In my final project, I want to research children’s shows and their effects on early childhood as a means of teaching morals and educating children’s behavior. With the advancement of technology more media is accessible by young children, they need parents who understand the differentiations between shows for different age groups, so children will not be exposed to content they may not be emotionally ready for. My partner will be looking at kids shows for an older age group to compare to my analysis of children’s shows for a younger age group.

My research will answer the following questions: What are differences in content that determine the age group a show is directed towards? What is considered a children’s show? How do the creative character designs attract a younger audience? How do these show use music to express ideas? Why are the colorful characters and music important to influencing young audiences? What are common themes portrayed within children’s shows? Why are they important to the development of a child’s psyche? Who determines what is psychologically sound for children’s shows? What methods do they use to portray these goals?

To complete this project, I will need to examine research in the following areas: an examination of common tropes used in young children’s media, research into child psychology, an investigation into television’s effect on the minds of developing children, and research into common messages portrayed to young children within the genre of children’s television. To find this research, I will start online in the GGC library web search function and will limit my search to academic journals and articles on Galileo. I may use a chapter or two from books that discuss child psychology and address the ability children’s programing has on a child’s psyche. I will look at polls provided by content producers to show statistics on what parents allow their children to watch. To further develop research on common tropes in children’s shows I will examine the content within the shows Care Bears (The 80/90’s Television show), Dragon Tales, and Bear in the Big Blue House. I will keep my research focused upon young children’s shows, specifically I will look at the messages provided in children’s shows and how they affect the mind sets of young children.