is set-up very quickly, so that the bulk of the episode is Pinky’s story. There is a clear transition with marked by a catchy tune that my kids latched onto right away.

Yesserooni, Positooney
We’re going to the story box
Pinky’s really good at making up stories
and every story rocks
Story Box!

The stories are structured to keep the kids engaged by having asides, and Pinky being interrupted by Tyler’s questions. In addition to the specific tactics employed, the stories are just plain cute.

The kids are also big fans of the games at the end of each story that are quite simple but provide a nice recap, particularly Eat it or Wear It.

What the parents thought

I was very impressed with the show. I found nothing objectionable whatsoever, and was impressed with the educational components. My favorite element is that each episode strongly enforced a particular theme. For example, in Polka Dot Pox Tyler is frustrated that he woke up sick on the day his class was supposed to take a field trip. Each time a character mentions the word frustrated it was preceded by Mr. Guinea Pig playing the trumpet. The point was driven home without the constant repetition that you might find in Dora the Explorer. The same held true in the second story where the theme was responsiblity.

I was a little concerned that Pinky’s imaginary stories might be a little too long and off topic to retain the kids attention. However, there are plenty of elements to keep the kids engaged. Also, as I mentioned there are quizzes at the end to make sure the message got across, much in the same vein as JoJo’s Circus (Hey, JoJo what do you say, we all want to know what you learned today…)

The animation technique isn’t especially elegant, but the crayon colored characters are appropriate for the show given its emphasis on imagination.

Noggin has ordered 26 episodes of the show. It will premiere April 10th on both Nick Jr and Noggin at noon. It will then move to its regular timeslot at 10:00am and 3:00pm on Noggin.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 9:38 pm and is filed under New Show, Noggin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.