PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! have a host of fantastic seasonal programming for your youngest. Celebrate the holiday season with new themed episodes from SUPER WHY! and WORDWORLD alongside with returning holiday favorites such as “Arthur’s Perfect Christmas,” CYBERCHASE’s“Starlight Night,” MAYA & MIGUEL’s “Miguel’s Wonderful Life,”and more!
Online, pbskids.org/holidays will offer holiday themed story tools in Dot’s Story Factory, as well as fun winter activities and games to play.
Following is a listing of holiday-themed episodes airing throughout December (please check local listings as airdates and times will vary).
SUPER WHY! * * NEW * *
“’Twas the Night Before Christmas”
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through Storybrook Village, not a creature was stirring…except for Whyatt, who has an important question for Santa! The Super Readers catch up with Santa and his reindeer as they gallop from rooftop to rooftop and unravel the mystery of Santa’s childhood, discovering along the way how to help spread the magic of the holiday.
WORDWORLD * * NEW * *
“The Christmas Star / A Christmas Present for Dog”
“The Christmas Star”
It’s the night before Christmas and Frog needs a star to hang on his Christmas tree. Duck thinks this will be the perfect present for Frog, and tries to lasso one out of the sky for him. Try as he might, Duck is unable to catch a star for Frog, and cries himself to sleep. But while he sleeps, someone leaves him a wonderful present: the letters S-T-A-R…
“A Christmas Present for Dog”
It’s Christmas morning, and all the WordFriends are excited by the presents Santa has brought for them! Pig has a sled, Bear has a doll and Ant has a cookie. But not all the letters for Dog’s present came down his chimney. All he has is a B-A-L. Bear gets filled with the Christmas spirit and makes a sacrifice to ensure Dog’s Christmas will be merry!
CAILLOU – “Winter!”
Wintertime brings lots of new experiences. Sarah teaches Caillou to build a snowman, Dad helps him stay upright on his ice skates (and picks him up when he falls down), and Mom shows Caillou the fine points of downhill skiing, including how not to be afraid of the ski lift. When Caillou and Dad get to the vendor too late to buy a good Christmas tree, they decorate one in the yard instead. All the beautiful colored lights chase away the winter gloom. Also, Caillou learns about the Chinese New Year. He even tries some Chinese delicacies, but most exciting of all, he gets to see the famous dragon dance!
CAILLOU – “Caillou’s Christmas”
Caillou Goes Caroling: Caillou goes out caroling for the very first time with Mommy, Daddy, Rosie, Grandpa and Grandma. He finds out caroling is lots of fun – you get to stay up late and surprise your friends with carols, and you even get treats! They finish up the night with a big finale at the seniors’ home and Caillou imagines he’s really ‘dashing through the snow’ in a horse and sleigh. A Playschool Party: It’s a very special day at playschool as they celebrate the many ways of celebrating the holiday season. The children bring various seasonal objects for show and tell – Caillou brings his Christmas stocking to show. After a potluck feast the children go outside and build a snow fort together. Caillou’s Christmas Eve: It’s finally Christmas Eve and Caillou just can’t wait for nighttime. He’s planning to stay up all night to see Santa, but when the time comes he finds this to be a lot harder than he thought it would be. Just as he’s dozing off he faintly hears Santa calling out “Merry Christmas!” And in the morning his stocking is full of treats!
CAILLOU – “It’s Cold Outside! Brrr!”
When Caillou’s family makes a springtime visit to Jonas’ ranch, he takes them on a sleigh ride to a maple forest where Caillou discovers how the maple sap is collected from maple trees and gets to help collect some. The twins, Jason and Jeffrey, have come to play with Caillou in the snow. An investigation into some small tracks in the snow leads them to a mischievous and playful squirrel that soon has them running around the yard. Exhausted, they drop in the snow and make some tracks of their own: snow angels. When Caillou, Rosie and Mom head to the big park, Caillou sees André and they decide to build a snow fort. Sarah shows up and the boys put the fort to the test as they start a fun snow fight. Caillou and his family are heading to the tobogganing hill! What fun it is to climb the hill and race down surrounded by people having a good time. Caillou is curious when they see a sled dog and his master giving a sled show. He even gets to ride the sled with Rosie! When Mom drives Sarah to her skating lesson, Caillou decides he wants to take skating lessons too!
FRANNY’S FEET – “Reindeer to the Rescue/It’s a Big Job”
“Reindeer to the Rescue” – Franny travels to northern Scandinavia, where she meets a young reindeer named Romper, who wishes he were bigger, and had antlers like his dad. Franny tries to help Romper by putting branches on his head to look like antlers. When a baby hare ends up trapped in a small hole, only Romper is small enough to rescue it. Romper and Franny learn that being a grown-up is nice, but you’re never too small to be a big help.
“It’s a Big Job” – Franny travels to the middle of the woods, where she meets Woody, an eager beaver who is trying to build a dam. Woody is in a big hurry to finish, but he can’t figure out how to block the water. Franny convinces him that if he hurries too much, he won’t be successful. Woody follows Franny’s advice, carefully building a dam.
FRANNY’S FEET – “Season’s Greetings/Opening Night Jitters”
“Season’s Greetings” – Franny travels to Israel, where she meets Jacob, a young boy whose family is preparing for Hanukkah. Franny learns about celebrating the holiday by cooking special foods, playing with a dreidel and lighting the menorah. She also learns the importance of doing good deeds.
“Opening Night Jitters” – Franny travels to a magic show rehearsal where she meets Jitters, a little rabbit who is afraid of the dark. Jitters is too scared to get inside the magician’s hat, and considers quitting the show. Franny finds a way to help Jitters overcome his fear so the show – and Jitters – can go on.
JAY JAY THE JET PLANE – “Christmas Story #1 and #2”
Christmas Day is approaching in Tarrytown and everyone is busy getting ready. Snuffy and Big Jake are in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Jay Jay is trying to finalize his wish-list and Tracy and Herky have a plan to meet Santa. Then, tis the night before Christmas and all is not well. When a snowstorm blows in, the planes are worried tat Santa will not make it to Tarrytown. In a turn of events, the planes help Santa deliver his presents.
MAMA MIRABELLE’S HOME MOVIES – “A Savanna Kwanzaa/You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby”
“A Savannah Kwaanza” – Everyone on the Savannah is coming to Mama’s big Kwanzaa celebration — which leads to a discussion (and some movies) about Animal the seemingly endless variety (and names) of animal families. In the end, Karla comes up with a name for their little inter-species family — a “furry” of friends.
“You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” – When Kip, Flip, and Chip (the monkey brothers) have a new cousin (Pip). No one (but especially Bo) can believe that they were ever that small. Mama has some movies that prove otherwise — making for one cute film festival.
For early elementary school children, check these out:
ARTHUR – “Arthur’s Perfect Christmas”
Everyone’s favorite aardvark gives kids a new spin on seasonal traditions in his first one-hour prime time special, showing children many ways to celebrate “the holidays.” Plans are underway in Elwood City for the best holidays ever as Arthur, D.W., their family and friends make preparations for perfect gifts, perfect parties and perfect family traditions for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even “Baxter Day” (Buster and his mom’s special celebration). The only problem is, just like in real life, perfection is hard to attain and things start to fall apart.
CYBERCHASE – “Starlight Night”
It’s Starlight Night, the annual holiday when all the stars in Cyberspace are refreshed for the new year. But Hacker concocts a scheme to darken the stars of cyberspace forever. He sends Buzz and Delete to stop all production of the new star circuits and take inventor Archimedes away to the Northern Frontier. With the ceremony only hours away, the kids and Digit must find a simple way to make the complex circuits and rescue Archimedes – all before Hacker turns out the lights in Cyberspace!
CYBERCHASE – “When Penguins Fly”
Penguins can’t fly – or can they? In Cyberspace, on one special night each year, the penguins of Penguia take flight to deliver gifts to young borgs across the virtual universe. For the first time ever, the CyberSquad’s friend Fluff is participating, and invites his pals Matt, Jackie, Inez and Digit to join him in the impressive Penguin March. They head to the Ice Palace, where the gifts are made and where magic snowflakes are sprinkled on the penguins so they can fly. But Hacker, up to his usual ruinous tricks, doesn’t want a happy holiday (let alone happy little borgs) so he creates a giant ditch in front of the Ice Palace and traps all the penguins in its icy depths! The CyberSquad must get the penguins ice-shoes so they can climb out before midnight, but how many do they need? With too many to count, the answer lies in the kids’ ability to sample the penguin population to make a close estimate. Can the CyberSquad save the penguins and their favorite holiday too?
CYBERCHASE – “Snow Day to be Exact”
Hacker steals the powerful sunisphere from Solaria, causing the cyberworld’s sunny vacation paradise to be covered in snow! In a fun-filled chase across the snowy terrain, the kids discover the power and speed of estimation in order to recover the glowing orb from Buzz and Delete before the temperature reaches zero and the site freezes over forever.
MAYA & MIGUEL – “Miguel’s Wonderful Life”
It’s Christmas and the Santos family is getting ready for the festivities. Maya, in her enthusiasm, manages to mess up things for Miguel: she spills juice on his book report, volunteers him to hang a piñata in class (a task which makes him take a humiliating fall), volunteers him to wear a too-big Santa suit and follow her around wishing their neighbors happy holidays (his pants fall down in front of everyone), and smudges a painting he was making as a gift to his parents. Frustrated, Miguel angrily declares that he wishes he never had a sister. The next day, he awakens to find his wish has come true; Maya doesn’t exist, and nobody’s ever heard of her. Paco (who has inexplicably become incredibly articulate) follows him around, commenting as Miguel takes in how the world has changed. At first, it seems like all his Maya-made troubles are over, but then Miguel sees how the lack of Maya’s influence has adversely affected the world: Maggie and Chrissy aren’t friends because they had a difference of opinion (which Maya had previously helped them overcome), Mr. Nguyen isn’t their teacher because he felt unappreciated (Maya had made him feel appreciated), Jimmy McCorkle became a bully, etc. Finally realizing how much worse everything is without Maya, Miguel regrets he ever made the wish, and wishes it all to be reversed. Poof! The world goes back to normal. Maya is back, Miguel’s painting is still ruined, and Miguel couldn’t be happier to have a twin sister.
