One of the most powerful instructors in a child's life today are the animated cartoon figures he watches on the television. I know my child has picked up many words, phrases and even attitudes from the cartoons he watches.

While some so called animated movies should never be seen by children, there is a lot that the children can view and learn from as well. I must congratulate the Disney people for the formidable line up that they have for pre-schoolers and toddlers.

Here is a selection of some of my boy (and my) favourite shows.

Set in the town of Sheetrock Hills, Manny is a handy man. He owns a repair shop and a box of animated tools. In each episode they get called for help from one of the town's residents.The answering call cue is "You break it, we fix it!"

Depending on what needs to be fixed, Manny will head with the tools over to Kelly's hardware store and pick up the needed spare part. Then they will fix what is broken.

There is generally a crisis to be averted and a different solution to the problem presented. A song is usually made up about the repairs being carried out.

The lessons that kids learn are many. The first is that it is easy to work with your hands and fix things that are broken.

Second there is always more than one solution to a given problem, if you only think about it. There is also a smattering of spanish to be picked up.

Who doesn't know and love the world famous mouse? The people at Disney have turned the gang of Mickey, Minni, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto into an education machine.

The club house appears when you say the magic words, "Miska Mouska, Mickey Mouse!"

Then some one comes up with a problem, and we go to the Mousketeer to get the Mouskatools. Which are very kindly brought to us at the appropriate time by Toodles! (Oh Toodles!)

There is also one Mystery Mouseketool which we only discover when we need to use it. The gadgets used are many and varied and help children understand how they work.

Without even realizing it kids pick up shapes, colours, numbers, pattern identification and basic age appropriate skills. Not to mention an increased vocabulary.

In the Hundred Acre Wood lives Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit, Eyore, Roo and his mother Kanga. Then there is six year old Darby and her dog Buster who drop by to play. Christopher Robinson also comes along once in a while.

The team of Darby, Pooh and Tigger is the team of the Super Sleuths. The Finder's Flag tells them about the location of the episode's mystery. Then they cycle over and try and solve the mystery.

This will usually involve them to "Think Think Think" before they come up with a solution to the mystery problem. Again a lot of subconscious learning happens along the way.

If some one told me that they would instruct preschoolers in Classical Music, The Grand Master Artists and Geographic locations of Historical Buildings, I would have asked them if they were crazy.

This was before I viewed the Little Einsteins on Play House Disney. The team consists of Leo, and his sister Annie and their friends June and Quincy.Not to forget the versatile Rocket, who takes them on incredible adventures.

Leo is the conductor, Annie is the singer, June the dancer and Quincy is the musician. Each adventure involves going from one location to the other. Art appreciation is blended in with introduction to the classics.