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Hello

Sufficient

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Co-watching from age 3

Stimulating

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Hello

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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 busy, with a lot of movement and frequent changes.

The whole episode follows one clear question: how do people say hello to a friend they are really pleased to see? Every part, from a storybook tale about a queen to interviews with real children and a field report, circles back to that question, so a child always knows what is being explored. Events build in a recognisable order and close with a tidy recap of everything that was discovered. The small caveat is that the invented words and the number of new greetings introduced can blur the thread for the very youngest in this band.

The mood stays warm and kind from the opening to the recap. The characters worry briefly when their friend Tula goes missing, but she returns and everyone is reassured, so the worry is settled before it can grow. Friends apologise, comfort one another, and share hugs and handmade friendship stones, modelling consistent and caring behaviour. A short song even coaches children to take a deep breath and think things through instead of screaming and shouting, which gives feelings a safe, contained shape.

The Hoobs drive their own investigation, choosing a question out of real curiosity and chasing the answer themselves. They try one idea after another, a wagging tail, a curtsy, a salute, a handshake, then weigh each against what they are looking for before landing on a hug. A dedicated song spells out the steps of working a problem through, and the characters visibly reason why some greetings fit and others do not. The thinking is shown rather than handed to them, giving a child a clear example of figuring something out.

Much of the dialogue is built from invented words such as 'hooby groovy', 'hubble digger' and 'hoople-dooble-dooper', which sound playful but carry little that a three-year-old can take into real life. Real, useful language does surface, especially when the children explain 'good morning Mrs Wilkinson' or describe waving and shaking hands. Sentences are mostly short and complete, and the speech itself is clear and easy to follow. Still, the heavy layer of nonsense vocabulary thins out how much of the language is genuinely meaningful at this age.

The central theme, how people greet one another, is genuinely useful, and many greetings shown are easy to copy: waving, hugging, shaking hands, saying good morning. Real children and real footage anchor these ideas in everyday life, and the social situations, missing a friend, making up, welcoming someone, are all familiar. The limitation is that much of the action lives in an invented puppet world with its own customs, like the 'hubble digger', that do not map onto a child's own day. Where the episode connects to real greetings and real relationships, the value comes through clearly.

More information

The Hoobs sends its puppet characters down to Earth to learn how real people greet each other, and the live-action clips bring together children of different ethnic backgrounds who sit, play and answer as a group. The episode also crosses cultures, from a curtsy to a queen, to soldiers saluting, to a rugby team in New Zealand greeting with a haka, before settling on a hug. Within the puppet group the jobs are shared out, with one character coordinating from home, one travelling far to report, and others crafting and exploring, and the children take part on equal footing. Family life and a broader range of adults stay mostly out of view, so the picture is genuinely varied without being deep.

The Hoobs hosts are invented, brightly coloured creatures living in their own world, but almost everything they explore comes straight from real life: real children showing how they say hello, people waving, saluting and shaking hands, and a rugby team performing the haka. There is no villain and no hero-versus-bad-guy storyline, and the small problems, like wondering where Tula went or remembering the right question, sort themselves out gently. The invented world keeps its own simple rules throughout, from the hubble digger greeting to the trips in the Hoobmobile. For this age the playful mix of make-believe hosts and real-world learning lands well, with the only stretch being the steady stream of made-up words.

This is a polished Jim Henson puppet production with a real through-line, as the Hoobs hunt for the friendliest way to say hello to a beloved friend and finally land on a hug. For an adult in the room it leans hard on invented words like 'hooby groovy' and 'hubble digger' and on repeated greeting songs, which wear thin, and the picture stays very bright and busy throughout. The craft and the gentle British voices keep it watchable, and the running gag of Groove abandoning the actual question to build a wagging tail offers the clearest grown-up smile.

Themes

Saying hello

Central

The whole episode hunts for the friendliest way to say hello, ending on a hug.

Friendship

Groove asks 'am i your friend? yes' and the goal is a greeting for a friend you love.

Curiosity

The Hoobs choose a 'question of the day' and research it across stories, people and places.

Different cultures

They look at curtsies, salutes, a rugby haka and handshakes as different greetings.

Making friends

The Hoobs frame the whole episode around how you greet 'a friend you are really pleased to see' and Tula makes friendship stones for her friends.

Activities

Storytelling

A storybook tale about Queen Violet learning to curtsy is read aloud over crayon-style pictures.

Singing

Songs include a 'think it through' problem-solving song and a 'hubble digger' greeting song.

Crafting

Tula makes friendship stones and Groove builds himself a tail from his 'soft and fairy collection'.

Sports

Roma reports from a New Zealand rugby team and joins their haka and scrum.

Emotions

Joy

Characters laugh and cheer when they try the hug and the wagging tail.

Love

Tula tells Groove 'i'm so pleased to see you' and offers a cosy hubble digger.

Excitement

Groove can't wait to finish his wagging tail and keeps practising 'wagga wagga'.

Anxiety

The Hoobs panic briefly when Tula disappears, saying 'oh this is terrible, we've lost her'.

Behaviour

Affection

Groove discovers a hug from the tiddly peeps and calls it 'a warm and cozy way of saying hello'.

Greeting

Characters wave, salute, shake hands and say 'good morning' to demonstrate hellos.

Gift giving

Tula paints red and blue friendship stones to give to Groove and Iver.

Problem solving

The Hoobs test and reject greetings until they find the one that fits their question.

Apologising

Tula says 'sorry, didn't mean to worry you' after going missing.

Social lessons

Friendship

The episode centres on how to greet a friend you are really pleased to see.

Manners

Children explain saying 'good afternoon' or 'good morning' to a teacher.

Accepting differences

Curtsies, soldiers' salutes and a Maori haka are presented as different ways people greet.

Helping others

The Hoobs share tasks, sending each other to ask the tiddly peeps and painting stones while one is away.

In the Hoobs' colourful world, Iver, Groove and Tula set out to answer one question: how do people say hello to a friend they are really pleased to see? They explore a dog's wagging tail, a queen's curtsy, a soldier's salute, a rugby haka, waving and handshakes, weighing each against their own cosy greeting, the hubble digger. Real children and a field report from Roma add everyday examples. In the end they decide that a hug is the warmest hello, and they share their findings on Hoob News.

Season 1

5 episodes

The Hoobs

The Hoobs

Finding Out

recommended age co-watching from 3

The Hoobs, a group of colourful puppets named Iver, Groove, Tula and Roma, are sent by Hubba Hubba to find out how children discover things. Travelling in their music-powered hoob mobile, they explore by playing, asking questions, testing a drink, reading a book and meeting a girl named Emma at her computer. Along the way they make a tart, build a squidgy model and share a story about an encyclopedia. They gather everything into a closing Hoob News report, concluding that children find things out the same way hoobs do.

The Hoobs

The Hoobs

Monkey

recommended age co-watching from 3

The Hoobs, a group of large furry puppets, set out to discover what they could give a monkey to make it happy. Iver, Tula, and Groove try one idea after another, a tree, a game, talking like a monkey, and cleaning its fur, while reporter Roma visits a real jungle and the group asks real children, the Tiddly Peeps, for help. Along the way they watch real monkeys and hear a story about a young monkey called Teeny who moves to a new jungle and longs to make friends. In the end they find that the answer is bananas and present everything they learned as a news report.

The Hoobs

The Hoobs

Hello

recommended age co-watching from 3

In the Hoobs' colourful world, Iver, Groove and Tula set out to answer one question: how do people say hello to a friend they are really pleased to see? They explore a dog's wagging tail, a queen's curtsy, a soldier's salute, a rugby haka, waving and handshakes, weighing each against their own cosy greeting, the hubble digger. Real children and a field report from Roma add everyday examples. In the end they decide that a hug is the warmest hello, and they share their findings on Hoob News.

The Hoobs

The Hoobs

Laughing

recommended age co-watching from 3

The Hoobs, large puppet characters, set out to answer one question: what makes both Hoobs and the real children they call tiddlypeeps laugh. From their colourful home they research on Hoobnet, hear a story about party objects, and drive out to visit children, testing jokes, a whoopee cushion, a party cracker and clowns, none of which works for everyone. In the end they discover that tickling makes both Hoobs and children laugh. They share the answer on their Hoob News broadcast.

The Hoobs

The Hoobs

Stars

recommended age co-watching from 3

In this episode of The Hoobs, four puppet friends, Iver, Tula, Groove and Roma, set out to answer one question: how can they get a star to hang in their Hoobmobile? They try to catch a falling star, learn from Roma that the sun is a star and that stars are far too hot to hold, and visit real children who show them how to catch and craft. After a story about a speck of light that learns to twinkle by being kind, the Hoobs make their own star and give it a sparkly twinkle, then present it on their 'Hoob News'. Iver ends the day by catching a falling star of his own.

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