Busytown Mysteries Hurray for Huckle Review

Animated Kids TV Program Teaches the Scientific Method

May 31, 2009 Renee Carver

Busytown Mysteries (Hurray for Huckle) is an animated kids tv show for preschoolers teaching the scientific method and how to use thinking skills to solve problems

In each episode of the animated kids' tv program Busytown Mysteries (Hurray for Huckle), characters from Richard Scarry's Busytown books work together using the scientific method to solve mysteries in their community. Preschoolers watching this lively cartoon television show can develop their own logical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.

Episode Plot Structure of Busytown Mysteries (Hurray for Huckle)

Each episode of this preschool animated children's tv series uses a predictable pattern to help younger viewers follow what is happening. In each story, Huckle Cat, his sister Sally Cat, their friend Lowly Worm, and usually their friends Pig Will, Pig Won't, and Hilda Hippo, discover a mystery that has taken place in Busytown.

Goldbug, the Busytown newsreporter, then shows up and the characters perform a song that includes the lyrics, "who what why how, who what where when why how" and "everybody solve a mystery." This introduces viewers to the 5 W's, or the question words who, what, where, when, why (and how), and the idea that asking and answering these questions will help a person (or a scientist) solve a problem or mystery.

Once Goldbug has the characters state the problem to be solved, they set off to gather clues. After they have investigated for a while and formed and tested a few hypotheses, Goldbug pops up again and has them describe the current progress of their case. After a little more investigation, they solve the case, and Goldbug appears a final time so Huckle can explain what they did to figure out what happened.

Teaching the Scientific Method with Busytown Mysteries (Hurray for Huckle)

While the Busytown characters in this kids' tv show solve mysteries, they gather clues and data by making observations and measuring things, state problems, use information to draw conclusions, and form and test theories. From watching the characters' actions, young viewers learn the science process skills of observation, communication, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction.

Often even before Huckle Cat and the other characters notice something is wrong, the show has already begun to provide the clues necessary to solve the puzzle. The mysteries can be challenging for some children, especially younger ones, but Busytown Mysteries plays fair and provides preschoolers with all the information they will need to solve the mystery before the characters do.

The features of the show are designed to help kids notice and evaluate information. Musical cues signal to young viewers when an important bit of information has been discovered. Goldbug's main role on the show is to model how to use the strategy of posing and answering questions to make deductions and to solve a problem. And, as Huckle retraces the steps that brought him and his friends to their final conclusion and describes how the clues fit together, the show repeats footage of each event and piece of information Huckle mentions to help young visual learners understand better how the mystery was solved.

Busytown Mysteries and Richard Scarry Books

Characters from Busytown books are a logical fit for a preschool series about solving mysteries because several of Richard Scarry's classic books and stories are well-written mysteries themselves. In fact, in 1976, Richard Scarry was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his book The Great Steamboat Mystery, which tells how the famous detectives Sam Cat and Dudley Pig solve the mystery of who stole Mrs. Pig's pearl necklace.

How to Watch Hurray for Huckle

Hurray for Huckle airs as part of the Kids' CBC preschool programming block in Canada. Families in the United States can view episodes by purchasing the 2009 Richard Scarry DVD collections Hurray for Huckle: Zooming Around Busytown and Hurray for Huckle: The Very Best Busytown Friends Ever. A third Richard Scarry DVD collection, Hurray for Huckle: The Best Outside Fun Ever!, will be released on June 30, 2009, and a fourth, Hurray for Huckle: The Spooky Secrets of Busytown, will come out on August 25, 2009.

Children that enjoy watching Busytown characters in Busytown Mysteries will also enjoy watching the previous animated series based on Richard Scarry's books, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, which used to air on Showtime and Nickelodeon.

The copyright of the article Busytown Mysteries Hurray for Huckle Review in Children’s TV is owned by Renee Carver. Permission to republish Busytown Mysteries Hurray for Huckle Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Hurray for Huckle: Zooming Around Busytown DVD