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Buddy Race

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 4

Stimulating

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Paramount +

SkyShowtime

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Buddy Race

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is soft and supportive. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

One clear goal carries the whole episode: Alana hurts her ankle, so her friends each take a leg of the buddy race so the playground can still be funded. Events arrive in order, each race section is announced before it starts, and the finish ties back to the opening promise about the playground. The chain of consequences is easy to follow, since counting down together makes the tandem bike work and rowing harder pulls the kayak free of the whirlpool. Each challenge does introduce a fresh set of rules, fruits and sports facts, so there is a fair amount to absorb even though the storyline itself never splits.

The emotional tone here is one of the strongest things about the episode. When Alana says 'I feel terrible about this, guys. I let you all down,' her friends answer straight away with 'You didn't mean to get hurt. The most important thing is that you're okay.' Tension moments, the missing friend, the closing pyramid door, the whirlpool, are short and always followed by relief and reassurance in the same or next scene. Excitement runs high with lots of loud cheering, but nobody is mocked, nobody is scolded, and characters treat each other the same way from start to finish.

The children own the problem and the solution. Dora says 'Let's stop and think and make a plan,' Alana comes up with the idea of splitting the race between friends, and the group works out who fits which leg based on what each person is good at. Attempts fail and get adjusted: the hula hoop drops and they try again with a proper countdown, and Naya remembers her own words that a pyramid always has a way out. Some fixes are thin, such as counting to five making a task suddenly work, but the thinking is visible and the adults stay on the sidelines.

The language is clear, well paced and built from full sentences that a four-year-old can follow. Spanish words are woven in with enough context to make sense, from 'Lo siento, Alana' after the injury to 'Si se puede' as the team's rallying phrase. Rhyme puzzles ('It's round like a circle, but that's not all, you can bounce it up and down') and the sports riddles do real vocabulary work, naming bicycle, ball, playground, ice skating, basketball, baseball and soccer. A steady stream of cheers ('Woo-hoo', 'Fantástico', 'Yippee') sits alongside the informative talk, which softens the balance a little.

Much of what happens maps onto things a child can actually do: riding a bike, hula hooping, running, rowing, naming fruit, and answering riddles about sports. The closing beat makes it explicit, with Dora asking 'What do you like to do for exercise?' after listing running, rowing, dancing and sports. The social side is recognisable too, a family cheering from the sidelines, friends stepping in when one of them cannot compete, and a community goal of fixing a playground. Against that sit the invented stretches, the giant running bubbles, the underground city with booby traps and a seahorse that leads the way, which pull part of the episode away from everyday life.

More information

The episode is built around a group of city kids with clearly different skin tones, hair types and looks, and the crowds at the race carry that same variety instead of leaving it to the main cast. Spanish runs naturally through the dialogue ('si se puede', 'vamonos', 'hermanitos') without ever being explained away, and Dora's family, two parents plus twin younger siblings, shows up to cheer. Each friend gets a real job in the race based on what they are good at, and when Alana twists her ankle the group does not drop her but finds a way for her to compete with her knowledge instead. What stays thin is variation in body types and family situations, and the adults with the microphone are men while the children do all the deciding.

Most of this episode sits in a world children know well: a park, a charity race to rebuild a playground, a family cheering from the sidelines, and a friend who twists her ankle before the start. The middle stretch shifts into invention, with a hidden city of pyramids beneath the streets, a golden seahorse that comes alive to lead the way, and a whirlpool the girls have to row out of. There is no villain anywhere; every problem comes from a situation, not from a bad character, and the friends solve each one by dividing the work between them. For four to six year olds the balance works, with the imagined underground stretch kept light enough that it reads as adventure rather than threat.

This one is built entirely for the child on the couch and leaves the grown-up with very little. Dora asks the camera a question, then holds a silent pause waiting for your child to answer, and that rhythm repeats for the full episode. There is a real story underneath it, Alana hurts her ankle and her friends split the race between them, and that arc pays off at the end when the team needs her sports knowledge instead of her legs. Expect chanting, repeated refrains and a lot of shouted fruit names, wrapped in clean but unremarkable animation. Fine as background if you are folding laundry, not something that will hold you.

Themes

Learning to work together

Each friend takes one leg of the race and passes a team flag on, with Pablo learning that 'to ride like a team, we need to start together'.

Friendship

When Alana cannot run, Pablo, Emma, Naya and Kate all step in so she is not left out.

Sports

Central

The whole episode is a buddy race with biking, hula hooping, running, kayaking and sports riddles.

Helping others

The race exists to raise money to rebuild the city playground for the younger children.

Perseverance

The hula hoop drops and the team simply resets and tries again with a countdown.

Disappointment

Alana says 'I feel terrible about this, guys. I let you all down' after twisting her ankle.

Problem solving

Dora says 'Let's stop and think and make a plan' before the group works out how to replace Alana.

Family

Dora's parents and younger siblings come to watch and say 'We're so proud of you, hijita'.

Different cultures

Spanish is used throughout alongside English, with phrases like 'Vámonos', 'Gracias' and 'Si se puede'.

Competition

Recurring

Teams race one another through an obstacle course toward a finish line with checkered flags.

Food

Recurring

A whole race leg involves catching bananas, pineapples and coconuts to make smoothies.

Community

Recurring

The city's teams all race so the shared playground can be rebuilt for everyone.

Counting

Recurring

The team counts down 'Five, four, three, two, one' before each obstacle.

Literacy

Recurring

The music challenge asks for words that rhyme, including bike, ball and playground.

Being sick

Alana appears on crutches with a bandaged ankle for most of the episode.

Activities

Racing

The buddy race runs through an obstacle course, a music stage, a river and a fruit catch.

Sports

Riddles cover ice skating, basketball, baseball and soccer, with matching images shown.

Singing

The team sings 'Rema en el río' while paddling the kayak.

Boating

Dora and Naya kayak down an underground river following a seahorse.

Riding

Dora and Pablo ride a tandem bicycle in helmets through the first obstacle leg.

Playing games

The rhyme challenge and sports brain teasers are played as quiz rounds with a host.

Dress up

Dora and Kate put on banana, pineapple and coconut outfits from the fruit chest.

Outdoor play

Hula hooping, running inside giant bubbles and racing all take place in the park.

Counting

Countdowns from five start each part of the obstacle course.

Eating

The episode closes with fruit smoothies shared at a table by the water.

Emotions

Excitement

Characters shout 'Woo-hoo! We finished!' as they cross toward the finish line.

Determination

The repeated phrase 'Si se puede' pushes the team through each obstacle.

Joy

Everyone laughs and hugs when fruit smoothies are handed out at the end.

Disappointment

Alana sits on the grass saying 'I twisted my ankle, Dee. I can't run.'

Empathy

The friends respond to Alana's guilt with 'The most important thing is that you're okay'.

Anxiety

Alana worries aloud 'What if it's a hard question?' before the last brain teaser.

Pride

Dora's parents tell her 'We're so proud of you, hijita' before the start.

Surprise

The team reacts with 'One more challenge?' when a surprise round is announced.

Behaviour

Teamwork

Dora and Pablo pedal a tandem bike together after agreeing to start on the same count.

Problem solving

The group works out which friend suits which race section based on their skills.

Encouraging

Friends cheer 'Si se puede, Alana' before her final brain teaser.

Comforting

Dora tells Alana 'it's not your fault' when she blames herself for the injury.

Singing

Songs like 'Rema en el río' and 'Rhyme time' carry several race legs.

Planning

Alana suggests 'What if you all teamed up with Dora together?' and the roles are divided up.

Asking for help

Dora asks Alana to answer the sports brain teasers because 'we just need your brain'.

Perseverance

After the hoop falls, Pablo says 'Let's try this again' rather than giving up.

Including others

Alana is brought back into the team for the final challenge despite her injury.

Counting

The countdown from five is repeated before the bike, hoop and bubble events.

Trying something new

Emma admits 'I've never done it in a race before' before the rhyme challenge.

Asking questions

Dora repeatedly asks the child at home 'What fruit are we dressed as?'

Celebrating

The whole group cheers and hugs when the announcer confirms the playground will be fixed.

Dressing up

Dora and Kate pull banana, pineapple and coconut costumes from a dress-up chest.

Practising a skill

Pablo says Alana taught him how to run the obstacle course before the race.

Social lessons

Teamwork

Five friends each run one section and hand off a team flag to keep the race going.

Helping others

Friends step in for Alana so the city's children still get their playground.

Supporting a friend

Nobody blames Alana for the injury and everyone reassures her instead.

Inclusion

Alana rejoins the team for the final round because her sports knowledge is what is needed.

Community

All the teams finishing together is what raises enough money for the playground.

Emotional support

Dora tells Emma 'You're always making up songs and you're an awesome rhymer'.

Perseverance

The team retries the hula hoop and rows harder against the whirlpool rather than quitting.

Sportsmanship

The focus stays on every team finishing rather than on beating rivals.

Problem solving

The friends split the race between them after stopping to make a plan.

Attention hooks

Dora speaks straight to the child at home and asks them to shout answers, count down and cheer 'louder' throughout the episode.

Continuous stimulation

Songs, cheering crowds and challenge rounds follow one another with very few quiet stretches across the twenty-two minutes.

Minor injury

Alana twists her ankle before the race and spends the episode on crutches with a bandage.

Danger

The kayak leg has a closing pyramid door and a whirlpool the girls must row out of, with talk of booby traps.

Competition

Teams race against a clock and one another, with an announcer tracking who is finishing.

Repetitive content

The countdown song, 'Rhyme time' and the phrase 'Si se puede' repeat many times over.

Flashing lights

A bright burst accompanies the title card transition just before the first minute ends.

Dora is running a buddy race in the park with her friend Alana to raise money to rebuild the city's playground. When Alana twists her ankle just before the start, the group decides that Pablo, Emma, Naya and Kate will each take one section of the race and pass a team flag along. The course takes them through a tandem bike and hula hoop obstacle run, a rhyming music stage, a kayak trip down an underground river and a fruit catching round in costume. Alana returns for the final sports brain teasers, the team finishes, and the announcer confirms the playground will be repaired.

Season 1

13 episodes

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Doggie Day!

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

We Save a Pirate Ship!

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends dress as pirates for a festival at an old fort, selling tickets for a ship ride to raise money to turn the fort into a museum. When the rented ship never arrives, Dora promises a boy named Jorge he can still steer, then sets about turning a rowboat into a pirate ship with sails, a flag and a wheel found in the basement. The wheel turns out to be enchanted and pulls her and Pablo into a hidden cave, where a talking pirate ship, a magic charm bracelet, a sea serpent and a band of treasure-stealing pirates are all part of getting back out. They escape with the treasure, the crowd returns to buy tickets, and the museum gets its money.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dance Party

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends are getting ready for a dance party at the Arcoiris Café to raise money for a new dance school, but Pablo refuses to join in. Celia, a girl from a town called Baila, pulls them into her world, where her father the mayor has banned dancing ever since she stubbed her toe. The friends cross a dance floor and a bridge of flashing lights without breaking the rule, then help Celia show her father that dancing can be safe. He lifts the ban, Pablo teaches the whole town to dance, and the party back home raises enough money for the school to open.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

The Magic Ring

recommended age co-watching from 4

At school, Dora, Naya and Pablo are reading stories about ancient treasure to younger children when Pablo finds an old ring in the garden and shrinks to thumb size after putting it on. They match the glyphs on the ring against library books and learn that only placing it on Princess Xochitl's finger will break the spell, so all three shrink and travel through a tiny door into an ancient kingdom. With help from a mouse they dodge a greedy wizard and his cat, cross a puddle on a giant duck and climb up to the sleeping princess. The wizard's theft is exposed at his hut, the ring goes back on the princess's finger, and Pablo returns to school full-size with a medal and a story to tell.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

The Royal Ball

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends are preparing a royal ball in the park to thank the children who helped clean it up, but the royal dresses never arrive. Dora and Alana head to a costume shop, where a talking, singing box turns up carrying a dress meant for a princess and admits it is completely lost. Together they teleport through a dinosaur valley, a mermaid beach and a dragon forest, riding a horse grown from a charm bracelet and catching the box when it falls near crocodiles. The princess gets her bow back and gives them armfuls of dresses, so the party goes ahead with Alana crowned queen and the episode closes by asking the viewer how they could help out where they live.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Magic Land!

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and Pablo are preparing a magic show for Dora's little brother and sister at their preschool, and Papi lends Dora his old magic hat. A bunny bounces off with the hat into a magic shop and through a portal into Magic Land, where a magician named Victor uses it to take all the other magicians' tricks. Dora and Pablo follow him down a cave, up a cliff and into the sky, and Pablo's long-practised linking-ring trick is what finally recovers the hat. Victor admits he never learned any tricks, apologises, is offered lessons, and the pair make it back in time to perform their show.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora Saves Opera Land

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora, Emma and Pablo are rehearsing an opera to surprise Emma's grandma at her birthday party when the wind carries off the page with the ending. Following it into the opera house, they land in Opera Land, where a singer called La Diva has used a wand to take the sound from everyone's instruments so only her voice can be heard. With a set of bells from the residents and a charm bracelet that turns into a flying bird, the friends reach La Diva, retrieve the wand and give the music back. They then sing with her about how voices sound better together, and she teaches them the ending in time for the party.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Puppet Theater

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora, Kate and their friends are staging a free puppet show of the three little pigs for the children in their neighbourhood when Pablo accidentally sends the piggy puppets flying backstage. Dora and Kate follow them into Puppet World, a handmade fairy tale land where they help the seven dwarves, the gingerbread man, Rapunzel and Jack along the way. They reach Littlest Piggy in time to finish his brick house, using frosting in place of glue, and when the big bad wolf arrives he huffs, puffs and tumbles into the water. The group pulls him out, he apologises, blows the flattened houses back into shape, and joins the puppet show as its most dramatic performer.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Mystery of the Magic Horses

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends volunteer at Rancho Urbano, a city farm where children come to meet animals, and meet Dulce, the only horse on the farm. When Dulce's charm necklace starts glowing, Dora follows her onto a raft that drifts through an enchanted mist to an island where six horses have been hidden since horse bandits tried to steal them. Dora, Naya and Marco outrun the bandits, navigate a cave, free Dulce from seaweed and get every horse onto the raft. The horses are returned to Farmer Ana Maria, and now there are enough for all the children waiting to ride.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

The Search for Mono

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora, Kate and Pablo are handing out donated toys at the Children's Hospital when they meet Miguel, who has lost his stuffed monkey Mono. After helping him calm down enough to remember that Mono fell out of his bag on the train, they follow the trail to the station, meet a room full of forgotten toys in the lost and found, and repair an old locomotive that carries them to the train yard. There they identify the right carriage just as a cleaning robot starts sealing it, and Pablo's soccer kick opens the door in time. Mono goes back to Miguel, and the leftover toys from the lost and found find homes with the other children.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Buddy Race

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora is running a buddy race in the park with her friend Alana to raise money to rebuild the city's playground. When Alana twists her ankle just before the start, the group decides that Pablo, Emma, Naya and Kate will each take one section of the race and pass a team flag along. The course takes them through a tandem bike and hula hoop obstacle run, a rhyming music stage, a kayak trip down an underground river and a fruit catching round in costume. Alana returns for the final sports brain teasers, the team finishes, and the announcer confirms the playground will be repaired.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Magical Mermaid Adventure

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends are cleaning up a beach and hunting for gold coins their parents hid in the sand when a turtle swims off with their bag. Chasing it by jet ski and raft, they meet the mermaid Mariana, and Dora uses a magic necklace to become a mermaid herself and follow the turtles to the hideout of La Sirena Mala, who has been collecting everyone's gold. Past a net trap, a maze of tunnels and a line of octopus guards, they reach the treasure room and confront her. She scatters the gold, the team gathers it back together, and after she explains that her old team once shut her out, they invite her to join them and she returns the gold and renames herself La Sirena Buena.

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Dora in Clockland

recommended age co-watching from 4

Dora and her friends set up outside the zoo clock to play a concert with the clock animals, but the clock stops because its wind-up key has been taken. Following the monkey through a door, they find themselves in Clockland, where every clock has stopped, and they help a schoolhouse and a tick-tock train along the way while chasing two cuckoo birds. The birds admit they took the key because they are tired of only being allowed to cuckoo, and the group invites them to sing in the concert instead. The key is returned, Dora winds the clock, and everyone performs together while zoo visitors come back.

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From this series Dora and Friends: Into the City!

By age 5 years

By platform Paramount +

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