Chad Comello

Tag: Wild Kratts

  • We Went Wild Kratts

    Last weekend we went to Wild Kratts Live! on stage in Madison. It’s basically an extended, supercharged episode of the show, with Chris and Martin Kratt in various animal costumes and doing silly antics while teaching about creature powers along the way. It was a thrill to be in a large amphitheater packed with kids and grownups who love their work as much as we do, singing along to the theme song and interacting during the show as if it were The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

    As for the brothers themselves, we were a little starstruck to see them in person considering they’re in the PBS Host Pantheon along with Fred Rogers, Bob Ross, and Julia Child. Their pure enthusiasm for animals and nature is infectious and honestly inspiring. At their age they most likely wouldn’t be hoofing it on stage in giant animal costumes for an hour and a half in a national tour if they didn’t totally love what they do.

    Their enduring power was evident in the huge cheer at the end of the show when they announced 20 new episodes were coming, including one on the family-favorite axolotl. You know we’ll be watching!

  • My sons’ media of the moment

    A spinoff of an ongoing series

    Yotos and Tonies. All day every day. Seriously great screen-free stories, learning, and music for the 5 year old, and something to hold and play with for the 18 month old. Great holiday gifts too for the parents/kids in your life.

    Card games. The 5 year old has gotten big into Uno and enjoyed learning others like Old Maid and Slapjack. It’s been fun to watch his strategy evolve to the point where I don’t even have to consider letting him win since he wins plenty on his own.

    Board games. While at the library a while back with the 5 year old, on a lark we sat down at their public chess board and I started teaching him the basics. He was hooked, so we got our own teaching set for home. Strategic thinking for chess has taken longer to develop but he’ll get there.

    Books. The 18 month old’s current favorites: The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss, Find the Duck by Stephen Cartwright, Moimoi—Look At Me! by Jun Ichihara, and more. The 5 year old’s current favorites: the InvestiGators comics series, Pokémon character books, and a variety of library picture books.

    The Wild Kratts theme song. Obviously we still watch the show itself often, since it’s usually the 5 year old’s pick for his limited screentime. But for some reason the 18 month old really loves the theme song, so when he gets upset while in the car (which is often), we’ll play a YouTube video that plays the song over and over again. Shoutout to whomever made that video!

  • My sons’ media of the moment

    A spinoff of an ongoing series

    Raffi. His greatest hits have been on heavy rotation as it seems to be the only music that calms down our 8 month old when he’s upset, which is often.

    Hamster maze videos on YouTube. The 4 year old is delighted by these. Random but could be a lot worse.

    Who Smarted? A fun and educational podcast for kids about all kinds of topics.

    Toniebox. As audio players for kids go, we’ve hitherto been a hardcore Yoto family. But several characters the 4 year old loves are only available as Tonies (Wild Kratts among them), so he got several for Christmas. It’s nice to have more variety for listening, even if the overall experience is less ideal than Yoto.

    Mr. Men and Little Miss. The 4 year old has been on a kick with this book series. We own an old copy of Little Miss Scatterbrain but we got more of them from the library and he just loves them. He especially loves looking at the grid of characters on the back covers and asking us what each of their names are.