Super Why! - J's New Favorite

J has a new favorite and his name is Super Why!

I found Super Why when I was looking for new reading apps for J to play with. It's really important to me that my boys grow up to be avid readers, and J's at the phase where he's too excited to sit down and read a book, so I have to find other ways to build his reading and language skills. Browsing through top rated software led me to Super Why: ABC Adventures. I wanted to download the iPad app for J, but my resourceful husband was able to find a complete set of episodes of The Reading Adventures of Super Why! which J and Little C now love to watch in the mornings.

Super Why is a series produced by PBS, designed to help preschool-aged kids build the skills they need to learn to read. Basically the series' hero is Whyatt, who turns into the superhero Super Why. Along with his friends Red (from Little Red Riding Hood), Princess Pea (from The Princess and the Pea) and Pig (from the Three Little Pigs), Super Why helps solve a problem that preschoolers can relate to, by finding the answers in stories.

Each episode is around 20 minutes long and starts with a simple problem that Super Why and the Super Readers have to solve. Super Why and his friends, the Super Readers, enter a book. As they go through the book, they play fun word games that helps J with letter identification and basic spelling. I also like that as they go through the episode, they actually read through the book using simple sentences, with the words highlighted as they read so it's easy for J to follow. The activities also build vocabulary because they take new words and define these words in language easy enough for preschoolers to understand. At the end of the book, they solve the problem that came up at the beginning. Often, these problems are integrated with simple lessons about manners and values.

J doesn't generally like new stuff, and when we introduce new shows to him, he asks us to switch it back to Mickey Mouse, Elmo or Ducktales, which are his favorites. But as soon as I played Super Why on the TV, he was engaged and watched an entire episode. Now, when he watches TV, he'll ask us for "Why!" :-)

For those of you who would like to check out Super Why, here's a link to the show's site. There's also a link for parents, where it gives lesson plans and additional activities to build on the lessons that for each episode. Here is a sample of a lesson plan based on the Three Little Pigs episode, and home activities based on the King Eddie Who Loved Spaghetti episode.

I hope your kids like it as much my little Super Reader does! :)