Wild Kratts DVD Reviews & Craft

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Hazel's favorite television show is Wild Kratts. She gets up at 6 a.m. to watch it every week day and she likes to watch the double episode from 5-6 p.m. as well. We are lucky to have two "local" PBS channels that have it on at different times plus the PBS Kids cable channel. Now that school is out if we are home at 2 p.m.she also wants to watch an episode. Yes, Hazel's schedule goes around the Wild Kratts. She was so excited when I told her I was contacted by PBS Kids to review the newest Wild Kratts DVD: Super Sprinters. Hazel just stood there with her mouth wide open for a minute or two and then she started jumping up and down and cheering. When I wrote this back to my contact at PBS Kids, she said she would throw in a couple of extra DVDs for Hazel and she did! Today we will review all three of the Wild Kratt DVDs: Super Sprinters, Lost at Sea and Bugging Out.

Each of these DVDs have two Wild Kratts episodes on them. If you do not know the Wild Kratts they are Chris and Martin Kratt. The Kratt brothers are animal experts. Each show starts and ends with a clip of the live brothers exploring animals, but goes into a cartoon version where the brothers have special creature power suits that can turn them into animals so they can explore and use the specific animals special creature powers. Overall I love this show since it is educational and fun. Steve and I often watch it with Hazel. All three DVDs come with extra pdf files of activities that can be printed out. Between the three we got bookmarks, matching, word finds, a journal book and more.

Plus they had some activities like Flat Wild Kratts--take the Kratt brothers with you on your adventure and include them in a picture as well as Discovering Senses, which is various activities to explore ones senses. This mixture was on all three DVDs, but much of it overlapped on them.

 Since Super Sprinters was just released this week (June 23, 2015), we will start with that one.

Super Sprinters has two episodes on it about two of the fastest animals: cheetahs and falcons. The Cheetah Racer episode involves a race between manmade running technology and real cheetah power. Throughout the episode the viewer learns about cheetahs as well as the importance and amazement of Mother Nature. Falcon City teaches viewers about falcons and the importance of not disturbing their nests even when it is in the city. They both involve the "villian" Zach Varmitech who only likes to use animals for power but does not like them or to be outside. Hazel is a very sensitive child who is easily scared, but she does not find any of the Wild Kratts too scary. 

Lost at Sea has two episodes on it about sealife: dolphins and blowfish. In Speaking Dolphinese the viewer learns about how dolphins communicate and help protect one another. The Kratt brothers are interested in deciphering the dolphin's language and get to in the cartoon section. In Blowfish Blowout the viewers learn about blowfish and coral reef when the Kratt brothers challenge their team in the cartoon to find what fish they are hanging out with. Their scientist team: Aviva, Koki and Jimmy Z. come through and learn about the blowfish's powers to protect itself. 

Bugging Out has two episodes about bugs including spiders and tree eating beetles. These are two of the earlier episodes of the show. In Secrets of the Spider's Web the Kratt brothers explore the spider's ability to spin a web and the special silk the spider uses. They have to keep "villian" Donita from getting the spider's silk for her latest fashion line. In the Attack of the Tree Eating Aliens the Kratt brothers team answer the call from one of the Wild Kratt Kids. The team must help the kids figure out what is killing the trees in the forest. This one reminded me of the Asian Longhorn Beetles that invaded central Massachusetts several years ago. The Kratt brothers learn that the aliens have come from Asia and are hurting the trees because the predators of the bugs are not as common in America or at least the species in America do not usually eat this bug.

As you can tell from the descriptions Wild Kratts teach about animals and is very educational. I love the fact that Hazel often knows more about animals then Steve and I do from watching these shows. She is planning on having a Wild Kratts themed birthday party this year and has really wanted a creature power suit. I made her one out of felt. I bought some black felt and a clear vinyl and then let her pick the color for the animal print. She of course picked bright pink. I used glue and tape and so far have just pinned it on her, but am planning on adding some velcro.

Hazel put in her clear pocket the first creature power disc she could find which is a snake. PBS Parents provides bigger printable discs and Yellow Mums provides about 3-inch ones. She used her 3.5-inch punch on them.  I found using a roll of tape to cut the large circles and a small round stamp for the smaller ones (a juice bottle top would probably be about the same) looked best. I used duct tape around the vinyl and felt so there would be a pocket for the creature power discs. It needs a bit of work, but she likes it.

For more ideas for Wild Kratts check out  Ground Hog Masks Inspired by the Wild Kratts and my Wild Kratts Pinterest board.