The educational preschool tv show Noonbory & the Super 7 uses the adventures of a group of cute animated superheroes (the Bories) and their nonthreatening enemies (the Guries) to teach children about qualities associated with the five senses, the importance of teamwork, how to think through and solve problems, and what it truly means to be a hero. While many of the main characters possess superhero powers, the episodes stress the importance of working together to solve problems and how it is helping others, not special powers, that makes someone a hero. Although sometimes silly and cutesy, this CGI animated series contains good messages and will be entertaining to most young children.
Noonbory & the Super 7 Characters Teach Five Senses, Life Lessons
Five of the main Bories possess supersenses, or super powers related to the five senses: Pongdybory has a super sense of smell, Cozybory has a super sense of touch, Totobory has a super sense of taste, Jettybory has a super sense of hearing, and Lunabory has a super sense of sight. Noonbory, the leader of the Super 7, uses common sense to help the superheroes figure out how they can use and combine their super powers to help the other Bories in their community. Often they must put their powers to use to stop super silly villany being caused by Guries such as Wangury (a toadlike pirate with two bumbling henchmen) or Coldygury (a selfish snow creature). By watching the characters use their different super powers, young viewers will see how each of the five senses can be useful in different situations, such as sniffing out berries or hearing faraway noises.
Along with teaching how each of the five senses work, the plots of this animated preschool show will encourage young viewers to think about what it really means to be a hero. Over the course of various episodes, Noonbory points out over and over that supersenses are supposed to be used for helping other people. And even characters without superpowers can contribute. For example, in the episode "Luky's Bubble Trouble," jealous Lukybory wishes he were a superhero with a super power, but is taught by Noonbory that super powers are not what makes someone a hero. Instead, Lukybory can be a hero and save the day just by doing whatever he can to help someone else — in this case, making Coldygury happy. In another episode, "Luky and the Runaway Tree," Lukybory causes trouble by trying to get magical powers for himself from Hanubi's tree and learns in the end that knowing what is right and doing what is right is what makes a hero, especially if a hero works hard to fix a mistake he or she has made.
Noonbory & the Super 7 Teaches Problem-Solving
As children watch the characters solve the problems that face their friends and community in each episode, the gentle narration helps kids follow what is going on and think through whether a solution is a good one or not. The narrator also reassures children to make sure that they will not become scared by the action of the super silly villains, making observations such as, "Wangbury is a villain, but he isn't very scary, is he?"
Often the narrator reminds the viewer of previous character actions, points out when characters are misbehaving, or asks the viewer to make judgments about whether a character has just chosen to do the right thing or not or whether a planned action is a good idea or not. Kids can then see the effect of each action as the plot plays out and learn good and bad ways of solving problems.
Noonbory & the Super 7 Review
Overall, adults may find the problems faced by the Bories silly, but the stories use humor and appealing and sometimes flawed characters to teach young children good lessons about not stealing, asking others to help instead of trying to take advantage of other people's work, not telling lies, and being kind to others. The repeated theme of teamwork and how the Bories are stronger when they work together than when they try to do things alone is also a valuable one for young children to absorb. Along with such moral lessons, the episodes teach kids about concepts related to such varied topics as big/bigger/biggest, opposites, and how farming works.
Preschoolers who enjoy watching Noonbory & the Super 7 may also enjoy other educational tv shows about teamwork and problem-solving, such as Little Einsteins and Busytown Mysteries.
Renee Carver - Renée Carver has an Elementary Education degree and over ten years of experience writing and editing children's educational products.
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