Television series

The Backyardigans

Name: The Backyardigans
Genre: Adventure, Children, Music
Released: 2004
Cast: Jamia Simone Nash, Jonah Bobo, Kristen Frost, LeShawn Jeffries, Naelee Rae

Action
Animated musical
Light-hearted
Dip in and out

The Backyardigans is a Nickelodeon animated musical where five backyard friends transform mundane neighbourhoods into fantastical adventure worlds through pure imagination. Every episode is a full song-and-dance production: the kids become explorers, pirates, superheroes, whatever the week demands. It's joyful, energetic, and built on the idea that play is serious business. Perfect for preschoolers who love to move and sing, and for anyone who remembers why that matters.

TVMaze rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love musicals where songs spring out of make-believe play, and you don't mind a preschool show doing it with sincere, bouncy conviction.

Skip it if you want a story that builds tension or stakes, since it runs on bright, gentle play rather than danger or suspense.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes, easy to dip into and full of repeated sing-along energy; it wants a cheerful, willing audience more than close attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Puffin Rock2015

Gentler than Backyardigans but animated with the same warmth and curiosity. Oona explores nature with her puffin friend in Ireland, learning through wonder rather than shouting. Gorgeously drawn and narrated by Chris O'Dowd.

But The pace is slower and much quieter. If your child needs high-energy musical production numbers to stay engaged, this will feel like a nap.

Bluey2018

Australian animated series about a family of dogs playing elaborate imaginative games. Each episode captures that exact moment when kids turn the backyard into somewhere impossible, with warmth and humour for parents too. Genuinely great writing.

But It's about family life more than pure adventure. Some episodes are about disappointment or tiredness rather than triumph, which can feel less fun than constant excitement.

Octonauts2010

Underwater adventure series with the same energy as Backyardigans: a team of animals exploring dangerous environments, learning real facts about sea creatures. Each episode has a clear mission and high stakes. Genuinely educational without feeling like school.

But It's noisier and more chaotic than Backyardigans, with less musical payoff. Some kids find the characters annoying rather than endearing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Backyardigans

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Infinity Train2019

Both create new worlds and adventures every episode, but Infinity Train takes that format into strange and slightly frightening places, showing what happens when imagination doesn't have a happy-ending guarantee.

Mind-bending animated series about kids on a sentient train with infinite cars, each one a different world or puzzle to escape. Same spirit of imaginative adventure as Backyardigans—each episode a new reality—but with genuine surreal weirdness and real consequence.

But It gets progressively darker and more unsettling. By midway through the first season, children are in actual danger. The whimsy has teeth.

Gravity Falls2012

Animated mystery series with genuine adventure, humour that works for multiple ages, and mysteries that build across episodes. Two kids explore a supernatural town over one summer. Beautifully weird and surprisingly moving by the end.

But It's darker than Backyardigans—there's real creepiness and occasional sadness. Also needs sustained attention across multiple episodes to pay off. Better for older kids.

Over the Garden Wall2014

Animated miniseries about two brothers lost in a dark forest. Stunning artwork, folk-song atmosphere, genuine adventure with real stakes. Every frame is deliberately beautiful and the whole thing is only nine episodes long.

But It's genuinely melancholic and sometimes unsettling. The tone is autumnal and slightly eerie rather than bright and fun. Not for very young children or anyone after uplifting escapism.

Craig of the Creek2018

Warm-hearted animated series about kids exploring a creek near their homes, solving small mysteries and going on medium adventures. Feels like actual childhood play: not world-ending stakes, just genuine friendship and creativity and mischief.

But The stakes are small by design. If your child wants epic saves-the-world energy, this is community-garden scale storytelling instead.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power2018

Animated action series that reinvents a '80s property into something with real heart. Adventure, friendship, magic, and surprisingly complex character arcs. Beautifully designed and the action sequences are genuinely exciting.

But It's aimed at slightly older kids and has more sophisticated themes. The plot develops slowly across seasons rather than being contained per-episode like Backyardigans.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power poster

The Owl House2020

Animated fantasy series about a human girl trapped in a demon realm learning magic. Great character work, genuine adventure, humour that lands, and beautiful art design. The show earns its emotional moments by episode five.

But Again, it's for older kids. Episodes build mythology rather than standing alone, and the dark moments are actually dark. Less musical, more serialized.

The Midnight Gospel2020

Each episode is a journey to a new world with an imagination-driven aesthetic, but instead of adventure puzzles, it's a conversation about what makes life worth living. Same structure, completely different register: childhood wonder versus adult reckoning.

Adult animated miniseries (eight episodes) where a man in a dimension-hopping simulator visits surreal worlds with a philosophical guest each episode. Gorgeously animated, funny, and unafraid to go serious about death, meaning, and connection. Each world is completely different from the last.

But It's explicitly for adults and deals with grief, mortality, and existential questions. The animation is trippy-beautiful but sometimes disturbing. Not entertainment for relaxing—it demands something from you.