Sid the Science Kid Series: Why Kids love to Watch it on PBS
Sid the Science Kid (also known as Jim Henson’s Sid the Science Kid) is an American half-hour Computer Animated series on . PBC Kids It aired from September 1, 2008 to March 25, 2013, with a total of 68 half-hour episodes produced over two seasons.
The Computer Generated show is produced by The Jim Henson Company and then-PBS member KCET in, LOS Angeles, California using the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio. The show is produced by Motion Capture which allows puppeteers to voice digitally animated characters in real time.
The production began in the fall of 2008 with 42 half-hour episodes of Sid the Science Kid having been ordered. The series debuted on PBS Kids along with MarthaSpeaks on September 1, 2008, with a two-year on-air commitment.
The original working title for the series was “What’s the Big Idea?” and the central character, Sid, was originally named Josh. The series is the second CGI animated show to use the motion capture technique after Donkey Kong Country
Sid is the host of “Sid the Science Kid,” a series for preschoolers that begins Monday on PBS. And he has a desperate-for-attention problem that is only moderately irksome now, but when he’s older will lead him to either put those oversize tires on the back of his car or seek a career in musical theater.
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The main character in the show is Sid, an “inquisitive youngster” who uses comedy to tackle questions, kids have about basic scientific principles and why things work the way they do.
He tries to answer questions and solve problems with the help of his classmates (May, Gerald, and Gabriela), Teacher Susie, and his family (his mother Alice, his father Mort, his Grandma Rose and his baby brother Zeke).
In “Hello Doggie,” Sid’s Grandma adopts a dog from the animal shelter (which she names Philbert – voiced by Bruce Lanoil, motion captured by Daisy the dog).
PBS is employing Sid, who is animated in a process called digital puppetry, as an ambassador for what education types might call science readiness. His show, done in that hyperactive style that adults have determined is what the very young prefer, to put across the fundamentals of science.
Episodes of Sid the Science Kid Series
The conceptual content of Sid is based in national science learning standards, cognitive learning theory, and on the preschool science curriculum, Preschool Pathways to Science.
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Each week’s episodes are built around a single scientific topic or concept as follows:
The first week (episodes 1 – 5) focuses on scientific tools and concepts (such as charts, observation, estimation, and measuring).
The second week (episodes 6 – 10) focuses on changes and transformation (including decay, growth, freezing and melting, and the effects of heat).
The third week (episodes 11 – 15) focuses on the senses (including touch, smell, sight, and hearing).
The fourth week (episodes 16 – 20) focuses on health (including brushing teeth, eating food, sneezing and exercise).
The fifth week (episodes 21 – 25) focuses on simple machines (including wheels, inclined planes, levers and pullies).
The sixth week (episodes 26 – 30) focuses on backyard science.
The seventh week (episodes 31 – 35) focuses on the human body.
The eighth week (episodes 36 – 40) focuses on weather.
The Friday shows are designed to review, reinforce and summarize the central concept of the week.
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The Main Aims / Objectives of Sid the Science Kid Series for Kids are:
- To encourage children to think, talk and work the way scientists do by building on preschoolers’ natural curiosity about the world.
- To show that science is all around us – we all interact with and are capable of learning about scientific concepts.
- To contribute to school readiness by fostering children’s intellectual skills, motivation to learn, and confidence in themselves as learners.
- To support children’s learning by partnering with parents and teachers to create a “climate of curiosity” for children.
The Basic Things Kids Practice After Watching Sid the Science Kid Series include:
- Observing objects, events, and people
- Asking questions
- Finding words to describe observations and to communicate ideas
- Exploring and investigating to try to answer questions
- Using science tools to observe and measure
- Recording observations using simple drawings and basic charts
- Using what they have observed, measured, and recorded to predict what might happen next and to ask more questions
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