One of his favorite shows to watch is the series "Alter Karton" (Old Cardboard, released in 2012 under its Swedish name, "Allti Kartong"). It's about the adventures of two robots, Alter Karton and Roytinker, who are clearly modeled after C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars. Like C3PO, Alter Karton is a tall, lanky robot who likes to think himself the leader, but is actually full of doubt, somewhat clumsy, and easily fooled. By contrast, his squat little friend Roytinker, like R2D2, is very clever, daring, and mischievous. While Alter Karton speaks with a human voice, Roytinker communicates only through radio beeps and flashing lights. In the images below, you can see (1) C3PO chasing after R2D2 and (2) Alter Karton chasing after Roytinker:
Since this is educational programming, each episode is centered around a particular theme (space, bicycles, poop, rain, costumes, agriculture, machines, and flowers), which not only shapes the robots' adventures but is also explored in various pedagogic sections that are meant to expand children's vocabulary and imagination.
For example, every episode includes a "Can You Guess What This Is?" section, which shows us an extremely close-up shot of some image, and then we have to guess what it is. In the episode about agriculture, we are shown what looks like an enormous black dot; as the screen pans out, we realize it's one of the seeds on a strawberry. In the episode about poop, the image turns out to be a fly-covered splat of bird poop -- "ew, gross!" This encourages kids to use their imaginations while thinking about every-day objects from alternative perspectives.
Every episode also includes a brief vocabulary section. In the episode about space, for example, we are shown a cardboard sun and moon hanging from the ceiling, in front of a starry backdrop. A young boy comes forward with a pair of scissors and points to the full-moon as we hear the words "fuler levone" (full moon). Then he cuts the cardboard moon in half, smiles, and the narrator announces: "halber levone!" (half moon!) Finally, he cuts the cardboard moon into a sliver, and the narrator tells us what this is called: "moyled" (crescent / new moon). In the episode about rain, the same young boy is sprayed with increasingly heavy streams of water from above: it starts with "shpray regn" (drizzling), makes its way through "shlaks regn" (downpour), and eventually ends with the kid giggling and giggling as meatballs come pouring down on top of him: this, we are told, is "klopsn regn!" (meatball rain!)
Finally, each episode includes a "Just Imagine!" section. In the episode about space, we are asked to imagine that the moon is actually a blintz that you can just peel off your window and eat with a fork: "this is good," the narrator tells us, "in case you get hungry at night!" In the episode about rain, we are asked to imagine that you could blow the rainclouds backwards: an enormous fan is then rolled onto the street and proceeds to literally blow the rainclouds backwards. In the episode about costumes, an innocent little bunny rabbit is step-by-step transformed into a monster: some ketchup is squeezed on its cheek, an eye-patch is added, the back-drop is changed to a scary scene and then we start to hear thunder claps. "But this is just an ordinary stuffed animal!" the narrator reminds us, as, one-by-one, all of the pieces of the costume are removed.
Of course, this is all designed for older kids, and my son is only 1. But he enjoys watching it – he often squeals with delight when he hears the opening theme song, and he's recently started screaming about a minute before each episode ends to alert me that I need to play the next one. But no less importantly, this screen time also gives him important language exposure. Since I'm the only person who regularly speaks Yiddish around him, it's really important for him not just to hear more Yiddish, but to hear other voices. And I'll be the first to admit that I actually really like children's shows, too -- and Alter Karton is pretty good!
You can watch the whole series here, in Yiddish, with either Yiddish or Swedish subtitles. It's available for streaming through December 2016.