Researching Blue's Clues: Viewing Behavior and Impact

Abstract Blue's Clues is a preschool television series designed to promote mastery of thinking and problem-solving skills. This paper summarizes a series of studies concerning the impact of the program on television viewing behaviors and on cognitive development. Three studies of viewing behavior indicate that as preschool children were in the process of learning from the program they were relatively quiet and highly attentive. As they mastered the content they became increasingly vocal and interactive. Their tendency to interact with Blue's Clues transferred to another program from a different series. A longitudinal study comparing children who regularly watched Blue's Clues to demographically similar children who could not receive the program indicated that the program had a positive impact on cognitive development.