What We're Watching: Curious George & Science Fair

Greetings from The Paley Center for Media’s Education Department!

Welcome to the latest installment of our newsletter, “What We’re Watching,” filled with tips and ideas for consuming media at home with your kids. As we continue to spend time at home, we are here to help you stay simultaneously entertained and educated! In each newsletter we are highlighting a different theme that connects to two selected programs, one for younger and one for older students with related activities. Here’s what we’re watching this week to stay entertained and spark creativity while we are home!

Weekly Zoom Meet-ups

Thursdays, 3 to 3:30pm ET

Please join us at our weekly Zoom Meet-up, Thursdays from 3 to 3:30pm ET. We’ll chat about the episodes we are watching this week— Curious George and Science Fair—or whatever else is on your mind regarding media literacy and at-home learning . Here's the link to connect, see you on Thursday.

This Week's Recommendation for Younger Kids: Curious George

Curious George : “Robot Monkey Hullabaloo” (Season 2, Episode 15) is streaming on Hulu and is recommended for Grades PK+. In this PBS Kids show based on the beloved book series, George and the Man in the Yellow Hat live in “the city” in an apartment building with a pigeon coop on the roof—remind you of a city you may know about or live in? While we love curiosity and monkeys, we also adore robots! In this episode, George visits a museum to see an exciting robot exhibit. Back at home, he decides to build a robot costume, using various items he finds around the house. We hope after watching this episode you’ll be inspired to make a robot creation of your own.

Curious George: “Robot Monkey Hullabaloo”

(Season 2, Episode 15) Hulu

Discussion Questions:

Where does George go with the Man in the Yellow Hat in this episode?
Describe the exhibit they see at the museum. What objects are on display? How do you know George likes the exhibit from how you see him respond?
Because George can’t play with the collectible robots at home, what does he decide to do?
What materials does he use to build his costume?
What kind of trouble does he get into and why?

Additional Resources

Books with awesome monkey characters:

Willy the Wimp by Anthony Browne and the classic Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman

Graphic novels featuring excellent robots:

Robot vs. Monkey by James Kolchaka and Robot Dreams by Sarah Varon

Extension Activity: Make Your Own Robot

Materials: Cardboard boxes, construction paper, scissors, tape, markers, glue, etc.

Cool facts about monkeys from NatGeo Kids

How to make a robot out of recycled materials

Easy Lego robot build

This Week's Recommendation for Older Kids: Science Fair

Curiosity is the foundation for expanding knowledge, and a quality that all great scientists possess. We’re watching Science Fair this week, a NatGeo documentary streaming on Disney+ which follows nine extremely motivated and intellectually curious high school students from around the world as they prepare to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. This documentary is more fun to watch than it sounds!

Science Fair (Disney+) Grades 7+

Discussion Questions:

What do each of the nine students have in common despite their different backgrounds and upbringings? What skills do they have and what skills are further developed through this experience?
What motivated each of these students to compete in their local science fair and the subsequent ISEF?
What interests do each student have that led to their project? What resources did they use to develop their projects?
How much did presentation skills impact the success of each project? In your opinion, is that fair or unfair, and why?
If you could solve one issue in your community through science, what would it be? Can you think of a project that you could develop to address that issue?

Watch more:

Spare Parts Grades 7+

Based on a true story, this movie centers on Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix, where half the student population is undocumented. Four kids join forces on an unlikely project, building an underwater robot with the guidance of a substitute teacher.