Educational Philosophy

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Clifford's Big Ideas/Ideas To Grow On

Clifford's Big Ideas are positive character traits modeled by the characters in the Clifford the Big Red Dog series. These same ideas are also the backbone of the Clifford's Puppy Days series, where they are referred to as Clifford's Ideas To Grow On.

These ten ideas represent social and emotional challenges that children face and must master in the course of development. Each episode supports one or more of these Ideas through classic storytelling, and concludes with a one-minute vignette featuring Clifford and his friends modeling (or learning to model!) one of these ten Big Ideas/Ideas To Grow On.

Be a Good Friend
Children really make the best little friends! Healthy friendships early in life lay the foundation for rewarding relationships and social growth as a child matures. Young children soon discover that friends can be both fun and challenging. While learning to interact with other children, a child will experience many disputes and trials. Through personal relationships, children develop empathy, understanding, compromise, and the other skills that friendship requires.

The friends on Birdwell Island deal with one another in ways that strengthen their friendships, especially when those friendships are tested in everyday life. The characters appear in situations that give a child the opportunity to evaluate different ways to communicate and resolve problems among friends.

Be Kind
Kindness is one of the most wonderful qualities that a person young or old can possess. Being kind requires empathy, the ability to imagine how another person feels. It also requires a willingness to do something that will make another person's life a little better. Acts of kindness are not easily forgotten, and children's first powerful lessons in kindness often come when they are treated with kindness themselves.

A great example of kindness is Emily Elizabeth's taking Clifford home and loving him, even when he continues to grow, and grow, and grow! Acts of kindness and acceptance are precious gifts to give one another, and these gifts are given all around Birdwell Island!

Be Responsible
Learning to be responsible affects children's personal safety and influences the opinions that other people have of them. Becoming a responsible person comes from observation and practice. It is a child's natural instinct to please, and every child wants to be recognized for good works. When a child is given the opportunity to be a caretaker, recognition for good efforts gives the child pride and reinforces good habits for future efforts.

Clifford and his friends often illustrate how to learn about being responsible from daily experiences. Children can connect these character situations with their own experiences. Encouraging a child to retell the events of the story, make predictions, and interpret character feelings allows you to informally assess the child's comprehension and conceptual understanding.

Be Truthful
The process of learning to be honest and truthful begins early in a child's life. Some of the best learning opportunities for a child arise from simple situations in the home. Communicating with a child about choices, consequences, and honesty on a regular basis gives the child positive reinforcement about the value of being truthful. By encouraging discussions about honesty and truthfulness, you can help the child become more aware that this characteristic is an important part of his or her individual personality.

Many of the series' episodes illustrate the fact that every action, honest or not, has a consequence. The concept of having a good conscience is emphasized when the characters wrestle with making right decisions. Children can learn the value of being honest and truthful by relating their own experiences to those of the characters.

Believe in Yourself
Children are so impressionable at a young age. When they have successes, they are naturally motivated to attempt new challenges. Opportunities to grow in self-confidence are important for the young child just learning about his/her own potential. Most children need encouragement to try again after making mistakes or having unsuccessful experiences. Welcoming life's new experiences with enthusiasm comes from confidence learned early in life. Offer encouragement and watch them go!

The characters on Birdwell Island experience situations that develop the concept of believing in oneself. Children see that the characters are not different from anyone else when it comes to dealing with self-confidence. Stories support the idea that it is good to try new things.

Have Respect
Learning to respect and accept others is the basis of social maturity. Becoming aware of similarities and differences among people is just the beginning of a child's experience in social growth. It is not always easy to accept people at first glance. Children sometimes have fears and apprehension about people they are not sure about. Teaching them the importance of looking beyond appearances is one way of helping them understand themselves and others. Opportunities to understand that diversity makes people unique and individually interesting can help a child to appreciate others early in life. Having respect for individual differences, personal space, and the ideas and feelings of others will help a child appreciate what others have to offer, make friends, and cooperate in groups.

Clifford and his friends often find themselves in situations where differences are really strengths, and where having respect also means not teasing or being boastful, even when you are better at something, but being humble instead.

Help Others
Children love to be big helpers! One way that they can help is sharing their knowledge and skills with others who need their assistance. For many children, helping is its own reward, because it brings a boost in self-esteem. Others require the positive reinforcement of praise and gratitude. However, some children find it difficult to accept help because they don't feel secure or self-confident enough to admit that they need it. Encouraging communication about differences in development and ability can help all children feel secure and confident enough to offer or accept help.

Some of the series' episodes illustrate that it is quite normal for people to be unsure or afraid in situations that they can't handle on their own. Identifying with characters' feelings will help the child learn more about the personal feelings that arise in such situations. A child can use examples in the stories to learn how characters turn their situations into positive experiences.

Play Fair
The foundation of playing fair is treating others as you would want them to treat you. Learning to treat people fairly and equitably begins with play-fair play. Taking turns, following rules, avoiding favoritism, sharing roles or game pieces equally, and other learning experiences within group activities and games all promote good social and emotional growth. Reinforcing acceptable behavior in situations where a child has to play fair to get along with someone else is great experience for the social challenges that all children face as they grow.

Episodes from the series reinforce the idea that treating people with fairness makes an experience rewarding for everyone involved. Children see that teamwork means that everyone works together and everyone benefits in the end. The idea of playing fair reinforces honesty, respect, and sharing.

Share
Sharing is one of the most rewarding acts of kindness. Sometimes it can be very hard for children to let someone else share things that they really like. The best thing about sharing is that it brings friends together. When we share with a friend, an experience becomes twice as much fun! Just think of a time when someone shared something with you, recall your feelings, and you'll recognize that sharing rewards both the person who gives and the person who receives.

The friends on Birdwell Island learn the importance of sharing and learning positive social skills that are needed for successful relationships within a group. Children learn to reason, make good decisions, and understand sharing by observation and role-playing. Positive role models for young children can lead to the development of healthy relationships throughout life.

Work Together
Opportunities for a child to share a common goal with other children provide important lessons for growing up. Children learn to interact with others most often through observing how others treat them within their own environments. By cooperating with other children to achieve a goal, a child learns to enjoy people for their individual strengths and their contributions to a team effort. Being with others and establishing positive relationships within a group can enrich a child's experiences and give that child confidence.

Clifford and his friends often experience the concepts of teamwork and cooperation. The characters model working together in a group successfully to meet a cooperative goal or accomplish a personal task in fun and meaningful ways.