I haven’t done a review here on Mommie Daze in forever, but when One 2 One Network offered me the opportunity to review Busytown Mysteries based on the books by Richard Scarry, I jumped at the chance.
Oh, how I loved Richard Scarry’s books as a child. And the first book I bought for David, before he was even born, was a Richard Scarry book. He loves them too, and they’re a favorite to check out from the library.
I received a DVD with two episodes of the Busytown Mysteries cartoon to watch. But David and I were already fans having discovered it a while ago on CBS on Saturday mornings. He enjoys watching the beloved characters from the books come to life, like Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm and Goldbug.
Besides being entertaining, the show aims to teach children to use deductive reasoning skills as they help Huckle solve mysteries by asking the questions who, what, where, when, why and how. Also watching the characters on TV has only increased David’s interest in the books.
One 2 One Network also asked us to check out busytownmysteries.com, a free interactive site for kids with games and activities based on the cartoon. David liked getting to pick which Busytown character he wanted to be, and getting to choose his own “silly car.” On the site kids can explore different neighborhoods in Busytown like Downtown or the Countryside. Each neighborhood has games and activities that allow you to do anything from catch butterflies to decorate your own house to watch episodes of Busytown Mysteries. Kids can also save and print artwork they create on the site, and even email their work to grandparents or friends.
David enjoyed the website, and for the most part was able to do a lot of it on his own. Being only four years old he did need some help from me now and then to understand how to do some of the activities. I thought the site was age appropriate, and had some good educational benefits as well as being entertaining.
My only complaint was that there were a few times the site was very slow to load games or the games didn’t load at all, and we had to close down the site, reopen it, and start all over again.
But I’m sure we will be visiting busytownmysteries.com often, especially this winter when the snow is flying, it’s freezing outside, and David needs something to do.
Check the listings here to see when Busytown Mysteries airs on your local CBS station.
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Sounds like a cute show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.