Imagination Movers

A few months ago, my husband read an article about this group that had a television show on Disney, called the Imagination Movers. He set it up on the DVR for the kids. At first, they were only sort of interested in it. They would watch it on occasion, but nothing too frequent. Over time, my son started to watch it more and my little "me too" started to watch too.

If you are not familiar with the Imagination Movers, it is a group of four men (who are all dads in real life) who solve problems. When they learn of a new problem, frequently their own and sometimes that of a customer, they declare it an IDEA EMERGENCY. They sing a catchy tune about Brainstorming. I really like the way they handle problem solving - they even say "There's no bad idea when your brainstorming". I think that sometimes kids don't get the chance to learn how to solve a problem and don't get the chance to share any old idea - good or bad. As they come up with ideas to solve their problem, they try them out. And, you know what? Just like in the real world, the first idea doesn't always solve the problem and you have to keep trying. When the eventually solve the problem, they celebrate with singing and dancing.

Last fall, we learned that the Imagination Movers were coming to Akron (Akree as my daughter calls it) for a live stage show. We had talked before about taking the kids to see a show sometime and this one seemed to be the perfect one. My husband wasn't able to join us, so the kids and I ventured out on our own.

The show was great. I got the chills when the theater went dark and the announcer came over the loud speaker and introduced them. The kids were dancing first in front of the seats and eventually in the aisle.

Watching them sing and dance, I decided that we should get a copy of their discs. My husband made an MP3 disc of all of their music for the car. Now, we listen to it all of the time in the car. As a mom, I have found their music very catchy and myself singing along. In fact, yesterday, I dropped my daughter off at daycare and was driving to work. I must have been 5 or 10 minutes down the road and realized that I was still listening and singing along to the Imagination Movers.

Don't get me wrong, I don't let the kids watch hours of television, but knowing that they are watching shows like Busytown Mysteries (more info here) and the Imagination Movers, where they are learning things that will help them in life, makes me feel better when they do watch TV. Besides, with "Movers" as we know them in our house, my daughter spends about half of the show standing on the floor in front of the couch and dancing along to the music.

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