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The roots of the word television are ancient Greek tele, 鈥渇ar鈥� and Latin visio, 鈥渟ight鈥�. And ever since it arrived in American living rooms in the 1940s, producers have aspired to somehow shrink the distance between programming and audience. Now the digital age has created a gateway to connect with audiences anytime, anywhere and to provide an endless array of passive and active engagement with media.

For parents of young children concerned about screen time, ubiquitous media has long created tension, but the past year has highlighted the potential of high-quality digital programming to keep kids, and their parents, learning and connected even while they鈥檙e stuck at home.

鈥淛ust as stone tools were the technological breakthrough of early humans, today鈥檚 kids have digital platforms to access the worlds鈥� information at their fingertips!鈥� says Michael H. Levine, senior vice president of learning and impact for Noggin, Nickelodeon鈥檚 early learning service. 鈥淭hese now ubiquitous means of communication and learning weren鈥檛 even contemplated three decades ago.鈥�

This whirlwind history traces significant advances in the quest to make educational children鈥檚 television and new forms of media an engaging experience鈥攊nstead of one where the viewers are merely passive recipients.

• The precursors: seeing yourself in the classroom. From the very beginning of the medium, children have been hooked and parents have been concerned: Is my child watching too much? Is it harmful? Could it maybe be a bit beneficial (because I have laundry to fold)?

In a  the scholar and television host fondly remembers watching Ding Dong School鈥攚hich premiered in 1952鈥� and following along as Miss Frances led activities. Ding Dong School was shot with low-angled cameras to simulate the point of view of preschoolers.

The following year saw the launch of Romper Room, which wasn鈥檛 just one show but rather a broadcast concept that started in Baltimore and soon spread to dozens of other cities, each with a different host. The original, Miss Nancy, became known for holding up the frame of a hand mirror and calling out names of the viewers she could 鈥渟ee鈥� in their homes. Romper Room taught math, spelling and etiquette.

The popularity of Captain Kangaroo, which premiered in 1955, tilted children鈥檚 television in favor of entertainment rather than education.

Essentially, Miss Frances, Miss Nancy and Captain Kangaroo pioneered distance learning before the term came into existence, and the examples they set can be instructive for today鈥檚 teachers who find themselves on the other side of the screen from their young students.

As , the first-ever Early Childhood Teacher of the Year , 鈥淭eaching is about 90% theater. Kids are going to know if you鈥檙e excited to see them or if you鈥檙e frustrated.鈥�

• The man with the cardigan sweater: seeing into your heart. Mister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood, featuring the soft-spoken and infinitely patient Fred Rogers, premiered in 1968. It may have seemed like just another children鈥檚 series at the time, with the host interacting with puppets and singing songs, but over time it has come to be appreciated as an almost transcendent vehicle for children to get in touch with their emotions.

The show went off the air in 2001, and Fred Rogers died in 2003, but his kind spirit lives on in a well-received documentary, a feature film starring Tom Hanks and the PBS Kids series Daniel Tiger鈥檚 Neighborhood.

• Big Bird & friends: seeing people like you on screen. Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, the same year we landed on the moon, represented a 鈥済iant leap鈥� for children鈥檚 television. Creators Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett adhered to a rigorous curriculum instead of selecting lessons based on what felt right.

They enlisted the brilliant puppeteer Jim Henson to create unforgettable characters that interacted with live actors. In addition, they conscientiously built a community that its intended audience would recognize as their own.

In his foreword to David Kamp鈥檚 Sunny Days: The Children鈥檚 Television That Changed America, published in 2020, drummer, bandleader and writer Questlove acknowledges: 鈥淭here were plenty of cities on other shows鈥�. But none of these cities were familiar to me the way that Sesame Street was. It was urban, maybe the most urban show on the air. On Sesame Street, 鈥榰rban鈥� meant what it is supposed to mean: a cityscape filled with different kinds of people, as well as busy stoops and storefronts where those people went to talk and joke and eat and sing. This was a community in the literal sense, which, to us kids watching at home all over America, became a community in the figurative sense.鈥�

Nickelodeon, which was founded by the educator Geraldine Laybourne in 1979, became the first children鈥檚 channel on cable television. It took some vital lessons from Sesame Street and added dimensions and characters of its own, notably the bilingual Dora the Explorer, who debuted in 1999.

Levine, who was previously Founding Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, told me, 鈥�Sesame set the stage for a plethora of innovation in the children鈥檚 media space. They built the mold, and companies like Nickelodeon and its offshoot Noggin, pioneered important new projects like talking back at the TV so that children could imagine playing along with their beloved characters.鈥�

• Home video and the Internet: seeing what you want, when you want. While innovations in content have continued since Sesame Street, the big story of the past few decades is the technological innovations that seem to hand control to children and their adults.

First, VCRs made the content 鈥渙n demand鈥�; then DVDs and video games made it portable; and now YouTube and other streaming services allow children to instantly conjure virtually any favorite character, song or lesson in the back seat of the car. Along the way, television, or video elements became part of a more interactive multimedia landscape.

The advent of touch screens, Levine acknowledges, is both a boon and a burden – enabling new levels of interactivity (including games) but also raising the expectation in young children that everything should be tappable (even books). The web鈥檚 power and risks have prompted organizations like and publications like which Levine co-authored with Lisa Guernsey, to help parents make better choices.

• Seeing people like you in history. For Levine and his colleagues at Noggin, the next stage for young audiences has arisen in response to both the COVID-19 pandemic, which is keeping families at home; and the national reckoning with the legacy of racism.

A new music video series, Rhymes Through Times, celebrates historical African American leaders, starting with Ruby Bridges and Thurgood Marshall. Informally known as 鈥淗amilton for Preschoolers,鈥� the series is a collaboration with Christopher Jackson (the original George Washington in Hamilton) and Lion Forge Animation (Hair Love).

An upcoming project called 鈥淏ig Heart鈥� will tap musical talent including rapper Aloe Blacc to tackle broader social-emotional lessons, which Levine says should be part of the national conversation around learning loss.

鈥淥ur families live in an era of transformational crisis and opportunity,鈥� says Levine. 鈥淐ertainly, new media forms are evolving every day to help us remain productive, connected and entertained. But none of this tech power will make our children鈥檚 lives better unless it is deployed to strengthen the power of human relationships. The legacy of pioneers such as Sesame Street, Fred Rogers and Nickelodeon is that they all promoted a kinder citizenry and a shared future for all children. That鈥檚 needed now more than ever.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.