Oobi, a gentle bare-hand puppet, is a four-year-old boy who discovers his world around him. He lives with his three-year-old sister Uma and his grandfather, Grampu.
Oobi was created by Josh Selig who also created the new-ish cartoon, the Wonder Pets. Oobi airs on Noggin, a cable television channel, and was intended for preschoolers BUT all ages just love Oobi!!
Oobi is a HUGE deal to my family. My son Ethan has loved Oobi ever since we first saw the show over three years ago. It still holds a special place in our hearts and we watch it every week. We've gone through at least a dozen pairs of "Googly Finger Rings" that he uses to make his own Oobi puppets, and it's become something of a family tradition to take "Oobi" on every trip.
Oobi is kind of like our family mascot. We have a long history with him... Ethan has a speech delay, and we tried all kinds of educational videos to help him. Nothing caught his attention until we found Oobi. Something about their little eyes and uncomplicated "hand-faces" made the show stand out immediately to him. We taped the show in the mornings, and he learned lots of words and even a few abstract concepts from watching them. Like "silly," "pat-a-cake," and "point." We eventually incorporated Oobi into his 2-hour speech classes and soon enough, he was talking just as well as the other kids his age. Then, when he learned how to read, we put googly eyes on our fingers and used "Oobis" as guides to help him follow the words. Oobi helped make a lot of tough learning become fun for him.
On top of how the show helped us personally, it is so well-made and the puppets are so well-acted. There's never been another show or character that we've all loved as much as Oobi.
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| Here we are "playing" Oobi!! |
