Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Log in Start free

Donkey Hodie

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 2

Balanced

Exact score locked

Watch on

PBS Kids

Save

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie and her friends solve small everyday problems together in the colorful puppet town of Someplace Else. The tone is warm and playful, aimed at toddlers, with gentle lessons in friendship and perseverance.

Models calming down when frustrated or upset.
Encourages perseverance and learning from mistakes.
Lots of imaginative, invented play.
Friends sometimes argue before making up.
The tone can become loud and overexcited.

See the exact scores

The review is yours to read. Create a free account to reveal the exact SlowScreen score and every pillar score.

Create free account

Score Breakdown

The pacing stays brisk throughout, with images following one another quickly so there is little pause to take in each moment. Sound is consistently present and regularly pulls attention, while the visuals stay clearly organized and easy to read as a whole. Most stories land in a comfortable, easy-to-follow range, though a few, such as 'The Royal Sandcastle Builders' and 'The Potato Stand', push a little harder and feel more intense for the youngest viewers. On balance the sensory load is manageable for the recommended age, with the steady, well-ordered visuals offsetting the quick cutting.

Every episode follows a single, clear goal from beginning to end, whether building a rest nest for tired birds, learning to bounce a ball ten times, or settling a baby down for a nap. Events arrive in a logical order of plan, attempt, mistake, and repair, and cause and effect stay easy to read, like sorting blocks by size so the tower stands. New information comes in small, manageable pieces, usually one fresh idea at a time, so a young child can hold the thread throughout. An occasional running gag or wordy exchange adds a little extra to track, but it never muddles the main story.

Feelings stay gentle and are handled with care. Characters name their emotions out loud, support one another, and never mock or shame, with lines like 'You okay, bud?' and 'I'm sorry you're feeling so frustrated.' Real disappointment and frustration do appear, but comfort and a fresh idea follow close behind, so a child is rarely left sitting in distress. In a few stories the upset, such as two friends declaring they cannot be friends anymore, arrives fairly suddenly before reassurance lands, though the repair always comes within the same episode.

The characters set their own goals and work problems out themselves, thinking aloud with a familiar 'Think, Donkey Hodie, think' before trying an idea, watching it fail, and adjusting. Trial and error is shown openly, like ruling out what makes the ball wobble until focusing on a fixed point finally works, so children see persistence and learning from mistakes rather than a lucky fix. Initiative usually belongs to the characters, and solutions grow from real reasoning, such as offering to wash and sort the neighbours' potatoes once the friends realize that is the actual need. In a few stories the key insight is handed over by a grown-up like Grampy rather than discovered alone, which softens the independent problem-solving.

The dialogue is built from short, concrete sentences and words a young child can picture, and it names feelings plainly, with characters describing themselves as 'disappointed' or 'frustrated.' Helpful repetition, like the refrain 'slow is the way to go' or a fishing rhyme, reinforces meaning rather than padding it. Alongside the useful talk sits a steady stream of playful sounds and chants, the yodels and the 'hee-haw' and 'bow wow' calls, which carry feeling more than information. Some vocabulary reaches above this age, from King Friday's 'good morrow' and 'salutations' to cheese words like 'gorgonzola', though the everyday words stay well within reach.

The everyday lessons are real and usable: make a plan, take turns, calm down when upset, apologize, share, and keep trying after a mistake. The social and emotional threads transfer most directly, since arranging a playdate, comforting a hurt friend, or settling a baby for a nap mirror situations a young child meets at home. Because the stories play out in a make-believe world of talking animals, a chatty cloud, and magic boxes, much of the on-screen action does not map straight onto daily life. Hands-on moments like making lemonade or building a sandcastle are the parts a child can most easily carry into real play.

More information

The cast is made up entirely of animal puppets and creatures in the imagined world of Someplace Else, so the human variety a child might recognize from their own life, different cultural backgrounds, family forms, ages, and bodies, is largely absent and the picture of who appears stays narrow. Within that limit, roles and initiative are shared evenly: characters lead and help on equal footing, good ideas come from across the group, and a full range of feelings is open to everyone without being tied to character type. An older generation is acknowledged through Grampy, who hosts game days and once ran his own potato stand. This balanced, cooperative dynamic holds steady throughout, even as the breadth of represented lives remains limited.

The stories unfold in a make-believe world of talking animals, a chatty cloud, and the town of Someplace Else, yet they stay anchored in everyday ideas a child knows: waiting, building something together, settling a baby, or making up after an argument. There is no villain anywhere; the only obstacles are a practical problem, a new skill, or a wave of feelings, and they are solved through kindness, patience, and teamwork rather than by defeating anyone. The imagined world keeps its own consistent logic, with a potato machine or a button-press box behaving just as it was introduced. The blend leans a touch more fantastical than the most grounded stories for the very youngest, but the calm tone and familiar situations keep it easy to follow.

If you land on the couch for this one, you get more than most toddler fare offers. The puppet craft is genuinely polished, the stories hold together as real little arcs rather than loops, and a handful of jokes sail straight over the kids' heads at you, from a 'Two Chickens of Verona' bit to the steady run of cheese puns. The voices stay gentle on adult ears, so it never grates on you. The main wear is the looping refrains and the constant yodeling, which can thin by the end of a sitting, but on the whole this is an easy room to sit in.

Some episodes pack several short stories into one video; each story gets its own review.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

The Yodel Birds Are Coming

recommended age 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.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

A Lot of Hot!

recommended age 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

Donkey Hodie

The Royal Sandcastle Builders

recommended age co-watching from 2

At a sunny beach, King Friday sets out to build a royal sandcastle but keeps getting frustrated when it does not work. Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda join him as the Royal Sandcastle Builders and discover that each of them calms down a different way, by running in small circles, by playing the bongos, or by doing a slow stretch. Once they have managed their frustration, they work out that adding water makes the sand hold together. They finish a castle that looks just like King Friday's real one.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Bobski Bounce

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie is set on completing the Bobski Bounce challenge: bouncing on a ball ten times in a row to earn a place on the 'big board.' With her friend Bob Dog cheering her on, she tries again and again and falls every time. Bob Dog shares how he learned to balance a bone on his nose by keeping his head still and focusing on a tree, and Donkey realizes her own head has been moving. She focuses on a fixed point, bounces ten times in a row, and the friends celebrate with a song about learning from mistakes.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Cheesy Con

recommended age 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

Donkey Hodie

Stanley's One-Dragon Show

recommended age co-watching from 2

Stanley the dragon prepares a one-dragon show in the park and insists on performing every act by himself. When the orchestra, the magic trick, and a dramatic chicken scene each go wrong, his friend Donkey Hodie and others, Harriet and DuckDuck, coach him through them step by step. Stanley discovers that some problems need help and finishes the full show to a puppet audience's applause. He thanks each friend by name before the closing credits.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Acornball

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda are eager to play Game Show Gator's new game, but the Penguin Referee keeps telling them it is not ready yet. To make the wait fun, Donkey Hodie invents a game called Acorn Ball, tossing acorns into a bucket, and the friends keep adding new rules like an excited dance, a Stinky Cheese Rock sniff, and a yodel. By the time the new game is finally ready, everyone is enjoying Acorn Ball so much that Game Show Gator joins in too.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Super Duper Magic Fun Box

recommended age co-watching from 2

Best friends Donkey Hodie and Panda receive a Super Duper Magic Fun Box from Uncle Panda that produces a bouncing ball, a music baton, and a coconut robot at the push of a button. They discover they don't enjoy the same things, with Donkey loving the baton while Panda finds it too loud, and Panda loving the robot that frightens Donkey. Believing this means they can no longer be best friends, they are saddened until Grampy helps them, through a song, see that friends can disagree if they talk and listen. They reconcile, agree that liking each other matters most, and end by sharing Squishy Lemon Hugs.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

The Potato Stand

recommended age 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

Donkey Hodie

Clyde's Surprise Playdate

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie learns that his friend Clyde the Cloud has never had a playdate, so he floats up into the sky to give him one. The two discover they are very different, a cloud who drifts and rains and a donkey who runs and plays, and their first tries at catch and spinning do not work. A song about differences and a flashback to Donkey's first playdate with Purple Panda help them see that being unalike can lead to new games. They end up inventing floating tag, bird-call games and Ring Around the Rainbow, and plan another playdate for the next day.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Yodel Bird Sitting

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie is babysitting a baby yodel bird in the puppet world of Someplace Else. When it is time for the baby's nap, he refuses to settle, so Donkey Hodie and her friends Purple Panda and Duck Duck each try the tricks that helped them sleep as little ones: quiet peekaboo, a slow nap dance and a nap book. Nothing works until they decide to think about what the baby himself needs, soothing him with rocking, a gentle breeze and a yodel lullaby. The baby finally falls asleep, and the tired friends admit they feel like napping too.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Superhero Squabble

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie and her best friend Panda play superheroes and invent a mission to protect a mailbox from a made-up 'mailbox snacker'. They disagree about whose pretend power is better, and the argument grows until they declare maybe they should not be friends anymore. Each one takes a deep breath to calm down, sings about whether their friendship is over, and works up the courage to apologize. They make up, agree that friends can argue and still be best friends, and team up to finish their superhero game.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie and her visiting cousin plan a day of outdoor games, but rain cancels everything and the cousin feels let down. Donkey Hodie introduces a 'rainstorm brainstorm' and together they find rainy-day fun: splashing in puddles, smelling flowers, sharing a snack with Purple Panda, and reading a story with Grampy about a magical rainbow tree. When the rain keeps them from seeing the real rainbow, the friends make their own friend rainbow out of friends in every color. The rain finally stops, the rainbow tree bursts into color, and the cousins celebrate their day together.

Donkey Hodie

Donkey Hodie

Grampy's Guppies

recommended age co-watching from 2

Donkey Hodie and Cousin Hodie head to Grampy's house for game day and play 'Grampy's Guppies,' a fishing game where you take turns catching guppies. Cousin is new and keeps missing, reeling in a radio and windows instead, while Donkey grows frustrated waiting for his turn. Grampy helps Donkey see that learning something new takes time, and Donkey starts cheering Cousin on instead. Cousin finally catches a guppy, and the cousins keep happily playing together.

Related media

Other series that fit this age group

Bing

Bing

recommended age co-watching from 2

Bing is a young rabbit exploring everyday moments with his caregiver Flop, at home, the park and outdoors. The tone is calm and reassuring, aimed at toddlers, with gentle emotional and social lessons.

Carl the Collector

Carl the Collector

recommended age co-watching from 4

Carl the Collector follows a young raccoon who loves collecting and sorting, exploring everyday life with his animal friends in Fuzzy Town. Warm and calm, it offers young children gentle social and emotional learning.

Ready Eddie GO!

Ready Eddie GO!

recommended age co-watching from 2

Ready Eddie GO! follows a young boy guided step by step through new everyday experiences like swimming, camping and starting school. The tone is calm and reassuring for preschoolers learning to handle new situations and feelings.

Barney's World

Barney's World

recommended age co-watching from 2

Barney's World follows a purple dinosaur and young friends turning an everyday city park into imaginative pretend adventures. The tone is warm and gentle for toddlers, with a focus on feelings and getting along.

Explore more

By age 2 years

By platform PBS Kids

Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Create your account

We use functional cookies and Google Analytics to improve our site. Learn more