Practical Parenting

For those not already living in toddler- land, Dora the Explorer (which this year turns 10) is a play-along, animated adventure series starring seven-year-old Latino heroine Dora. With her pet monkey, Boots, she explores the world around her and asks viewers to help solve problems.

PP had the pleasure of chatting with one of Dora’s creators, Chris Gifford, who explained the planning behind each episode. “Every episode is based on a seven-point curriculum which is always put into the story. These seven points are based on [psychologist] Howard Gardner’s ideas for multiple intelligences. As an example, kids are asked to do something that is bodily/kinaesthetic (like jumping) or linguistic (speaking Spanish). We script the show so little kids actively use each intelligence to help Dora and Boots.”

Every episode of Dora is test screened by at least 75 preschoolers before it airs on TV. A different group of preschoolers is used for each round of testing. It’s little wonder then that Dora is number one with preschoolers in Australia.