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Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day

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This episode is one video with 2 short stories. Each story gets its own review and score.

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 2

Balanced

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Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day

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Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2

Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Donkey Hodie and her visiting cousin plan a day of outdoor games, but rain cancels everything and the cousin feels let down. Donk...

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https://slowscreen.com/en/series/donkey-hodie/s2/e14a-cousin-hodies-rainy-day

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/donkey-hodie/s2/e14a-cousin-hodies-rainy-day

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Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Donkey Hodie and her visiting cousin plan a day of outdoor games, but rain cancels everything and the cousin feels let down. Donk...

Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2
Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2

slowscreen.com

Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Donkey Hodie and her visiting cousin plan a day of outdoor games, but rain cancels everything and the cousin feels let down. Donk...

Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2
slowscreen.com

Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2
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Subject Donkey Hodie: Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day | Good, co-watching from age 2

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Donkey Hodie and her visiting cousin plan a day of outdoor games, but rain cancels everything and the cousin feels let down. Donk...

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/donkey-hodie/s2/e14a-cousin-hodies-rainy-day

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This program is well-balanced. It remains mostly easy to follow and process. It is a good fit for the recommended age. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is clearly present and regularly draws attention. The visuals are well-balanced, with a clear overall view.
One clear storyline carries the whole episode: a rainy day spoils the cousins' plans, so they look for new ways to enjoy the rain and finally reach a rainbow. Events arrive in order, plans, then the rain, then disappointment, then one new idea at a time, and each idea connects clearly to the next. New information comes in small, single pieces, which keeps it followable. The one stretch of everyday logic is the magical rainbow tree that springs from a seed, but the story sets up its own rule and sticks to it.
This episode is a calm, warm place for a child to be. Disappointment is named and answered with care: 'I know you're disappointed... instead of feeling sad, I try to find other ways to have fun,' and reassurance follows every letdown right away. The cousins are kind to each other, share a grape jelly snack, and never trade mocking jokes, while Grampy reads patiently and the weather bird stays matter-of-fact. Nothing frightening happens, and feelings shift gently rather than flipping back and forth.
The cousins drive their own solutions through the 'rainstorm brainstorm,' where they name the problem, think out loud, and test each idea. Donkey Hodie announces she will find fun things to do, and the children ask their own questions, like whether they could make their own rainbow. The reasoning is visible: they list what comes in rainbow colors and decide friends do, so they build a friend rainbow. The steps stay simple rather than deeply worked through, which fits children at the younger end.
The dialogue is mostly clear and concrete, mixing simple words like rain, splash, and flowers with feeling words like 'disappointed' and descriptive ones like 'perfumey' and 'cozy.' Sentences stay short and tend to explain an idea rather than just exclaim, and the storybook narration adds gentle new phrasing. The donkey puns and chant fragments such as 'hee-haw' and 'heat-possum' sprinkle in playful nonsense words. The one caveat is the run of expressive filler during the splashing and singing sequences.
The core lesson is genuinely usable away from the screen: when plans fall through, look for another way to enjoy the day. Splashing in puddles, smelling flowers, sharing a snack, and reading a book on a rainy day all transfer straight into real life, and the family and friendship moments are easy to recognize. The wrapper, though, is a fantasy puppet world with talking animals, a weather bird, and a rainbow tree that grows from a seed and bursts with color, which sits further from a two-year-old's everyday world. The recognizable cousin and friend relationships keep it anchored.

More information

This score shows how inclusively the series portrays diverse people, families and cultures. Scale: Limited → Varied → Rich → Inclusive.
This episode brings together a small group of animal-like friends, with two donkey cousins at the center, a warm grandfather who reads to them, and friends such as Bob Dog, Purple Panda and a duck joining in. Initiative and feelings are shared around the group, and a closing song makes belonging plain by naming each friend as a different color of one rainbow that is stronger together. The roles avoid fixed cliches, and characters of different ages cooperate as equals. Because everyone lives in the same fantasy world, the variety rests on age and personality rather than different cultures or ways of living.
This score shows whether the series stays close to everyday reality or leans into fantasy. Scale: Fantasy → Mixed reality → Realistic.
This episode pairs a make-believe world with very real feelings. The characters and their home of Someplace Else are imagined, and a magical rainbow tree shapes the ending, yet the heart of the story is recognizable: disappointment when rain spoils plans, then finding new ways to have fun by splashing in puddles, sniffing flowers, and reading together. There is no villain at all, with the only problem being the weather and everyone on screen warm and helpful. For the youngest in this age range the fantasy runs a little ahead of the everyday, but the familiar emotions and activities keep it grounded.
This score shows how enjoyable the series is for parents watching along. Scale: Tedious → Tolerable → Pleasant → Enjoyable.
This is a calm, well-crafted puppet episode that holds up as background company for a parent in the room. The story carries a real arc, from a rained-out playdate to a satisfying rainbow payoff, and the craft is polished and easy on the eyes and ears. The humor leans toward the child watching, so there is not a lot that will make a grown-up laugh out loud. Between the gentle production and the watchable story, this is an easy one to sit through.

Themes

Emotional regulation

Central

Donkey Hodie coaches her cousin through rain-spoiled plans: 'instead of feeling sad, I try to find other ways to have fun.'

Problem solving

Central

The 'rainstorm brainstorm' chant drives the cousins to think up rainy-day activities again and again.

Behaviour

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
S01 E07 Story A

Donkey Hodie

The Yodel Birds Are Coming

Balanced
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.

Donkey Hodie
S01 E07 Story B

Donkey Hodie

A Lot of Hot!

Balanced
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
S01 E13 Story A

Donkey Hodie

The Royal Sandcastle Builders

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E13 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Bobski Bounce

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E28 Story A

Donkey Hodie

Cheesy Con

Balanced
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
S01 E28 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Stanley's One-Dragon Show

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E29 Story A

Donkey Hodie

Acornball

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E29 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Super Duper Magic Fun Box

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E30 Story A

Donkey Hodie

The Potato Stand

Balanced
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
S01 E30 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Clyde's Surprise Playdate

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E33 Story A

Donkey Hodie

Yodel Bird Sitting

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S01 E33 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Superhero Squabble

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S02 E14 Story A

Donkey Hodie

Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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
S02 E14 Story B

Donkey Hodie

Grampy's Guppies

Balanced
recommended age Unlock 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.

Explore more

From this series Donkey Hodie
By age 2 years
By platform PBS Kids

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