How to tell Blippi from Little Baby Bum
Here’s a cheat sheet for perplexed adults to some of the most popular children’s programs on earth, created and marketed by Londonbased Moonbug Entertainment.
Cocomelon. The company’s monster ratings flagship features cartoon tykes singing and dancing while they take improbable joy in tasks not typically considered joyful, like brushing your teeth, eating vegetables or learning about colors. Plus nursery rhymes.
Target audience: 1 to 3 years old
Sample lyric: “We’ll find every color when we look around/this is red! This is orange! Look at what we found!” (from “Learning Colors Song.”)
Little Baby Bum. Life lessons and musical adventures built around a cartoon girl named Mia and her friends, which include anthropomorphized farm animals. Plus nursery rhymes.
Target audience: Infancy to 2 years old
Sample lyric: “When you’re sick in bed and feeling oh so blue/i will help you get to feeling better soon,” Mia sings to the melody from “If You’re Happy and You Know It” as she brings food to a bedridden cow in “The “Kindness
Song!”
Blippi. A rare live-action Moonbug offering, Blippi is a grinning, endlessly enthusiastic fellow played by two actors, one of whom is the character’s creator, Stevin John. Blippi has orange glasses, orange suspenders, an orange bow tie and a gleeful fascination with raspberries, dental hygiene, aquariums, the color blue and countless other subjects. Occasional nursery rhymes.
Target audience: 2 to 6 years old
Sample lyric: “Colorful balloons are all around/ Don’t pop ’em, they’ll make a loud sound.” (from “Colorful Balloons Song.”)
Lellobee City Farm. Set on Grandma Mei’s “urban micro farm,” as it says on the Moonbug website, “Lellobee” stars a recurring cast of kids and animals. This time the singing and dancing celebrates slightly more grown up pleasures, like riding a bike, and slightly more evolved lessons, like the inevitability of accidents. And yes, there are nursery rhymes.
Target audience: 2 to 5 years old
Sample lyric: “Yeah, I love to ride my bike/i can ride whenever I like.” (from “You Can Ride a Bike!”)