Pinky Dinky Doo is a children's animated series that currently airs on Nick Jr. and dubbed in Spanish on
Show Logo
Univision in the USA, ABC in Australia, CBeebies in Great Britain and CBC in Canada, in the Kids' CBC programming block.
Plot
Pinky is a cute and pretty 7 year old girl who lives in The Great Biggest City with her parents, her 4 year old little brother, Tyler, and their pet, Mr. Guinea Pig. When a problem arises, Pinky says, "I think I have an idea," and Tyler says, "Pinky, are you going to tell a story?" and Pinky will say, "Yeserooni positooni!" and dances her way to a cardboard Story Box with Tyler and Mr. Guinea Pig and uses a piece of chalk and her imagination to tell a story. During the made-up story, Pinky must Think Big, at which point her head swells and she comes up with an often wacky solution to the problem by singing "It's time to think. If I have a problem and don't know which way to go, I think and think and think and think and suddenly I know!". In "Tyler Dinky Doo to the Rescue" and "Go to Bed, Tyler!", Tyler does the thinking. In "Shrinky Pinky", it was Mr. Guinea Pig. In the 2nd season, for some stories after the Story Box incident, Pinky uses the Story Pad, a notebook in which Pinky draws pictures for her newer made-up stories. In some episodes, after the indicent, she reuses the Story Box, although she was supposed to use the Story Pad.
This show helps viewers increase their vocabularies with its Great Big Fancy Word, which is featured several times during the episode. It also addresses problem-solving skills as well as the basics of narrative stories—character, dialogue, plot, details, main idea and sequence of events. After Pinky tells her story and solves the problem of the day, kids are invited to play an interactive game on the Cheese Sandwich toy, where they review details about the story. At the end of each episode, Pinky says, "I love to make up stories. I'll bet you can make up a story too."
This series was created by Jim Jinkins, who originally made up Pinky's adventures as bed-time tales for his children. The Executive Producers are Jinkins and David Campbell. It is a production of Sesame Workshop and Cartoon Pizza. According to Nick Jr., Pinky Dinky Doo is the network’s second series (first original series) dedicated to enhancing early literacy.
The original American version was initially shown on CBeebies in the UK, but more recently the show has been redubbed and broadcast with British English accents. There is also a Spanish version on Univision.
Characters
It has three main characters: Pinky (India Ennenga), Tyler (Season 1: Felix Chrome, Season 2: Allison Wachtfogel), and Mr. Guinea Pig (Season 1: Juan, Season 2: John Rogers). It also has the characters of Pinky's mother and father, and a quintet of school characters: Nicholas Biscuit , Bobby Boom, Daphine Toilette, Miss McGanza and Pinky.
Episodes
List of episodes of Pinky Dinky Doo
Games
At the end of each 15 minute story, Pinky plays an educational type of game. At the end of each episode, Mr. Guinea Pig would press the power button to turn off the toy. The Toy is a cheese sandwich connected with electrical power buttons.
What Came First? Pinky replays certain portions of the story and then asks viewing children to remember which part came first in the story.
Eat It Or Wear It: Pinky shows objects and asks kids if they would eat it or wear it.
Great Big Fancy Word Game: Pinky helps kids recall the meaning of the fancy word that has been repeated in the story.
Who Is This?: A slice of Swiss cheese appears on the screen and holes pop out of it revealing a character from the story. Kids must try to guess what character is hiding behind the slice of cheese.
Where Is Pinky?: A slice of Swiss cheese appears on the screen and holes pop out of it revealing a location.
What Is That Sound? Pinky asks kids to identify the source of a sound.
What's the Name of My Story? Pinky gives us titles for stories, and the viewers think of the best title of the story.
Which is the Right Pinky? There are four Pinkys shown and the viewers guess which one was the Pinky seen in the story.
Who Said This? Pinky gives us three characters from the book and the viewers think of the correct character who said a line from the story.
What Was My Big Idea? Pinky gives us three different big ideas and the viewers guess which was the idea from the story.
Who Were the Main Characters? Pinky gives us two characters each and the viewers guess who was in the story.
Was This a Setting? Pinky gives us three different settings and the viewers guess which settings were in the story.