Fairy's House
Inspired by Theory,
Backed by Research
Fairy's House is intentionally designed for a toddler audience. We are rooted in early childhood education theory, child development research, and media research.
Read on to discover the research that inspires our team and influences Fairy's House.
Benefits of a Slow-Paced, Live-Action Show
(What makes us different)
Slower pacing in television serves to solidify learning. An intentional, "slow-paced" show allows the audience more processing time to absorb both the prosocial and academic messages of the program (McHarg & Hughes, 2021 & Preeti et al., 2022).
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Research illustrates that children’s executive functioning skills erode after viewing fast-paced shows, compared to children who watched slow-paced educational shows (Lillard & Peterson, 2011). The pacing of a show can be defined broadly as the length of its scenes, or the time between camera cuts.
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Another factor to consider is whether what is being shown defies the laws of reality or physics. Television shows that display unrealistic, fantastical elements (like a pair of shoes walking away on their own, or a character completely disappearing behind an object that is too small to actually conceal them) can also disrupt executive functioning skills (Lillard, et al., 2015). These illusions are often achieved using animation or special effects, which is something Fairy’s House - a live-action, practical effects program - deliberately avoids for this very reason.
Safe and Sound
The child development experts at Fairy’s House are dedicated to optimizing every aspect of our program to best facilitate your toddler’s learning.
Take sound production, for example. Did you know that background music in television shows can actually hinder your toddler’s learning? Research has shown that unnecessary background music can be overwhelming, and distracts young children from the educational content of a program (Barr et al., 2010).
But not all sound is just noise! Sound effects, when used during salient learning moments, can facilitate toddlers’ learning. This is because carefully placed sound effects can direct viewers’ attention, and lets them know that important stuff is happening on screen (Barr et al., 2009)!
Fairy’s House uses sound intentionally and mindfully to keep toddlers engaged—without being overstimulating.
This is just one example as to how Fairy’s House takes every aspect of production into consideration, all with your toddler’s development in mind.
Rudolph Steiner
Fairy’s House is inspired by Rudolf Steiner's methodology of early childhood education. Created in 1919, the Steiner methodology helps children grow into thoughtful, creative, and compassionate people, while preserving the wonder of childhood.
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Steiner classrooms feature ample time and space, a caring environment, consistent rhythms, and relationships built on love.
These themes inform every element of our production, and are the foundation on which Fairy’s House supports the major domains of toddler development: Cognition, Language, and Social-Emotional development.
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All this and more is why the Fairy's House development team look to Steiner for his 100+ year old early childhood development theories, to lovingly and thoughtfully create educational entertainment for toddlers.