Tumble Leaf

Summary: A young, blue fox finds something new each morning and spends the day trying to ‘figure it out’. During the first season, this is often a science concept such as sounds, reflection, camouflage, and other simple ideas. In later seasons, the ‘figure it out’ becomes less scientific, but still adventurous and fun.

Warnings: Nothing. There is one Halloween special, for people who want to avoid that.

Opinion: This is a gorgeous stop-motion fantasy world with talking animals and strange creatures. The episodes are always adventures of discovery with hardly any sort of conflict or even mild peril. This series won multiple awards, and rightfully so, as the artistry and creativity in these is absolutely astounding in a show aimed at preschoolers.

As a parent, I was very impressed with the production quality of the stop-motion, along with the child-focused exploration and problem solving. My children enjoyed this and watched many of the episodes multiple times. This is definitely something that a parent could easily watch with a child without finding it annoying.

I highly recommend this series!

Sequels/Remakes: There are several seasons of this along with a few longer specials, but no other media tie-ins at this time.

Educational Value: 3 out of 3 stars. The first season is highly educational, and the second is good as well, but after that, the educational value drops off significantly.

Cultural value: 1 out of 5 stars. This series is one that I hope will someday (if the quality is maintained) become more well known and popular with kids and parents, but right now it is still too new and unknown to have any sort of cultural impact.

Age rating: I placed this with the 4-year olds, but it is one of the few preschool shows that I honestly feel could be watched by older children (say, 5 and 6) and the child wouldn’t feel like they were watching a ‘baby show’.

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