Coronavirus: TV wonder dog Bluey helps kids learn hand hygiene

Aussie animation sensation Bluey is helping calm and guide kids through the coronavirus pandemic, with producers creating a fun handwashing guide.

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Exclusive: Aussie TV’s wonder dog, Bluey will help calm and guide kids through the coronavirus, with producers of the animated series creating a fun guide encouraging kids to wash their hands to the tune of a familiar Bluey song.

The special ‘poster’ was designed to get the show’s preschool and younger audience engaged in the safety health message being pushed out around the world by medical officials - with parents of the show pleading with producers to help them help their children.

Bluey season two drops on ABC Kids today

Bluey executive producer Daley Pearson, of Brisbane’s Ludo Studios which creates the series for ABC and BBC internationally, said: “We just had an overwhelming response from the audience who were sadly stuck at home and just wanted to do anything to help them. A few of them requested this and we thought it was a great idea.”

While adults have been pressed to wash their hands for 20 seconds — or the duration of singing Happy Birthday twice — Bluey fans should do the same while singing Poor Little Bug On The Wall, a popular song which appears regularly on the show.

The Bluey poster encourages kids to wash their hands

The kid-friendly message comes as new season two episodes, which began streaming yesterday, set more ABC ratings records — with a staggering 458,000 people watching the first episode at 8am on ABC Kids (almost three times the audience of Nine’s Today Show).

The show is already ABC Kids and iView’s most popular program of all time, with a combined 179 million streams.

Screen Queensland’s boss, Kylie Munnich said the animation, which is co-funded by the state body, was a valuable asset at this time of uncertainty for families.

“There’s no doubt that children are experiencing an unusual time in the community right now, so it’s a welcome relief to be able to invite pure joy into our homes with the new adventures of Bluey,” Ms Munnich said.

“The focus of fun and play with Bluey will be a wonderful distraction for families everywhere and we are so proud of this quintessentially Queensland story that is produced by a wildly talented local team led by the creative powerhouse of showrunner Joe Brumm, executive producers Charlie Aspinwall and Daley Pearson, producer Sam Moor and supervising director Richard Jeffrey

Originally published as Coronavirus: TV wonder dog Bluey helps kids learn hand hygiene