Religious Edutainment is that genre which seeks to teach children (and sometimes adults) the tenets and values of their religion. (Or at the very least, their care-givers' religion.) The name shares a root with a portmanteau of Education and Entertainment, and shares many of the same tropes.
Tropes often found in Religious Edutainment:
- Adventures in the Bible
- An Aesop
- As the Good Book Says...
- Author Tract
- Heel–Face Turn / Heel–Faith Turn: Also known in some religions as "repentance."
- Deus ex Machina: Literally. Generally justified.
- Easy Evangelism
- God Is Good: All the time.
- Suspiciously Specific Sermon
Examples
Christian- 3-2-1 Penguins!
- 3 Palavrinhas ("3 Little Words"), a Brazilian series of Christian children's music videos.
- The 700 Club
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues
- Adventures in Odyssey
- The Adventures of Carlos Caterpillar
- The Apocalypse series
- The Babylon Rising series
- Becky's Barn
- The Berenstain Bears (Several titles authored by the son of the original creators, as well as a children's Bible featuring the characters.)
- Bibleman
- Boys of Valor
- The Charlie Churchmouse Show
- Cherub Wings
- Circle Square (based around the "Circle Square Ranch" summer camps in Canada)
- Colby's Clubhouse
- Chick Tracts
- The Children of the Last Days series
- El Chavo del ocho isn't an example for the most part, however, one of its occasional musical segments is a song called "Oyelo, escuchalo", which has appeared at least twicenote . It reminds the viewers/listeners to look for Jesus.
- The Christ Clone Trilogy
- Davey and Goliath (one of the earliest religious edutainment TV series; it was made in the 1960s)
- Distroller
- Dr. Wonder's Workshop (whose cast consists entirely of deaf people)
- The Donut Man
- Dooley and Pals (has two versions; the secular version aired on PBS)
- The Dragon Keeper Chronicles
- EWTN, or Eternal Word Television Network (a Roman Catholic network) has blocks of programming aimed at children
(e.g, The Friar) and teenagers (e.g., Life on the Rock).
- Faithville
- Miss Charity's Diner (a spinoff of the above)
- Filling Station
- Fire By Nite (a youth/teen-oriented series produced by the Gospel Bill Show crew)
- Flying House
- Gerbert (a secular version was produced as the show's second season)
- Gina D's Kids Club
- Sing Along with Gina D
- The Gospel Bill Show
- Bill Gunter, U.S. Marshall also known as The Cimarron Trail; direct-to-video successor series
- The Gospel According to St. Bernard (12-episode miniseries involving a talking St. Bernard dog)
- The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (direct-to-video series created by Hanna-Barbera)
- Hand of the Morningstar
- Hermie and Friends
- Osamu Tezuka's In the Beginning: The Bible Stories
- Injil Hidup Berkemenangan
- Insight
- iShine Knect
- Joshua and the Promised Land
- JOT
- Jay Jay the Jet Plane (although not originally a Christian series, it was redubbed on Tommy Nelson videos to make references to Christianity)
- Joy Junction note
- The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Program
- Just Kids
- Kids Like You
- Kids Praise
- Kingdom Adventure
- The Kingdom Chums
- The Knock Knock Show
- The Left Behind book series
- Lenny & Sid
- Maralee Dawn and Friends
- McGee and Me!
- My Time with Jesus
- The Omega Code
- Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
- Once I Was A Beehive
- Pahappahooey Island
- Patch The Pirate (the reason the main character is a pirate is due to series creator Ron Hamilton losing his left eye due to cancer)
- Quigley's Village (sometimes called "Mr. Quigley's Village")
- Star Family
- Six: The Mark Unleashed
- The Story Keepers
- Sunshine Factory
- Superbook
- Along with the western-produced, In Name Only, All-CGI Cartoon remake.
- While The Swamp Critters of Lost Lagoon is technically a secular series, the show's official website does offer various merchandise that have religious themes.
- Treasure Attic
- The Underground Zealot series.
- VeggieTales
- What's in the Bible?
- The World Of Jonathan Singh
...and many, many, many others.
Hindu
Jewish
- Shari Lewis and her puppets Lamb Chop, Charley Horse and Hush Puppy
- Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah (in 1995)
- Shari's Passover Surprise (in 1996)
- The Magic Door
- Rugrats had a couple of episodes centered on Hannukah and Passover.
Muslim
- The 99
- Para Pencari Tuhan
- Tomorrow's Pioneers, for all its extremism, still ends up counting.
Other
- Oracle of Tao. It's teaching a strange syncretic religion (a mixture of at least three religions). But mostly Taoism, as the name implies.
