If my household is any example of other Daniel Tiger fans' households, it has been a rough three months. The majority of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood season 7 of this beloved PBS Kids show aired in August of 2024, four more episodes aired in January of 2025, and then, we waited.
For a hundred years if you're asking my son but about three months in reality, we continued to wait.
Now, there are two more new episodes available to watch, and the questions have begun again "When are the rest of the episodes coming?" Well, child, as much as I would love to be able to tell you that I do not know, I am not employed by Fred Rogers Productions as much as I would love that as well. It's a lot of "I don't know" to my child's questions about his favorite shows, and I kind of hate that for him, so what can we do while we wait?
Well, first we can be excited about these two new episodes, we can point out characters who we maybe haven't seen in awhile or how we relate to them. We can talk about how difficult it must be for Max when he's overstimulated and we can spark conversations about how would we help if Max was our friend in real life. We are using our imagination which extends the shelf life for lack of a better term, of the episode to make the experience seem longer. We can of course re-watch the episodes but even for the die-hard Tiger fan, this only delays the question of new episodes.
We can get into the history of the show itself, how it was created by Angela Santomero, and who was in turn inspired by Fred Rogers, which hopefully leads to a conversation about that icon himself. We parents can point out how Angela also helped create Blue's Clue, Donkey Hodie, and SuperWhy. You can go online and research any new projects she and her team may be up to.
Aside from talking about the episodes themselves, we can dig into or help our kids dig into how animated shows are made, the drawing, the computer work, the music, the voices, and all of it. Help them learn how it all comes together to be the beloved experience they have every time they watch it.
Take that a step further, and let your child/children create a "show" themselves to the best of their capabilities. Let them take a stab at drawing a scene or even just one character, have them record themselves singing the intro or outro song to their favorite show. F
or my child and I, we sit side by side at the computer and I have shown him a basic outline of how a script is written, and he goes to town. His ideas are creative and honestly? It's basically Daniel Tiger fan fiction over here, and it really helps with the long waits between new episodes.
You can play games on the PBS Kids App, you can watch videos on Youtube and even act out some of the scenes from the show. Playing dress up is always a good bet, and you can pull out the modeling clay and pipe cleaners and try to build the Museum Go Round There are tons of arts and crafts that can be inspired by television shows. Mister Rogers taught ME that.
One final recommendation is head to your public library, nine times out of ten there is a great chance that your child's favorite show has had some books written. Either based on episodes or stand alone stories, books have helped bridge many a gap when it comes to impatiently waiting for new content to air. Stay strong, be patient, understand that theu are way less able to handle disappointment than you are. Time runs differently as well when you're younger so try your best to find alternatives that include their favorite thing without them stressing about the lack of that favorite thing. Oh and hey! There's always the Daniel/Donkey Hodie crossover this summer to look forward to!