Oobi

I hesitated to let my sons watch Oobi for the longest time because of the basic speech involved. However, my oldest son has Pervastive Developmental Disorder (broad spectrum autism) and a speech delay. Watching Oobi has expanded his vocabulary tenfold. He can recite entire scenes now, and is learning to put words together. It works for him because it takes out articles, contractions and superfluous words and gets down to the basic words needed to convey meaning. The "extra" words were bogging down his understanding. So, while I agree that the speech in Oobi isn't good for toddlers who are talking at or above age level, for those struggling to learn, it could be a valuable tool!

In addition, the show is DARLING! Even the adults in my house love to watch it! You actually forget while you're watching it that they're just HANDS with plastic eyeballs! The episode when the kids put on a production of Little Red Riding Hood is SO entertaining. It's even taught my kids to start singing!

I don't think the speech is that bad unless you have an older child watching it that already knows about sentence structure. The speech is very reminiscent of the Dick and Jane books.

Oobi run. You run. We run.

Oobi dance. You dance! Insead of saying, "This is a bathtub. I take a bath to get clean." He will say, "Bathtub. Oobi bath. Oobi clean!"

Its a children's show! There isn't that much to say about it! My kids like to take the eyes to their Mr. Potato head and stick them in between their fingers to pretend they are Oobi. Its cute.

It was really interesting to read so many different reviews of Oobi. It does sort of bother me that so many go so far as to say the show is a waste of time because their four year old hates it. Perhaps this is because its designed for young toddlers? And the gloss language? Again, directed towards toddlers, who don't ALL speak in clear perfect sentences. We should remember that all of our kids progress at different levels and respond to different things. It doesn't make things horrible or a waste of time, it means its not right for you or your child. (and, hey, if its right for you, its really just an added bonus since very few of the kids programming out there is tolerable for adults) To the person who responded about her child's PDD, I am so psyched that you found something that works! My boyfriends daughter's ability to remember simple lyrics (as opposed to before where she just would make US sing) is a pretty rad development, which tells me that even if it bores older kids and adults, its still making a difference for us.

When I first saw this show it was a interstitial on Noggin. I thought it was kind of stupid, But our son, who is handicapped and has very limited speech because of a brain injury at birth, was taken by it at once. Then it got it's own half-hour, and I watched it with him. The entire show breaks down story telling to the basics without talking down to kids. The characters are as described: just a hand with eyes attached. But they also wear costumes at times. The amount of emotion and "acting" that is presented is simply amazing. The puppeteers are extremely talented to be able to bring these characters to life in a way that you accept after a very short time. Unlike a lot of kids TV this show is very watchable and includes some inside jokes for parents at times (things like all the "parents" at a play having to turn off their cell phones before the performance). The writers of the show made a conscious decision to make the language simple too. No adverbs or conjunctions. My son can follow the story and understand the concepts being presented and when I have used the same basic language with him apart from the show and relating to our everyday life, he responds. Being able to communicate with him in such an unfettered way for the first time in his life means everything to me. It is not a typical puppet show, but it has won the heart of our atypical son...and his parents too.

I've been watching Oobi with my daughter since before it was a full-length series -- it used to be just little filler bits between the shows on Noggin. It has been wonderful to see the program grow as they are able to longer and more involved stories.

The puppetry on this show is just wonderful. I'm constantly amazed at how they manage to get so much expression out of a puppet that is nothing more than a hand with a pair of eyes on top. In one episode, when Uma has a cold, you hear her sniffling, and there's a subtle movement of the puppet that lets you SEE her sniffling as well. There's a subtlety to these characters that just is not possible with regular puppets, Muppets, or marionettes.

My only problem with the show is the voices of Oobi and Kako. According to Noggin's website, Oobi is 4 years old, and Kako is his best friend, so presumably he is also about 4. But the voices don't sound like 4-year-olds, especially Kako's.

But that is a small issue compared to the wonderful interaction of the characters. When Oobi teaches Uma to say "neighborhood", or visits Kako's house and learns to eat okra, or goes fishing with Grampu, you see a sweet, intelligent child. No wise-cracks, no disrespect, just honest relationships in a loving family.