A new study from WestEd has found that engaging low-income parents and their preschool children with PBS KIDS content and games improves math learning and helps prepare kids for kindergarten. The study examined improvements in preschool kid’s math knowledge and skills by studying families that use online games and at-home activities from the PBS KIDS Lab which features well-known character such as Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and Sid the Science Kid. The study showed that kids who were exposed to these PBS KIDS games and media outscored peers who hadn’t been exposed on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability. 

To read more about this study click here.

We already love PBS Kids resources, especially since so many are also available in Spanish.  In honor of this great resource we have put together a list of our favorite 10 educational PBS Kids math-centered games. Check them out below:

Curious George Games

The Curious George games focus around George’s busy day and how he uses math to get through it. There is something for every kids’ taste at George’s Busy Day. Check out our favorite three games below and then explore all 17 games with your kids!

The Curious George Game Maker is a perfect resource for our bilingual kids. Parents can create a game of their own using all of the tools available in the game maker, and then explain the game to their child in their language of choice. The game maker provides objects, math symbols, grids, and frames. You  are free to creative missing number games, sorting games, counting and graphing, or write out simple math problems.

Curious George train station is the game  your train obsessed niños will love. It’s an interactive math game that prompts kids to do simple math by asking them to match the train lengths in the station.

Apple Picking with George is a mathtastic game. While kids help George pick the right apples they are learning number sequences to identify the missing number.

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Games

The Cat’s Math Safari includes nine different math themed games that all feature familiar Cat in The Hat characters.

The Huff-Puff-A-Tron game encourages kids to identify two-dimensional shapes, patterns, and colors. In order to make the kite fly kids have to correctly match shapes and patterns that go into the huff-puff-a-tron which then makes more wind for the kite. The patterns get more complicated as the game progresses.

Sketch-a-Mite encourages dimensional shape recognition, drawing, and simple physics. The goal is to draw or select shapes to build a tower faster and taller than the termites. There is also the option of simply making the tower without having to beat the termites to it.

 The objet of Beaver City is for kids to help the beavers build their home. To do so they have to compare lengths.

Sid the Science Kid Games

This series of games focuses on games that are all about weather, temperature, and math. Check out all nine Sid the Science Kids games here.

In the game Weather Surprise kids help Gerald match items with the environment with the right temperature.

In Vegetable Harvest kids help Gabriela pick the vegetables in her garden and count them.

 In Vegetable Planting  kids follow Gabriela’s instructions to make sure the seeds go into the right box. Kids practice measuring and measuring vocabulary.

{First photo by  ShashiBellamkonda }

All other images Copyright © 1995 – 2012 PBS. All rights reserved.

Oh Noah/ Noah Comprende

We’ve shared with you before how PBS is embracing bilingualism with their show Oh Noah. For their second season they added even more bilingual fun to their site. Today Oh Noah or Noah Comprende continues to be a fun bilingual resource for kids. Check out the website here.

Sid The Science Kid/ Sid El Niño Científico

Sid The Science Kid is an educational animated series that promotes science readiness in preschool-age kids. Sid uses music and humor that celebrates a child’s natural curiosity. Check out the Spanish website here.

Curious George In Spanish

We all know the lovable Curious George, and we celebrated when PBS made Curious George games available in Spanish. So head on over to the Curious George “juegos” page and enjoy with your niños.

Maya and Miguel

Maya and Miguel features two ten-year-old twins and the many adventures they find themselves in. They live in a diverse neighborhood where their familia and amigos are often part of the crazy situations Maya and Miguel are in. You can find Spanish activities and games at the Maya and Miguel site.

PBS Parents

PBS Parents is an online resource for parents where you can find everything from child development information, education, games, and birthday parties information just to name a few. This page is available in both Spanish and English. Check it out here.

PBS Kids Lab In Spanish

You can find plenty of Spanish games and activities featuring your niños favorite PBS characters in Spanish at the Kids Lab!

Sesame Street

- As we all know Plaza Sésamo is the Spanish version of Sesame Street with an addition of original and lovable Spanish-speaking characters. The show airs on Vme and you can check out their Spanish website for games and tips for parents here.

- In addition, you may also love the the bilingual Sesame Workshops. Below are some of the resources that can be found in the Sesame Workshop.

• Healthy Teeth Healthy Me
• Food For Thought
• Learning Is Everywhere
• Math is Everywhere

 
Special ¡Gracias! to PBS SoCal for providing these resources!

One of our favorite animated characters, the lovable Pocoyó, is celebrating the Olympics with a suite of games, printables, videos and all-around-fun with the Pocoyó Games 2012.

When you visit the Pocoyó Games site  – available in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian — your child can have fun doing any and all of this:

• Pocoyize! Create your own avatar and have it flaunt a tshirt with the flag of the country you’re rooting for. Once you create your avatar, you can represent your country in the Pocoyó Games and also download a personalized video with Pocoyó and his friends!
• Enter Mundo Pocoyó — the show’s virtual land — where you will find a whole lot of Olympic-themed fun.
• Download and create your own diploma or certificate with a drawing of your favorite sport. Then upload it to the gallery for your chance to be one of the 5 winners of an original Pocoyó print from the show.
• Download Pocoyó Olympic-themed activities
• Download a fun Pocoyó Olympic Games screensaver and wallpaper
• Música! Yes, you can download for free a set of Música Pocoyó Games 2012 to get the family in the Olympic spirit!
• There’s many, many videos featuring Pocoyó y sus amigos playing Olympic sports. Check out the full collection in Spanish below.