Activity
Planning
Planning is how children learn to hold an idea in mind and work out the steps to get there. For young children it starts small, with knowing what comes next in the day, and grows into thinking ahead, gathering what is needed, and adjusting when something does not work. A calm, clearly told story about planning gives a child time to follow each step and see how one action leads to the next, which is far harder to pick up from a rushed or noisy one.
For 2-year-olds
At two, planning is mostly about order and prediction. A toddler is learning that the day has a shape, that shoes come before going outside and a bath comes before bed. Look for stories with a steady, repeating structure and one simple goal at a time, where the same steps come back in the same order. Slow pacing matters here more than the plot itself, because a two-year-old needs the time to notice the pattern and start anticipating what comes next.
Donkey Hodie
The Potato Stand
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda set up a potato stand in the puppet world of Someplace Else to share Donkey's home-grown potatoes with the neighbours. They try a potato call, a song and a disco dance, but every neighbour already has potatoes and complains about the long job of washing, drying and sorting them. The friends change their plan and use Grampy's potato washer-dryer-sorter-dumper machine to do that chore for everyone instead. The neighbours are grateful, and Donkey ends the day feeling potato proud, just like Grampy.
Donkey Hodie
A Lot of Hot!
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
On a sweltering day in the puppet town of Someplace Else, Donkey Hodie decides to cool everyone down by opening a lemonade stand with her friend Duck Duck. Duck Duck wants to follow a careful step-by-step plan, but Donkey rushes ahead her own way, grabs an enormous lemon, and ends up with no lemonade and a wrecked stand. Duck Duck is hurt that Donkey did not listen, so Donkey finds her, apologizes, and admits the plan would have worked. Together they follow the plan, make the lemonade, and cool down the whole town.
Donkey Hodie
Cheesy Con
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda plan an exciting day at CheesyCon, a cheese celebration, but Donkey sprains her hoof and a doctor advises her to rest at home. Determined to be a helpful friend, Panda stays with her and brings the event to her instead, with a cheese sing-along, a puppet play, and a pretend visit from Captain Cheese. Along the way he tries and abandons ideas that do not work, like carrying her, before landing on one that does. The episode ends with Donkey calling Panda the most helpful hero as the two sing a cheese song together.
Donkey Hodie
The Yodel Birds Are Coming
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Donkey Hodie and her friends Bob Dog, Duck Duck and Purple Panda wait for the yodel birds to fly past their hills. They discover the birds never sing here because they are too tired from the long journey, so the friends decide to build a rest nest where the birds can stop. The two building teams keep rushing and their tower falls down, until they learn to slow down and sort the blocks by size. The nest is finished, the yodel birds rest, and they finally yodel before continuing their trip.
Ready Eddie GO!
Stargazing
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Eddie, a boy whose favourite thing is space, gets ready to go stargazing in his garden and is joined by his friend Akeel. A guiding voice walks him through each step: choosing a clear spot, setting out chairs, a torch and binoculars, dressing warmly, waiting for dark and turning off lights, then looking up at stars, planets and constellations. Eddie shares facts and is reminded to check whether Akeel has any questions. When it is time to stop, Eddie is reluctant, but Akeel reassures him he can stargaze again, and the episode closes with a recap of the steps.
For 3-year-olds
Three-year-olds begin to say out loud what they want to do before doing it, and to fetch what they need for it. This is where a plan becomes visible: an idea, a few things to collect, a result. Stories that state the goal clearly, show two or three steps toward it, and let characters talk through what they are doing suit this stage well. Keep an eye out for episodes that give a child room to guess the next step rather than rushing to the finish.
Phoebe & Jay
Fire Drill
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Siblings Phoebe and Jay, with their dad, grandmother, a young friend named Lupe and Fire Inspector Josie, learn about fire safety in their apartment building, Topsy Towers. They find safety tools, learn what exit signs and the emergency exit are for, and build a family fire safety plan with three steps: stop, exit, and wait at a meeting place. When Lupe is frightened by the loud alarm, a grandmother teaches a calming breathing trick. The family practices the drill, completes all three steps, and receives Safety Squad badges.
Work It Out Wombats
Junior Supers
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Grandma Super hurts her toe and cannot finish the last job on her to-do list, so young wombats Zadie and Malik take on cleaning the Starlight Room before Kiki's exercise class while little Zeke pretends to be her nurse. A fan shortcut backfires and scatters the mess, and a few more tries leave the room worse. Remembering Grandma's song, the wombats break the big job into smaller jobs and put them in order, and the room is ready in time. The episode ends with the siblings breaking down one more job: cleaning their own messy room.
Shape Island
Square's Big Prank
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Square, a tidy square who likes everything in its place, is pranked every morning by his friend Triangle. Square decides to prank back and, with advice from Circle and a crystal-cave oracle to go bigger, huger, then enormous, he keeps escalating his attempts. His small tricks all fail, but the enormous one accidentally knocks down Triangle's whole house and a mountain. Instead of being upset, Triangle is thrilled and declares their prank war will never end.
For 4-year-olds
By four, a child can hold a longer plan in mind and cope with it going sideways. Plans start involving other people, sharing out jobs, waiting for a turn, changing course when something is missing. Useful stories at this age show a plan that does not work the first time and characters who calmly try another way. Watching a problem get taken apart into steps helps a four-year-old do the same with building projects, tidying up, and getting ready on time.
Helpsters
Astronaut Amrita
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
The Helpsters, a team of puppets who run a problem-solving help shop, are asked by astronaut Amrita to deliver a birthday present to her friend Pete before she launches to the moon. They make a plan with four jobs, find out that Pete lives in a red house near the park, read a map, and give step-by-step directions to reach his door. Along the way they travel through a real city and ask neighbours for help. When they arrive, Pete opens the box to find a party, and the group celebrates completing their plan.
Helpsters
Wayne of Wonder
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Wayne, a window washer, decides he wants to become a magician but does not know a single trick. The helpsters, a group of problem-solving monsters, make a three-step plan: find a magician, watch a trick, and learn to do it. They meet Dazzling Deandra at a laundromat, who teaches them about patterns and performs the Tube of Wonder before disappearing. By working out the hidden steps together, Wayne performs the trick himself and is invited to join Deandra's show.
Helpsters
Singing Starlett
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
The Helpsters, monsters who run a shop for solving problems, meet the Singing Starlet, who could not sleep because of construction noise and has a concert the next day. They make a plan and split into three jobs: a custom pillow, a bedtime story, and a bear to snuggle. Along the way they choose a pillow color by ruling out options, reorder the mixed-up pages of a knight-and-dragon story, and sort out which kind of bear she meant. She finally falls asleep, wakes up rested, and is delighted to find she can sing again.
Helpsters
Rita Reader
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Rita Reader visits the helpsters Cody, Scatter and Heart because she dropped her favourite book in the bath and never learned how it ends. The team makes a three-part plan, goes to a large public library, and with a librarian's help sorts books by make-believe versus real, then by space theme, then by the cactus, lasso and balloon on the cover. They find a fresh copy of 'Sunny Rodeo Space Cowboy' and read the finale, in which Sunny throws a second lasso to catch the cactus and save the balloon planet. The episode closes with the group singing softly in the library about high fives and handshakes.
Helpsters
Dancer Dave
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Cody and the Helpsters, a team of helpful monsters, run a shop where they solve visitors' problems. When Dancer Dave arrives unable to think of a new dance for a special show, the Helpsters make a plan with two jobs: choose a song and create a dance. Scatter narrows a whole room of records down to one by matching Dave's clues, while Mr. Prim builds the dance and learns to repeat moves using a loop. Joined by Heart, Dave performs his new dance for his mom, and everyone celebrates that the plan solved the problem.
Helpsters
Barbara Birdwatcher
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Barbara, a birdwatcher, visits the Helpsters' help shop because she has seen every bird except the yellow warbler. The team makes a three-part plan: learn the bird's call, find where it lives, and call it to them. They practise the call, read that the bird lives near trees, grass and water, and take a walking tour until they find a real park with all three. Waiting quietly behind a bush, they call out and spot the warbler, completing Barbara's list, then celebrate with a song about the difference a plan makes.
Puffin Rock
The Fallen Rocks
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 4
On a calm Irish island, the young puffin Una and her baby brother Baba discover that fallen rocks have trapped their neighbour Bernie inside his grotto. Una gathers Mae the rabbit, Mossy the shrew and even the red crabs, and after a shaky start works out a plan so each animal moves rocks in the way they do best. Together they clear the pile and free Bernie, who happily heads straight back into his cave. A narrator guides the events and closes by praising the friends for their hard work.
Helpsters
Robbie & Rhonda Runner
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Cody and Heart run a shop where a team of Helpsters solves problems for visitors. Robbie and Rhonda Runner arrive because they have each won ten races and cannot tell who is faster, so the group makes a plan split into three jobs: find a place to race, make a ribbon prize, and get water. They turn the short track into a longer race by looping it twice, sort out a water mix-up, and hold the race. Rhonda crosses the line first while Robbie is celebrated as the best harmonica player, and the episode closes with a song about the difference a plan makes.
Helpsters
Heart's Family Photo
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
A customer named Hart visits the Helpsters because he misses his big family and wants a photo where every face can be seen. Cody's team makes a plan with three jobs: gather the family, find a camera, and take the picture. They round up Hart's relatives from a hotel, a pizza place and beyond, then work through several failed attempts as the family follows every command literally. In the end they hit on asking whoever is yellow to turn toward the camera, and Hart finally gets his good family photo.
Helpsters
Paleontologist Paloma
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
A paleontologist named Paloma comes to the Helpsters workshop because her new dinosaur fossil, a Herrerasaurus, arrived in many pieces. Cody and his team of monsters make a plan with three jobs: figure out what the fossil looks like, put it together, and display it. They travel to a real natural history museum, use a dinosaur book to guide them, and assemble the skeleton piece by piece. When it will not fit in the elevator, they take it apart, sing a song to remember each part, and rebuild it upstairs just as a school group arrives.
For 5-year-olds
Five-year-olds can plan across a whole story: setting a goal, weighing two ways to reach it, checking progress along the way. They also notice when a plan was badly thought out, which makes setbacks a genuine part of the fun rather than a disappointment. Look for stories with a plan that spans the full episode, characters who think aloud about their choices, and endings where the outcome depends on the thinking rather than on luck or a grown-up stepping in.
Fancy Nancy
Shoe La La!
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Nancy falls in love with a pair of forty-dollar red shoes and is told by both parents that they cost too much for shoes she cannot wear every day. After learning the difference between a want and a need, she decides to earn the money herself through extra chores like weeding the garden and saving her piggy bank money. At the store she is caught out by sales tax and comes up short, then earns a tip by giving another shopper honest shoe advice. She finally has enough and buys the red shoes.
Rosie's Rules
The New Park
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Rosie, a curious girl, and her friends spend the day at a neighborhood park with a slide, swings and climbing equipment. When sharing the play space gets crowded, Rosie sets out to work out fair ways for everyone to take turns, using her imagination to picture how a park can serve a whole community. Her friends add their own ideas, and together they settle on a plan. By the end the children are playing together happily.
Helpsters
Amazing Alie
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Cody and the other Helpsters, monsters who run a workshop for solving problems, welcome a customer named Amazing Alie, an explorer who wants to climb Mount Tallmount but does not know how to prepare. The monsters make a plan and split it into three jobs: sewing a climbing outfit that works in hot and cold weather, building a cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich in the right order, and finding a backpack to carry supplies. They work through each problem step by step, with songs about the value of a plan. By the end Alie has everything she needs and heads off to climb the mountain.
The Berenstain Bears
Trick or Treat
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
On Halloween night, the bear cubs Brother and Sister plan their trick-or-treat route but decide to skip Witter Jones' house because they believe she is a witch who turns cubs into statues. Mama insists she is a kind neighbor from her quilting class, so the cubs eventually knock, cross paths with the Too-Tall gang who came to cause trouble, and briefly think their friends have been enchanted. They discover Witter Jones is warm and playful, hands out candy apples, and turns her spooky tricks on the bullies. The family ends the night at home, with Papa heading back out for a candy apple of his own.
T.O.T.S
The Purrfect Little Helper
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 4
Pip the penguin and Freddy the flamingo learn that their boss Captain Beekman is expecting a baby and offer to finish her to-do list of baby food, a crib and toys while delivering a kitten named Mia. Believing the baby will be a bird, they set up the wrong kind of room. The delivery reveals that Mia herself is Captain Beekman's baby, and a song explains that families come in all shapes and sizes. The pair redo the nursery for a kitten and agree to become Mia's babysitters.
Pete the Cat
The Band's First Gig
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 2
Pete the Cat and his friends practise as a band and decide to surprise the whole town with a concert at the picnic. Callie makes a detailed plan, but nerves set in and then a strong wind blows away the backdrop and drowns out their music. Remembering his brother Bob's advice to focus on having fun rather than on the plan, Pete leads the band to play anyway. They enjoy themselves, the town cheers, and their first gig turns out to be a success.
Goldie
Petey the Stargazer
recommended age
Unlock
co-watching from 3
Petey, a boy who loves stargazing, decides aliens must not be real after a supposed UFO turns out to be a blimp. His friends Goldie and Romeo, unwilling to let him lose that wonder, secretly stage crop circles, a homemade UFO and an alien visitor named Zor-Zor, and soon the whole town of Boysenburg prepares a welcome. When Petey discovers it was all his friends' doing, he decides that having friends like them means anything is possible and keeps believing. The segment ends with the group back at their telescopes and a short teaser for the next story.