DynaMo

Did You Know?

• DynaMo was used as the face of the BBC's parental assistance website, created for parents to assist children with homework.
• The website included a section called DynaMo's Den with educational games for children.
• The website was activated on 2 October 1998.

Programme

A BBC survey of 2,800 parents, teachers, and children revealed that many parents avoided helping with homework, fearing they would intrude or anger teachers. This led to the creation of DynaMo, a programme designed for an eight-week run on the BBC Learning Zone. It used cartoon characters and clips from other BBC Education shows to make learning enjoyable, all while following the British National Curriculum. The show was hosted by a cartoon dog named DynaMo and his friend SloMo, who explored a different educational topic in each episode. Children could watch it alone or with their parents. As part of the Learning Zone, each episode lasted two hours. Segments also appeared on the BBC Knowledge programme K Club, and during the winter and summer of 2001, parts of DynaMo aired on BBC Two during BBC Schools.