Here are descriptions and educational objectives for every CURIOUS GEORGE animated adventure and live-action segment. To find out when CURIOUS GEORGE is on in your area, check the TV Schedule.
A gusty morning at the country house leads George to experiment with aerodynamics. In the wind, birds soar, ping-pong balls roll, and bricks don't move at all. But the best thing of all for a windy day is a kite. George, with the not-so-willing assistance of Jumpy Squirrel, discovers the wonders and the perils of kite flying.
Educational Objective (Science): To explore how wind makes things move.
Live Action Segment (Trash Bag Kites)
A kite maker works with a group of kids to help them make and fly their own kites.
Gnocchi, the cat, is accused of scratching the booths in Chef Pisghetti's restaurant. To prove Gnocchi's innocence (and eat cannoli), George decides to mount an investigation. Using his scientific inquiry skills, he observes the differences between the scratches Gnocchi makes with her claws and the scratches left on the booth, and shows that his friend was wrongfully accused.
Educational Objective (Science): To aid in the development of problem-solving and inquiry skills.
Live Action Segment (Balls and Ramps II)
Kids take a trip to a science museum to see an exhibit with movable ramps, tubes, and platforms. Their goal is to make a path for a rolling ball and see if they can get the ball to eventually roll up a ramp.
Related Activity: Feel The Wind
Compass may be a homing pigeon, but sometimes he has trouble finding his way home. George decides to make him a place to stay on their balcony. After much experimentation, George creates a tree that The Man with the Yellow Hat might not recognize, but in Compass's eyes is the perfect pigeon perch.
Educational Objective (Engineering): To illustrate the engineering design process.
Live Action Segment (Build a Cantilever)
Using pre-cut pieces of cardboard and a counterweight, kids test how far from the edge of a table they can build a cantilever.
When George sees a very nice lady leaving packages behind everywhere she goes, he figures she must be very forgetful. He decides to be helpful by gathering up all the packages for her. When Betsy explains to George that the nice lady is actually the mail carrier, they have to figure out a system to match the packages up with the correct addresses and return them fast!
Educational Objective (Math): To help develop an understanding of the relative position and sequence of whole numbers.
Live Action Segment (Order, Order!)
Kids play "Order Up," a game in which they have to get themselves in order according to the values on cards they're given. Once in line, they proceed to another destination where they have to find the next batch of cards, with a whole new order challenge.
Related Activity: Let's Build
When George learns about the meaning and power of zero, he is ready to test out his knowledge. The perfect opportunity arises when he's sent to the donut shop for one dozen donuts. But when he adds a couple of zeros, he's surprised to find out he gets one hundred dozen. Now he has to figure out what to do with all those extra donuts before The Man with the Yellow Hat notices.
Educational Objective (Math): To introduce the importance of zero and the relative magnitude of numbers with a zero.
Live Action Segment (100's Day)
It's 100's Day, and each kid brings in 100 of something. What does 100 sound like? What does 100 feel like? Who can jump rope 100 times?
George spills grape juice on the new rug and needs to figure out a way to clean it up before The Man with the Yellow Hat returns! Too much soap and too much water make matters worse. With the help of the barnyard animals (and some simple engineering), George uses the Renkins' water pump to clean up the mess.
Educational Objective (Engineering): To demonstrate how to move heavy objects using simple engineering.
Live Action Segment (Heavy Weight Champs)
Using some rope, sticks, and other things, kids are challenged to move a heavy water barrel. Can they do it? And if so, how far?
Related Activity: Wheel Discoveries
Today is a big day for Bill. He's entering his boat in the Model Boat Show! But George discovers that the boat sinks, and to keep Bill's hopes for a prize afloat, he decides to build a new boat. After some trial and error, George finds out which building materials sink and which float.
Educational Objective (Science): To explore the concepts of sinking and floating.
Live Action Segment (A Boat that Floats)
Kids experiment with building boats out of some unexpected materials. They make observations about why the boats might sink or float.
A monkey on roller skates seems unlikely until Mr. and Mrs. Dulson ask George to wear a pair in front of their toy store to attract customers. George's skating rolls out of control, so Hundley steps in to help. Soon George, Hundley, and even Gnocchi find themselves learning about momentum and inertia at a rapid downhill pace.
Educational Objectives (Science): To demonstrate objects in motion; to help develop an understanding of the power of momentum.
Live Action Segment (Balls and Ramps I)
At a skate park, kids roll different sizes of balls down the ramps to see which goes the furthest.
Related Activity: Ramp-N-Roll
After accidentally breaking Professor Wiseman's cuckoo clock, George decides to explore the inside of the BIG library clock to see how it works. When the big clock also stops working, Mr. Reloj, the local clockmaker, comes to the rescue. With Mr. Reloj's help, George discovers how to use various tools to make the clocks tick again.
Educational Objectives (Engineering): To illustrate how to use tools; to introduce the concept of gears and how they change the direction of motion.
Live Action Segment (How Gears Work)
At a science museum, kids see an exhibit on gears. They learn about how the size of a gear determines how the gear functions to increase or decrease power.
In the country, George falls in love with neighbor Bill's new pet bunnies. They are so irresistible that when Bill leaves to do his paper route, George just has to pet one. But as soon as he opens the bunny hutch, they all escape. By following their footprints and counting carefully, George restores order and returns the missing bunnies to their home.
Educational Objectives (Math & Science): To encourage problem solving; to demonstrate counting; to show how different animals make different tracks.
Live Action Segment (Finding Animal Tracks)
Kids explore a wildlife refuge and find tracks in the fresh snow. They use charts they made to try to identify the tracks they find.
Related Activity: Pattern Play
Following his nose, George sniffs his way to Chef Pisghetti's Ristorante where he finds Gnocchi the cat being tormented by her enormous ribbon. While the Chef is cooking up a meal to tempt a restaurant critic, George and Gnocchi experiment with kitchen magic. They learn that when cooking, not everything becomes floppy like spaghetti, and some things don't really belong in the pasta pot.
Educational Objective (Science): To illustrate that heating and dissolving can change the characteristics (properties) of substances.
Live Action Segment (What Dissolves?)
The teacher directs an experiment in dissolving different substances in water: sugar, salt, pepper, and coffee grounds. The kids observe what dissolves and what doesn't.
After George's success helping Chef Pisghetti impress the restaurant critic, the Chef suggests that George help his friend Mr. Glass wash the windows of his skyscraper — The Glass Palace. A perfect job for a little monkey! But maybe not a curious monkey, because George can't help but be distracted by some amazing shadows he sees inside the windows.
Educational Objectives (Science): To illustrate that light travels in straight lines; to illustrate that an object placed in the path of light produces a shadow.
Live Action Segment (Shadow Tricks)
A sheet hanging on the clothesline becomes a screen for some shadow play illusions. Did she really pour water on his head? Yup, it's possible in the shadow play!
Related Activity: Curious Pancakes
As lobby dog, it's Hundley's job to keep everything in order. But when George finds some intriguingly-shaped packages, the lobby is soon filled with tennis, bowling, and golf balls, and a ton of empty boxes! George and Hundley scramble to put the balls back in the right size boxes before the ball-collector tenant comes to retrieve his packages!
Educational Objective (Math): To demonstrate that objects can be sorted by size and volume.
Live Action Segment (Volume and Shapes)
Kids explore properties of shape and volume by creating different shapes using the same number of same-sized blocks. They learn that although their boxes look different, they have the same volume.
George is supposed to be feeding the ducks while The Man with the Yellow Hat helps Mrs. Renkins look for her lost baby chicks. But somehow, "feeding the ducks" turns into a trip down the river for George and Jumpy. At first it's fun, but soon George and Jumpy realize they're getting pretty far from home. With the help of some familiar landmarks, they make their way back safely — and the baby chicks find them!
Educational Objectives (Math & Science): To aid in the recognition of objects from different perspectives; to illustrate how objects can be carried by flowing water; to use objects and a pictorial map of those objects within a landscape to navigate.
Live Action Segment (Build a Current)
Kids drop sticks off a bridge and watch how the currents carry them. Later, they use a hose to make their own current, and they observe how the water moves things.
Related Activity: Sort It Out
While trying to record different animal sounds in the country, George discovers some amazing things about the dynamics of sound: the closer he gets, the louder the sound; the further away he is, the quieter the sound. Then he discovers a sound he's never heard before. He follows the direction of the sound throughout the house until he finds... a cricket?! How can something so small make such a big noise?
Educational Objectives (Science): To demonstrate that sounds vary in volume, pitch, and quality depending on the nature of the object that is vibrating; to illustrate that a noise will sound quieter when it is further away.
Live Action Segment (Feel the Beat)
Kids see and hear drums at a drum shop, and they learn how pitch can be changed by making adjustments to the drum. A hearing-impaired girl experiences the instruments by feeling rather than hearing.
George really can't wait to see what's inside Professor Wiseman's birthday present. Because he's a good little monkey, he leaves the present in one piece, but he distracts himself by "unwrapping" everything else around him. George learns that lots of things have covers, and for many different reasons. Even the bathroom walls are covered with wallpaper! But not for long...
Educational Objective (Science & Engineering): To demonstrate that materials — both natural and human-made — have specific characteristics (properties) that determine how they will be used. (For example, fruit skins have certain properties that help them to protect the fruit.)
Live Action Segment (Fruit Wrappers)
Kids visit a museum and meet with an expert who talks about why fruit has coverings. Sometimes it's to protect seeds, or keep out parasites, or keep in moisture.
Related Activity: Feel The Wind
It's Dog Show Day! George and Professor Wiseman spend the day with all kinds of different dogs: big, small, hairy...and hungry. With the help of his sandwich, George tempts the winning dogs to follow him home to show The Man with the Yellow Hat. Once there, George can't keep track of all the dogs, so he and a worried Hundley come up with creative ways to sort and count the dogs in the apartment.
Educational Objective (Math): To demonstrate sorting and classifying sets of objects (or animals) by size, number, and other characteristics (properties).
Live Action Segment (Organizing Stuff)
The art classroom WAS organized, but things have gotten messed up. The kids re-organize by detecting what is out of place and sorting things out.
When Bill shows George how Jumpy Squirrel stores his food in the ground, George decides this is a pretty good idea and tries to store all the food in the country house in the ground, too. The Man with the Yellow Hat rescues their supplies and tries to explain that they should only put things in the ground if they want them to grow. That sounds like another great plan. George tries to see what else might grow. Will car keys grow into a car? Will a rubber band grow into an inner tube?
Educational Objective (Science): To demonstrate how plants grow from seeds.
Live Action Segment (Paper Towel Plants)
Kids prepare small plates with a variety of beans and seeds and other things they find, with hopes of sprouting some plants. Two weeks later, they see what happened.
Related Activity: Sort It Out
George is thrilled when Bill asks him to look after his tadpoles. He conscientiously feeds them and even decides to give them a little vacation in the lagoon. But the tadpoles disappear, and George worries that he's lost Bill's pets forever. After weeks of searching, George is ready to give up hope, until he learns that the tadpoles haven't vanished; they've grown into frogs!
Educational Objective (Science): To help develop the understanding that all living organisms have a life cycle.
Live Action Segment (Becoming a Mosquito)
Kids take a trip to a mosquito control lab to see the life cycle of a mosquito.
Hundley and George get locked out of the building in the back alley. While trying to find their way back in, they get hopelessly lost. To make matters worse, it starts to get dark. But when they begin to hear some familiar sounds, they realize that with the combination of Hundley's sharp ears and George's good memory of what they'd heard along the way, they can find their way home.
Educational Objective (Science): To explore the characteristics (properties) of sound.
Live Action Segment (Sound Detectives)
Kids take a walk to listen for and identify sounds. Each area they visit offers a new selection of sounds, like traffic, birds, and construction trucks.
Related Activity: Bubble Stuff
