A decade or two ago, fluffy, low-budget cartoons attracted huge audiences. But today parents are much more skilled at steering children towards quality programmes, adeptly employing shows as tools to sharpen and shape young minds and bodies.
To succeed now, children's shows must not only satisfy rigorous educational and values criteria but also engage young viewers, turning them into active participants, intellectually, emotionally and often physically.
With that in mind, here are five shows on JimJam, a network created specifically for preschoolers, that parents and children can enjoy together. Best of all, these shows disguise all of that dreary educational stuff behind pure storytelling fun.
Angelina Ballerina
If your little girl is turning into an internet slug, tune her in to this eight-year-old mouse from the other side of Chipping Cheddar who winds up at Camembert Academy, a school for the performing arts, under the tutelage of her doting dance teacher Ms Mimi.
Inspired by the award-winning children's book series written by Katharine Holabird and illustrated by Helen Craig, this animated series celebrates music with ballet, modern, tap, jazz, classical and ethnic dance. As Angelina works to achieve goals and learn from life's stumbles, she inspires kids to dream their big dreams.
Bob the Builder
This dungaree-wearing character could have ended his days bobbing for coins in some silly video game like those ne'er-do-well Mario brothers. Instead, this animated guy proudly wears his construction helmet like a thinking cap - and teaches kids the art of problem-solving. "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" is his motto.
Bob the Builder and his Can-Do Crew – his anthropomorphic construction-machine pals Scoop the scooper, Muck the dump truck and Lofty the crane – hammer out solutions that show the power of positive thinking, problem solving, teamwork and follow-through. Nip your child's procrastination in the bud. As Bob says: "The fun is in getting it done."
Jarmies
Put a twinkle in your preschooler's eye and language skills on his lips as he learns proper English from the Jarmies, an animated gang of six stars who, when they're done glittering in the night sky, zoom down every morning to their treehouse to play in the live-action Tim and Holly's garden. Jarmies are invisible to humans in this programme aimed at children ages 2 to 5.
Kipper
Based on the bestselling books by Mick Inkpen, Kipper the Dog packs the wag and the swagger to enchant children under 5.
This sweet hound is one big kid himself, with an overactive imagination. He naturally wins children over with his endearing antics and unforgettable charm. With all of his questions, Kipper's mind even mirrors a child's. On any given day, expect Kipper to be on the trail of adventure and magical capers with his friends Tiger, Pig and Arnold. While the scenarios may change daily, Kipper is the go-to bowser when it comes to general learning and life skills.
The Magic Key Adventures
If you think dealing with trolls or playing characters in a computer game might prove fascinating for your offspring, then follow the lives of Biff, Kipper, Chip and their dog Floppy. In each episode, a magic key transports them to another world and they face a challenge before being allowed to return to the real world. This has to be one of the niftiest educational shows ever devised about text and sentence structure since it introduces the notions of full stops, sentence cohesion, capital letters, patterns, sounds and more.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The five pillars of Islam
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
How being social media savvy can improve your well being
Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.
Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.
Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.
Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.
However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.
“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.
People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
The biog
Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology
Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels
Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs
Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group H
Juventus v Valencia, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani