D for Dora – that’s what my niece said when my sister was teaching her the alphabet. That is how familiar today’s children are with Dora. They want to dress up as Dora, own Dora things like Dora notebooks, Dora water cups and the list goes on and on. It’s no wonder supermarket shelves are lined with Dora-inspired bags, books, mugs, games, and apparel. Dora inspires them.

Dora: The Explorer appeared on the Nickelodeon cable TV channel in 1999. Dora is always accompanied by Boots, an English-speaking monkey who is her best friend and follows her around. She is also seen with Dora, her purple backpack, The Map, Swiper the fox, and other characters that appear from time to time. Dora’s cartoons differ from other cartoons in that they are interactive cartoons and allow viewers to participate.

It was only a matter of time before video games were named after Dora. There are numerous video games available online today and absolutely free games too. Dora games are educational like Dora spelling games, Dora memory games, adventurous like Dora creepy ranger, Dora pirate ship treasure hunt, or just pure fun like music box of Dora, Dora’s kitchen or Dora’s dress up games. Dora also uses some simple Spanish words that the little ones can easily pick up. Concepts like mountain of numbers, alphabetic city help preschoolers to learn them without making an effort to learn them.

Diego is Dora’s cousin, a professional animal rescuer. Diego also became so popular that a separate show was created for him called Go, Diego, Go. What Boots is to Dora, Baby Jaguar is to Diego. In most of Diego’s games, Diego sets out to rescue some other animal accompanied and helped by his Baby Jaguar and various gadgets.

Like Dora, Diego’s games are also interactive and fun. Diego is passionate about animals and rainforests, so most of the games revolve around the forests and rescuing animals. In fact, Diego lives in an animal rescue center together with his parents and is always willing to lend a hand. Diego’s games help to know more about nature, especially about tropical jungles and about different animals. Some of the popular games are Diego’s puzzle pyramid, Diego’s African offroad rescue, Diego’s hermit crab rescue.

Dora and Diego games help a child develop different skills like problem solving, logical reasoning, vocabulary and also develop imagination. These games or cartoons always come with a moral, they teach children to respect and forgive (in the case of Swiper the fox) and to care and love animals. Dora and Diego represent courage, compassion, consideration, passion. These games are what today’s educators suggest: education through fun.