For me, screen time for my kids is a guilty pleasure…for me.  In a perfect world, I would be on task all of the time–the happy smiling mom with a list of fun projects for us all to do together.  And, a lot of the time, I am that mom.  Sometimes, however, even Super Mom (which I do not purport to be) needs a break.

The trick is to balance the need for a few moments of peace and quiet (which screen time almost always provides) with really good content.  I was excited to view a few episodes of  Creative Galaxy with my kids, because I really think that this series provides both. This new series, created and produced by Angela Santomero (of Blue’s Clues and Super Why fame) follows Arty, a creative preschool alien, as he, together with his family and his shape shifting pet, Epiphany, travels through a universe of Art-related planets and craftily fix problems in his life with art.

In one Episode, Arty and his sister discover that they can make sandwiches more interesting to their friends by decorating them into Kandinsky sandwiches. This not only shows a watching child some pretty creative problem-solving, but also introduces her to the artist Kandisky.  Pretty cool.

My kids enjoyed that part, but what got them even more excited was the follow-up segment in which live children come up with their own project based on Arty’s problem solving.  Here, you can see, real children creating their own sandwich art:

All in all, I not only didn’t feel guilty about letting my 5 & 8 year old watch these shows, but I really enjoyed watching them together with them.  Even though they may be at the end of the official age range for this series, I think the projects kept them engaged the entire time and interested to see more.

And I definitely enjoyed the 20 minutes of guilt-free quiet.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.