Dora the explorer is an American kid’s animated series that was created by Chris Gifford, Eric Weiner and Valerie Walsh. The Educational TV series converted into a regular series in 2000. As a series, the show carried on the Nickelodeon cable television network as well as the allied Nick Jr. channel. In 2006, the show was aired on CBS, and its Spanish-dubbed version was for the first time aired on Telemundo, but later in April 2008, it has featured on Univision.
Dora the explorer has been produced by Stinky Hawk Productions, Nick Jr. Productions, Nickelodeon Productions & now Nickelodeon Animation Studio. The series is one of Nick Jr’s longest running shows, and it won a Peabody Award in 2003, for the outstanding work it exhibits in making learning an enjoyable experience for preschoolers.
Dora’s friends accompany her in her pursuits. These characters are Boots and Diego, who is Dora’s cousin. Dora’s adventures have also been incorporated in interesting children’s books to assist kids in preschool to learn basic geography.
The show’s main character is a 7 (later 8) year old girl who loves engaging in quests that are related to each activity she partakes of and the places she goes, accompanied by her anthropomorphic monkey called Boots ( because of his pair of red boots) and her purple backpack.
Her name is Dora Marquez, and she loves asking the viewers for their assistance to find new ways to get into various places, with the assistance of her “map”. Dora’s viewers learn negotiation skills, concern for others and also problem solving skills. The viewers of the show also enjoy learning the Spanish language as they repeat the short words and phrases that Dora teaches them.
According to the show’s producers, the show is not mainly about teaching and learning Spanish, it is all about the adventurous trips of Dora the explorer. Walsh Valdes outlines that they did not have an intention of alienating the viewers who are not bilingual.
However, because learning is fun for kids at this stage, the show’s creators took the advantage and created it in English and Spanish, to assist the kids learn another language. Thanks to the show, many parents all over the country pride the show for helping their kids to learn new Spanish vocabularies. Dora the explorer is a top preschool cartoon series on commercial television, and kids, both Spanish speaking and other bilingual kids are proud to identify with her.
The show exhibits really interesting stories for the age group, and it is also highly interactive. After an adventure, Dora celebrates her accomplishment, and her viewers celebrate along with her. Dora is a real bait for the kids, it is a show that will get them learning and the character will encourage them to solve their simple problems and be generally smart.