(Okay, it’s not really a dirty little secret, sorry to disappoint you.)

Hayley is three. Or, as she will now tell anyone with ears, she is three and a half. She loves to watch cartoons. Some of them are either boring or annoying (Thomas, Barney, Rolie Polie Olie, etc.). The vast majority of them are tolerable or actually quite decent (Little Bear, Franklin, Pocoyo, etc.). Then there is that one show. One of her shows is so enjoyable that I honestly really like it.

A lot. As in, I’ll watch it even if no one else is in the room.

The Backyardigans. Oh my god, I love The Backyardigans.

The other day they came on and Hayley was down the hall pestering her father and I laid on the couch with a sleeping Breanna and I watched the whole thing. Yesterday I caught myself singing “I love being a Princess” while washing the dishes (which is a little ironic if you think about it). This morning I was disappointed it wasn’t on and used the onscreen guide to look ahead where I found out it was on at 5:30 this evening. It was a little embarrassing to realize that I was really happy about that.

Maybe I need to get out more.

Seriously though. I love the idea of five little friends who live on the same block and go in their back yards to have glorious imaginary adventures. The things they do are pretty sophisticated for their age, from racing to an ancient Mayan pyramid in order to locate a magical flying rock, to hunting down a Soccer Monster who steals everyone’s soccer balls (only to discover that he steals them because he’s lonely and hopes someone will just come play soccer with him), to staging an elaborate ghost game of “hide and go boo” in a haunted house.

I enjoy the stories, and I adore the characters. I like them all for different reasons. My favorite is little Uniqua the unknown creature who may not actually be from this planet, and her enthusiasm for anything. I like Tasha the hippo and the way she says “oh for goodness sake” in total exasperation. I like Tyrone the moose with his levelheaded behaviour. I like Pablo the penguin because he’s so darn cute and goes with the flow. And I like little Austin the kangaroo with his shy “new kid in town” manner.

I also love the songs. My favorite is the “float, flutter, fly” song from the flying rock episode but I’ll sing along to any of them. I try to avoid singing the “Yeti Stomp” song too often, especially if anyone downstairs may be asleep, because Hayley pounds her feet loudly on the floor when I get to the part that goes, “stomp, stomp, stomp, doing that Yeti Stomp”.

I think my favorite part is the end. It seems that as the adventure wraps up (as neatly and tidily as any 30-minute sitcom would), someone’s stomach always growls, prompting someone else to invite the gang over for a snack. As the background scenery slowly morphs back into the yards, they run off to the back door and discuss what mom and dad are serving up for snacks today: Will it be chocolate chip cookies or vegetables with hummus?

I feel like a dork, but I can’t help myself. It really is a great show. It prompts so much imagination. Often I hear Hayley playing in her room, talking to her “backyard friends”. She talks about them regularly. I was so excited when I went over the the Nick Jr. site and found some printout activities from the show. One pack includes five or six scenes from different episodes, two pages of cut-out paper dolls of each character, and a slew of cut-out accessories. I printed the whole thing, put the scenes inside page protectors, slapped it all into a binder, and cut out all the pieces.

It’s been a big hit with Hayley.

(And it’s a big hit with me too.)

Here with your friends, the Backyardigans…