While the weather has been a little erratic in NYC, we escaped up to the country to get some fresh air.

While we couldn’t really plant in my inlaws’ backyard, my daughter and niece explored and found acorns.
And who could resist digging rocks.

Or documenting what we saw?

WILD KRATTS
New Episodes Air April 25-29
“Box Turtled In!” – When the Wild Kratts’ Tortuga is accidentally miniaturized and carried off by a coyote, the mothership’s shell defense is finally put to the test. The gang embarks on a box turtle-style mission to get back to the Miniaturizer and restore the Tortuga back to normal size.
“The Other Martens” – It’s a relaxing day at Tortuga HQ when Chris comes in complaining about Martin. Confused, the gang soon discovers that Chris means a bird called the Purple martin and not his brother! Chris is not happy about something else named Martin and when a second creature called Martin comes along – he realizes it’s not his day. But soon, comes to understand what awesome creatures these “Other Martins” really are.
“Sea Otter Swim” – Martin is hanging out with his pet Fruit fly Juice, when Juice suddenly dies. Even though Juice was young, he was pretty old for a Fruit fly. Jimmy wants to know if any animals can live to be over 100 years old. Soon the Wild Kratts are on a mission to discover the oldest creatures on earth!
“Animals Who Live to Be 100 Years Old” – In the series 100th episode, the Wild Kratts head out looking for Black bears, but Aviva keeps seeing a fleeting glimpse of what she thinks is a ghostly white bear. The gang soon realizes that they have stumbled across the rare Spirit Bear of the Northern Pacific. But celebration turns to dismay when they encounter new villain, Ms. Paisley Paver, CEO of Pave Nature Incorporated, and discover her plans to turn the island into a Mega Storage facility.
“Spirit Bear”

NATURE CAT
New Episodes Air April 25-28; encore presentation of Earth Day episode on April 29
“Earth Day Today/Earth Day Every Day” – After going on a nature hike over to Butterfly Hills, the gang notices plastic bags from the local supermarket blowing in the wind. Nature Cat calls for a change in Earth Day plans, and alerts the supermarket of their problem. With an earth-friendly alternative in place for the supermarket plastic bag problem, Nature Cat and his pals are once again sidetracked by a plastic bottle floating in a stream, leading them to discover that recycling can be an action-packed journey and that Earth Day is every day. The encore presentation premieres on April 29.
“Kingdom of Rotting Log/Can You Dig It?” – Nature Cat and his pals learn about the life cycle of trees in the forest and discover how important rotting logs are after one gets in the way of building their royal castle in the woods. Later, Nature Cat looks to answer a question on his curiosity list: if they keep digging a hole deeper and deeper, where will they end up? With the help of Daisy’s homemade Earthbreaker One machine and their imaginations, the gang goes onward and downward, through the earth, and winds up somewhere very surprising.
“Mud Love/Call It a Night” – To bring Hal’s dream of Mud Appreciation Day to fruition, all of his pals lend a muddy hand, collecting different kinds of mud for the super fun and super messy celebration – expect Nature Cat who later learns to not just get messy with mud, but to observe what it is like, be creative and make something. Then, after losing his beloved hat while playing flashlight tag at night, Nature Cat and his pals act like other nighttime animals and use some of their other senses to find it.
“Woodpecker Picks a Place/Here Comes the Sun” – The gang investigates a loud knocking on Hal’s doghouse only to discover it is a woodpecker. In trying to stop it, they find out more about woodpeckers and exactly what this one is looking for. While on an amazing adventure to see the Golden Sunstone, Nature Cat breaks the compass, but with the help of his friends learns that you can use the position of the sun in the sky to figure out which way is east, west, north and south.

The post Explore The Outdoors This Month with PBS Kids appeared first on The Mama Maven Blog.

Your kids may like it because it’s funny – we love Nature Cat (Taran Killam) and his funny friends Squeeks the mouse (Kate McKinnon), Hal the dog (Bobby Moynihan) and Daisy, a pet rabbit (Kate Micucci, The Big Bang Theory) — however the show offers a natural science curriculum.  Nature Cat and his friends embark on action-packed adventures, perilous missions, nature investigations and “a-ha” discovery moments. In each story, the characters model age-appropriate reasoning skills and explore natural science concepts, such as the role seeds play in plants’ life cycles and the types of wildlife found in various environments.

In the special, there are 4 – 11 minute stories: 

“Stream and Shout” − Nature Cat goes to his Nature Curiosity List for inspiration and finds number 73: “Where do streams begin?” This seemingly simple question leads the gang on an action-packed adventure, as they follow the stream uphill, exploring new environments and meeting all sorts of friendly critters. When they finally find out where the stream begins, they are whoa-ho-ho amazed!

Curriculum: Streams start out as runoff from rain or snow and flow into larger and larger bodies of water, eventually reaching the ocean.

“Hal’s Day Off” − After a silly mishap leaves Hal alone in the big city (well, he does have his chew-toy Mr. Chewinsky with him), it’s up to Nature Cat, Squeeks and Daisy to make their way to the city and find Hal! Even though Hal is having so much fun sightseeing, he will need to get home somehow. When Nature Cat, Squeeks and Daisy can’t locate Hal, they turn for help to animals that they never even knew lived in the city!

Curriculum: Different kinds of wild animals can survive and even thrive in city neighborhoods.

“Tally Ho! A Rainbow” − After a rainstorm (Nature Cat is sure glad it’s over!), Daisy wants to capture a picture of a rainbow for her Granny Bunny, who just loves rainbows! But finding a rainbow is easier said than done, as the four friends trek all over in search of it!

Curriculum: Just after a rainstorm, when the sun comes out, you can stand with your back to it and look for a rainbow in the sky.

“Travelin’ Seeds” − When Daisy finds a beautiful flower in her garden that she didn’t plant, it’s up to Nature Cat and his pals to find out where the flower came from. Their investigation leads them through the park and into the woods, where the clues show them that seeds can actually travel far distances and grow where they land. 

Curriculum: Some plants make seeds that will travel to new growing places to continue the plants’ cycle of life.

Our favorite episode was “Hal’s Day Off” – since we are raising our kids in an urban environment, they loved seeing Nature Cat and his friends running around the city.

If you miss the special on January 18, it will repeat throughout the week of January 18 and will be available free on both pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Video App, which is accessible on a variety of mobile devices and platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One and Chromecast.

Additional new episodes from Nature Cat will also debut throughout the week (check local listings).

On PBSKids.org, check out “Racing Rapids,” an online game in which kids will use systems thinking skills to build a boat racer, then go on a water-based adventure with Nature Cat and his friends. The one- to two-player game lets kids race their favorite Nature Cat character and earn boat parts to unlock new races. From a stream to a river, players will learn how to create the best boat for each level’s environment. As they play the game, watch water-related clips and complete a “Build a Sailboat” DIY activity, kids will also have the opportunity to earn a new badge called “Ahoy Matey!” on pbskids.org/naturecat.

I have been a PBS Kids VIP Parent Ambassador since 2012. I am not compensated for my posts, but I do get perks. I am very proud to work with them and as always, all opinions are my own. 

The post Nature Cat Premieres 1 Hour Special the Week of Jan 18 appeared first on The Mama Maven Blog.

In this seasonal adventure, the Kratts take a break from their fearless questing for creatures to celebrate Christmas. But when they receive an alert that their favorite critters are disappearing around the globe, their holiday celebration quickly turns into a rescue mission.

If you remember, I got a sneak peek at NATURE CAT, PBS Kids’ new action-adventure series at the PBS Annual Meeting in  May. Read that post  here — http://www.themamamaven.com/2015/05/17/meow-nature-cat-is-coming-to-pbs-kids-november-2015. The show stars an ordinary housecat named Fred who becomes his alter-ego, “Nature Cat,” – backyard nature explorer – when his family leaves for the day. Kids will enjoy the fun series and parents will appreciate the retro graphics and the voice cast, which includes Saturday Night Live stars Taran Killam (Nature Cat), Kate McKinnon (Squeeks), Bobby Moynihan (Hal) and Kenan Thompson (Ronald) and Kate Micucci (Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory, Garfunkel and Oates).   

We got a chance to check out both of the shows recently and a fun prize pack.

Now my kids won’t stop asking to watch more Nature Cat (Wild Kratts is already big in our house). It’s a funny show and also teaches about nature. It has the retro look of a late 70’s cartoon and parents will really appreciate the SNL cast members in the show.

This series is created by brothers David Rudman (“Cookie Monster” and “Baby Bear” on SESAME STREET; “Scooter” and “Janice” on The Muppets) and Adam Rudman (Tom & Jerry, SESAME STREET, CYBERCHASE), NATURE CAT is a co-production of Spiffy Pictures and WTTW Chicago.

Tune into PBS Kids, starting November 25 to check out both shows.

The post Wild Kratts Holiday Special & Nature Cat Premieres Nov 25 appeared first on The Mama Maven Blog.

I was excited to hear about two new shows coming to PBS Kids — Nature Cat and Ready Jet Go. This post is going to talk about Nature Cat.

MEOW! Nature Cat is Coming to PBS Kids November 2015. This series is created by brothers David Rudman (“Cookie Monster” and “Baby Bear” on SESAME STREET; “Scooter” and “Janice” on The Muppets) and Adam Rudman (Tom & Jerry, SESAME STREET, CYBERCHASE), NATURE CAT is a co-production of Spiffy Pictures and WTTW Chicago.

And the best part, it’s got comedy and teaches about nature. It’s voiced by Saturday Night Live stars Taran Killam (Nature Cat), Kate McKinnon (Squeeks), Bobby Moynihan (Hal) and Kenan Thompson (Ronald) and Kate Micucci (Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory).  

NATURE CAT premieres on Wednesday, November 25, 2015, and this new animated series, for kids ages 3-8, is designed to encourage children to explore and develop connections with the natural world. It follows Fred, a house cat who transforms into Nature Cat, “backyard explorer extraordinaire.” With the help of his animal friends, Nature Cat embarks on action-packed adventures full of nature investigation, “aha” discovery moments and humor, all while inspiring children to go outside and “play the show.” The backyard in the show is based on the Rudman Brothers’ own backyard from their childhood. 

The show will premiere on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 on PBS KIDS (check local listings). Digital content related to the series, including games, streaming video, hands-on activities and parent resources, will be available in the fall as well.

I have been a PBS Kids VIP Parent since 2012. I am not compensated for my posts, but I do get perks and go to the PBS Annual Meeting every year. I am very proud to work with them and as always, all opinions are my own. 

The post MEOW! Nature Cat is Coming to PBS Kids appeared first on The Mama Maven Blog.