Akili Kids! Approach to Programming During School Break

The school holidays offer a good reason to cosy up with family to enjoy holiday favourites on TV. This April holiday, our plan was to make this school break the most memorable for our kids by positioning Akili Kids! as the only channel that they could possibly engage with and leave feeling like they had fun! 

The April holiday program on Akili Kids! TV was carefully curated to cater for all children under the age of 14 and to also enhance bonding moments with parents through co-viewing. Our approach to programming during the holiday can be broken down as follows:

• Rewind – We introduced a new block where kids can catch up on their favourite shows from 5pm – 11pm on weekdays and weekends at 6pm – 11:30pm. Unlike our usual learning blocks whereby the arrangement of the shows is dependent on the age of our viewers i.e Pre-school to Teen, the shows in this block are arranged in no particular order to ensure everyone is catered for while at home.  

• Sinema Maalum – During Easter, we ran a movie segment -Sinema Maalum – which was introduced during the Festive Season in December, 2020. We featured animated movies like Madeline: Lost in Paris, From here to Timbuktu, Bob the Builder: Mega Machines, Fireman Sam: Set for Action, Yo Gabba Gabba: There’s a party in my City and Jett Jackson: The Movie. They ran at 9am and 4pm on select days.

• Weekly Themes – Through weekly themes like self-appreciation, environment, health, creativity and innovation, we want to equip children with basic skills about themselves and their surrounding/environment.

• Makinika – This is a fun segment that helps kids learn Kiswahili by introducing them to different words weekly, and it has been a hit with both our children and parent audience. 

• A Day As… – The show is designed to help children navigate career conversations with their parents. It features children from different backgrounds interacting with professionals pursuing career paths of interest to them, to help them understand what it takes to be in the role therein and even spend a Day As a pro in that field. 

• Learning Blocks – Every show on Akili Kids! Has a learning outcome. These shows are grouped together depending on the learning outcome they provide to our young viewers. We have specific learning blocks for preschoolers. These blocks are: Math Pawa – shows that teach Math, Aima Reader – shows that encourage reading and SciBase – shows that teach science and innovation. Apart from learning blocks, we also have a Musical block – shows that have a lot of singing and dancing, Social-Emotional – shows that help children express feelings and emotions, Kiswahili Block – shows that encourage kids to speak Kiswahili often.

• Youth Block – Also known as “Teke Teke Haiya” is a segment dedicated to 10-14 year old children. The shows here are full of adventure, exploration and action that cater to older kids!  

This programming strategy enables us to present the appropriate programs to the correctly aged audience to facilitate learning outcomes. More information on Akili Kids! programming is included here: https://akilikids.co.ke/tv-schedule/