Children's TV

Boston – September 13, 2026 -- Boston Children's Museum will host Gabby's Dollhouse MEOWseum Discovery Days from September 18 through September 20, 2026, offering families a free costume character Meet & Greet included with paid museum admission.

Three days of Gabby-themed activities run 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The event, presented in collaboration with DreamWorks Animation and the Association of Children's Museums (ACM), returns for a second year at the Boston location. Programming includes a Storytime session, a Gabby Cats scavenger hunt, a dance party with DJ Catnip, and a craft activity making Hamster Kitty Fairies.

Advance reservations are required due to limited capacity.

Families can register through the museum's website ahead of the event. Regular museum admission applies -- $24 for adults, children ages 1-15, and seniors -- while children under 12 months and museum members enter free.

Cologne – September 11, 2026 -- German broadcaster WDR has produced a second batch of 1,000 free "Maus" school-start packages for first-grade classrooms in North Rhine-Westphalia after the initial run sold out within days.

The free kits, tied to the long-running children's show Die Sendung mit der Maus, are designed to ease the transition into elementary school and introduce young children to responsible media use.

Demand exhausted two full print runs in days

The first 1,000 packages were claimed by teachers almost immediately after launch. WDR responded by printing 1,000 more, but those were also fully requested by educators shortly after.

WDR Director General Dr. Katrin Vernau said the response shows strong demand for reliable, child-friendly educational materials, and that the broadcaster plans to expand the program further in 2027.

Siloam Springs, Ark. – September 11, 2026 -- Author Spencer Patterson has released a new children's picture book, "The Good Pliosaur," that uses a prehistoric underwater rescue to teach young readers about compassion and overcoming prejudice.

Illustrated by Sam Calden, the story is set in an ocean world where long-necked plesiosaurs and short-necked pliosaurs have distrusted each other for generations, despite no longer being at war. The narrative follows Brett, a plesiosaur who believes his species is superior to pliosaurs.

An attack leaves the story's hero trapped and injured

While traveling to bake cookies for his mother, Brett is attacked by deep-sea bandits who steal his pearls and pin him beneath a heavy rock. Two fellow plesiosaurs pass by and refuse to help, each citing an excuse to leave him behind.

Cologne – September 09, 2026 -- "Die große Maus-Show" celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special edition airing Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 8:15 p.m. on Das Erste.

Host Esther Sedlaczek leads the anniversary broadcast under the theme "Kids Ask, Adults Marvel," featuring a lineup of quiz questions, experiments, and celebrity guests. The show began two decades ago under the title "Frag doch mal die Maus" as a one-off special before becoming a fixture of Saturday night programming on Das Erste.

Six celebrities join the jubilee lineup

Guests for the anniversary episode include Annette Frier, Wincent Weiss, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, Axel Prahl, Beatrice Egli, and Till Reiners.

Munich – September 08, 2026 -- A new 50-minute episode of the German children's program "Checker EXTRA" explores how artificial intelligence is changing everyday life, airing Tuesday, September 15, at 8:05 p.m. on KiKA. The show, titled "Wie KI unser Leben verändert" (How AI Is Changing Our Life), will also stream on kika.de, the KiKA app, and the ARD Mediathek, where it remains available for five years.

The episode is part of KiKA's broader thematic push called "Check die KI" (Check the AI), aimed at helping young viewers understand a technology already embedded in homework help, image generation, and chatbot friendships.

Cologne – September 7, 2026 -- Roughly 170,000 children in North Rhine-Westphalia are starting school this year, and German broadcaster WDR is rolling out a package of free educational content through its long-running children's brand "Die Maus" to help them adjust.

The Maus website offers school-starter materials in six languages

Parents and teachers can access craft activities, puzzles, coloring pages, and ABC letter-learning films on the Maus website in German, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Arabic, and Russian. A feature called "Maus-Schul-Weltreise" shows how children attend school in other countries, while a series of factual segments answers everyday questions about school life.

Erfurt, Germany -- September 01, 2026 -- Families looking for new children's programming this fall can find a fresh batch of shows from Germany's public children's channel KiKA, starting with a 50th-anniversary re-release of "Die Biene Maja" now streaming on kika.de. The lineup for September 2026 also includes the new preschool series "Karlchen" launching September 2, the desert adventure film "Prinzen der Wüste" arriving September 6, a live AI-education event called "Check die KI" on September 15, and new episodes of "Rabbit Academy - Die Häschenschule" from September 16. All titles are available on kika.de, the KiKA app, and the Kikaninchen app.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 28, 2026 -- Ten of the best young songwriters competing on Germany's "Dein Song" spent last week filming at a new songwriting camp in Frankfurt am Main, part of the ZDF and KiKA competition's 19th season. The camp followed a casting round held in Wiesbaden in late July 2026. Contestants reworked their compositions and performed a semi-final round for the judging panel. The 16-part documentary series and finale are set to air in February 2027 on KiKA, kika.de, the KiKA app, ZDF streaming and the ZDFtivi app.