Activity

Interviewing

Interviewing is the skill of asking someone a question and then actually listening to the answer. For young children it starts as curiosity about other people: what they do, how they know things, why they care about it. A calm series built around asking and listening shows a child that questions are a normal way to learn, and that waiting for an answer is part of the fun.

For 4-year-olds

Four-year-olds start asking questions with a purpose. They want to solve something, and they begin to understand that different people know different things, so you ask the person who would know. Interviewing here looks like gathering clues: asking a witness what they saw, checking one answer against another. A good series at this age makes the asking visible, repeats the question back, and shows the answers adding up to something. That structure gives a child a model for their own conversations.

S03 E06

The Creature Cases

The Stranger in the Burrow

Balanced

recommended age co-watching from 3

Two animal detectives, Sam Snow and Kit Casey, are called to a prairie dog town to find out who the mysterious stranger living in one of the burrows is. They travel across the grassland, question animal witnesses like a tortoise, and study clues on their creature-analysis screens before crawling through the underground tunnels. Working through the evidence step by step, they identify the newcomer and show it is harmless. The prairie dog community's worry turns to calm, and the case is closed.

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For 5-year-olds

By five, a child can hold a goal in mind across a whole story and follow up on an answer instead of jumping to a new question. This is where real interviewing appears: asking an expert, an elder or a neighbour, listening carefully, and asking one more thing based on what was just said. Look for a series that shows respect for the person being asked, gives them room to answer in full, and lets the child character use what they learned. Interviewing becomes both a research tool and a way of connecting with the people around you.

S01 E03

Molly of Denali

Grandpa's Drum

Balanced

recommended age co-watching from 2

Molly finds an old photograph of her grandfather Nat as a boy, singing and drumming with a young girl, and learns that he no longer sings because he gave his drum away long ago. With her friend Tooey, she uses clues in the photo (mountains, a water tower, train tracks, and partial letters on a sign) to locate the town of Tiritchik and find the now-grown woman who still has the drum. The elder Shyahtsoo explains that at boarding school Native children were forbidden from singing their own songs, which is why Grandpa stopped. Molly returns the drum, and during the community show Grandpa rediscovers his songs and drums alongside her, followed by a live-action segment of Alaska Native children sharing their own traditions.

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