PBS Kids in the Park Review, 2015

Saturday, June 13th was, once again, PBS Kids in the Park. The event was at Military Park in downtown Indianapolis. I had attended two years ago but this year was extra special. My grandson and daughter were able to attend with me.

Keagan won’t be two years old until the end of July so I wasn’t sure how much he would enjoy this. My daughter said that he watches most of the characters so we thought there would be some interest. I believe my daughter was more excited than anyone. Well, that is until the characters started to appear. Once he starting seeing the characters, this was the expression we received:

Needless to say, he was ecstatic. He must have yelled, “Super Why!” 50 times over the course of the day.

My favorite part of the day is the character parade. It is the first thing to kick off the event. My suggestion is to get there early and find a place to the left of the stage. (That is left as you are facing the stage.) This is the best advantage for the children to see the characters. The characters march up from the left side of the stage and across it, then down the other side. One of the reasons I like to get to the left of the stage rather than right in front of it is because the kids can stand or sit in their strollers and easily see the characters. We weren’t having to lift him up so he could see up on stage.

Here were some of the pictures of the parade. I believe I have the names of all the characters this time; thanks to my daughter and a couple of Facebook friends. Check out my post from two years ago: PBS Kids in the Park Review. It was pathetic. I only knew a couple of the characters and I didn’t get much help from anyone so they went nameless.

This is Daniel Tiger. His show is a spin-off of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Starting at the front of the parade (the right side of the picture), that is Buddy from Dinosaur Train, next is Word Girl. Most of you are probably familiar with the next character, Curious George and the last character is Chirp, from Peep and the Big Wide World.

Again, starting from the front of the parade (the right side of the picture), the first two are Migel and Mia. They are brother and sister. I’ve loved the next character since I was a little girl. That’s Clifford the Big Red Dog. He doesn’t seem to be quite as big as he was in the storybooks. Behind Clifford is Wonder Red.

This is Sid the Science Kid. I’m not familiar with him but I loved science so maybe I should check him out.

These two characters are on the same show. It’s one that my grandson simply loves. This is Super Why and Princess Pea. The dog in the picture below is Woofster. He is also from the same show.

This purple bird is Digit. He is one of the characters on Cyberchase. It is a fun children’s show that incorporates math in their adventures.

The above characters are Peg and Cat, which come from the show by the same name. Cat stopped to show us a few of his dance moves. He is definitely a groovin’ cat.

And last, but definitely not least, is Alpha Pig. He is also a character on Super Why!

Meeting the Characters

If you miss the parade you do have opportunities to meet the characters throughout the day. They each have their own tent and schedule. The only problem with this is that the wait can be very long. We were lucky enough to get in the beginning of the line for Super Why and only had a 20 minute wait. Daniel the Tiger was in the other half of the same tent but it was going to be an hour and a half wait from the time we finished with Super Why. We were going to come back and get in line later until we realized that people were already lining up. We made the decision to go ahead and get in line. My daughter and I took turns taking Keagan to enjoy other activities while one of us stayed in line. As I talked with other people I found out that most of them came with a strategy. One of the people I talked to had several adults in their group. They would split up and sit in the different lines while someone else shuffled the children from spot to spot. Since it was just my daughter and me, we only waited in the two lines. Here are the pictures of Keagan meeting Super Why and Daniel Tiger.

Please don’t misinterpret the pictures. Keagan was thrilled to meet the characters. He ran up to them, gave them high fives and hugs but he was NOT thrilled with us for making him turn around to get his picture taken.

Other Activities

There were several other activities besides meeting the characters. Keagan made a colorful butterfly and was able to climb and jump at the Gymboree tent.

He raced Hot Wheels and played in a sand table at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis tent.

There were bubbles to blow at the Child Care Answers booth.

We stopped by the main stage a couple of times to enjoy the shows that were taking place there. Keagan loves music so this was especially fun.

There was so much more to enjoy but it was getting really hot and Brittany and I were worn out. Some of the other activities we saw were a bounce house, a fire engine that the kids could go through and so much more.

My suggestions for a great day:

*** Get there early and station yourself to the left of the stage.
*** Take extra adults with you to hold places in the lines of the characters you really want to see.
*** Bring extra snacks and small toys to entertain your child if you do have to sit in a long line with them.
*** Most of all have a magically fun day.

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PBS Kids in the Park Review, 2011