Thomas & Friends: All New Episodes on PBS Kids this Fall

Thomas & Friends on PBS Kids - All New Episodes

 

New Thomas & Friends episodes start on Saturday, September 1st (check your local listings). PBS KIDS will also broadcast the new 60-minute Thomas & Friends special Blue Mountain Mystery.  In this all-new adventure, viewers will travel on an exciting journey with Thomas and his engine friends tracking down clues, discovering a lost engine and revealing the power of friendship.  The action-packed special airs in November (check your local listings) following its September 18th release on DVD from HIT and Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Timeless tales of friendship and adventure on the Island of Sodor are brought to life in the CG animated Thomas & Friends series. One of the upcoming episodes airing this fall (#908 – “Welcome Stafford”) introduces the new character, Stafford, an electric shunting engine.  The episodes also highlight the Narrow Gauge engines and the Blue Mountain Quarry destination, featured in Blue Mountain Mystery.  Currently, Thomas & Friends is the #5 ranked non-movie K2-5 series on PBS (Nielsen, June K2-5 Live+7day).

 

New episodes of Thomas & Friends  include:

Pre-Reading Activity: Building a Word Family

Word Family - Games for Kids

Guest post from Kristina at Kidsactivitiesblog.com

Learning to build a word family is an important pre-reading activity.  Turn learning into a fun game for kids by letting your child use some colorful sticky notes!

I  have been doing a lot of activities with my son to help us focus on some Back to School Basics skills. We’ve been working on simple pre-kinder and kindergarten level math, writing, and pre-reading activities.

SMARTS Club: Kids Yoga and Enrichment Activities

After school enrichment programs for kids

SMARTS Club provides Kids Yoga and Enrichment activities and is owned and operated by Dr. Meenakshi Singh who is highly experienced and qualified educator and cares deeply about the issues related to kids.

Dr Meenakshi Singh has been involved in the field of education for over 20 years and has taught in colleges and schools in India and US. She is a Texas Certified teacher in middle and high school Science and a substitute teacher in Frisco and Plano ISD’s. As a teacher and a parent, Dr Singh noticed a need for quality training and enrichment programs in Dallas/DFW area that can supplement the education the children receive at school while reducing the high level of stress kids go through these days with peer pressure, information overload and technology. She believes kids at the end of the day need a lot of nurturing, support, encouragement, reinforcement and confidence in their abilities to succeed.

Dr. Singh started SMARTS Club for kids where she has created an environment for your precious ones where they can feel welcome and actually look forward to spending their afternoons getting all their academic needs addressed, whether it is help with homework or a science project they may be working on or preparing for an upcoming test.

Children can participate in any and all activities in a kid friendly environment and improve their focus and self confidence with the help of Yoga. Children can relax with Pranayam breathing exercises and get in shape with fun yoga programs based on various themes. Dr Meenakshi has done extensive work in this area including certifications specializing in Kids Yoga that has helped her develop an exclusive yoga program for Kids (and moms!). Our Training and Enrichment Programs include STAAR, GT and SAT and ACT Prep, Chess, Lego and Technology classes.

Be a Foodist: Fun and Healthy Cooking Classes for Kids

 Mobile Healthy Culinary Classes and Kids Parties

 

At Be a Foodist classes and parties, kids embark on a culinary journey that focuses on delicious foods, kitchen skills, nutrition and an overall common sense approach to eating well. Kids get to prepare and eat fresh vegetables, whole grains beans herbs, spices and other wholesome ingredients that are healthy, natural, delicious and good for them.

Kids come in and “don the hat” of a Foodist- a person who loves to try, taste, smell, & eat good food. They dive into preparing a fresh and delicious recipe. Foodists are encouraged to feel textures, smell spices and taste ingredients as they prepare their food.

Research shows that kids are much more interested in learning when they have ownership. We know this is absolutely true because most kids in our classes want to try all the healthy and delicious foods that they make! That’s what Be a Foodist classes are all about.

6 Week Fall session begins soon at a Real Bookstore in Allen and Fairview Village. EARLY BIRD SPECIAL ends on Sept 14, 2012.

Register online at http://www.beafoodist.com/classes or call today for more information (972) 246-8577

Best Gymnastics: Athletic Play or High Level Gymnastics Training

 

Best Gymnastics offers a variety of programs to suit customers’ needs, whether you are looking for fun, athletic play or high level gymnastics training. Their gymnastics  curriculum was developed from over 75 years of personal gymnastics knowledge as athletes, managers, and parents and they have coached gymnasts to over 50 individual and team state championship gymnastics titles.

Best Gymnastics offers a clean and modern facility with the best coaches, training tools and methods in the industry. Parents can enjoy open seating at all times, a cafe area with live television and free Wi-Fi.

“Our gym not only includes all the Olympic gymnastics apparatus, but we have 6 trampolines, a large in-ground foam pit for training and for fun, a 40 foot. rod tumbling floor, a 40 ft. tumble track, and a floor dedicated to our Best Kids pre-school program.

Easy Kids Crafts: Paint a Birdhouse

Fun Kids Craft: Paint a Birdhouse

We found an assortment of fun wooden birdhouses at Michael’s and knew we could do something colorful with them, maybe even make some cute gifts for teachers or the holidays.

The birdhouses sat in a box untouched for a while and then we moved them cross-country with us. As I unpacked them, my daughter and I decided it was time to do something fun! We decided to use up what we had in the house and as always, we had plenty of craft supplies. We took a couple of days to work on these, except for the solid-colored one, which Maggie painted in about an hour. This is one of those crafts that can be as simple or complex as you want!

Fall Activities Guide


We’ve done the research for you!

Our exclusive Fall activities guide features listings for area businesses that provide kid-friendly programs, products and after school activities. Take a look at this new, helpful resource we’ve put together for busy parents just like you!