(Disclaimer: Yes, there are some affiliate links below. But the editorial content of this post is still the same as it would be otherwise)
Even before we gave Harley her own tablet, we were looking for video content for her. The reality is that screen time isn’t 100% evil, and honestly, sometimes we all need time to zone out – her in front of a video and me without a two-year-old demanding my complete attention. That said, I still like to encourage her to watch things that expand her mind, teach her something, or are generally worthwhile. I’ve found a bunch of awesome shows for kids, and I thought I’d share them with you, starting with one of my favorites – Creative Galaxy.
What is Creative Galaxy?
Creative Galaxy is an original series that follows Art, an alien kid, who encounters all kinds of daily problems that other kids might as well. Okay, some of them are a bit far-fetched, but anyway… He encounters problems such as wanting to do something special for his dad’s birthday, or wanting to make a house for a cold space bunny, or losing a tooth and needing a way to keep it safe while still playing with a friend. Art fixes it… with art!
Yes, that’s pretty much the premise of each and every show. They set up a problem, and then Arty seeks to fix it with art. Whether this means making a cool breakfast masterpiece out of food, or building a bunny hutch, or sewing a tooth-shaped pouch, he can do it all once he journeys through the creative galaxy to find an art-based solution.
Why do I like it?
I love that art is used as a solution. So often, even art fans wonder about its usefulness in daily life. With Creative Galaxy, there’s always a problem that can be solved with art. It also broadens the idea of what we mean by art. As Arty often exclaims, food can be art! Buildings can be art! Dancing is art!
What’s also quite cool is that they really dive into actual art theory or design. One episode looked at Jackson Pollack and then had the kids solve their problem with action painting. Another episode showed the importance of complementary colors and the color wheel.
Most importantly, Harley adores this show. She likes the opening song, the characters, the general rhythm of the episodes and the fact that some of the episodes include a bunny, her current fascination.
What’s not so great about it?
Obviously, it can get a bit repetitive or silly when EVERY problem Arty encounters ends up with a “let’s fix it… with art!” as the solution. The writing can be a bit awkward sometimes. For example, I absolutely LOVE that they made Arty’s mom an architect – I think that’s a really cool thing for the series to have a working mom in an artistic yet concrete profession – but in one episode he actually says “thanks, architect mom!”. It’s just clunky and weird.
They also have the typical thing that all kids’ shows seem to include these days, which is peek at how normal kids can apply what Arty did in the episode. So if he made food art in the episode, they then show real kids also making art out of food. It’s not the worst thing, but it’s generally my least favorite part of the episode and also doesn’t really keep Harley’s attention as much.
Where is Creative Galaxy available?
Creative Galaxy is an Amazon original series. That means that if you have Amazon Prime, you can already watch it from their streaming service. Even if you’re not based in the US to take advantage of the shipping, Dean and I signed up for Amazon Prime just to get the benefits with games, videos and music, so it might be something worth looking into.
If you’re looking for more fun shows, here are some other kids’ TV series I’ve looked at:
Full Disclosure: Yes, I’ve started using affiliate links. Maybe that’s a sign I’m a real American blogger now. When I talk about products on Amazon, I will use a link and if you click on it, I could get money. But I’ll never talk about products I wouldn’t have mentioned otherwise, and you can always just not click on the links if they offend you. Or, click on them and help me keep a roof over our heads.
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