Before you watch Jessie & Friends with your child
Before watching the Jessie & Friends animations with your child, read our advice on what else you can do to keep your child safe online.
You can download this letter to take to your child’s school making them aware of the free Jessie & Friends classroom resources.
Jessie & Friends is also available to watch with subtitles or with British Sign Language interpretations.
Jessie & Friends is a safe and age appropriate resource
The Jessie & Friends animations are age-appropriate and do not depict any situations where adults communicate with children online. Instead, they show safe, non-scary situations which help young viewers identify things which might worry them online. For example, in Episode 3 an older sister tricks three younger children into losing an online game. In this way young viewers learn how to identify online behaviour which is ‘not right’, and how to get help by telling an adult they trust. This learning will help keep them safe from many risky situations which they may encounter online.
Each animation has been specifically created for different age groups:
Episode 1 – Watching Videos (4-5 years)
The series begins with Jessie and her dog, named Dog, as they watch videos online using a tablet. Together they learn that while the internet can be enjoyable and fun, there are sometimes things online that can be upsetting or scary. Jessie learns that she can always speak to a grown-up who will be able to help her and put down the tablet if there is anything she sees or hears online that makes her feel worried, scared or sad.
CLICK the picture to go to the webpage to watch the episode.
Episode 2 – Sharing Pictures (5-6 years)
Here we meet Mo and Tia, who together with Jessie complete the friendship trio. At Tia’s birthday party they use Tia’s older brother Kyle’s mobile to take fun photos of themselves. The trio agree to send their photos to Tia’s nan but also a few other people whose numbers are saved in Kyle’s phone. When the photos are shared with other children at their school without their permission, they turn to their teacher for help. The three friends learn about how images can get shared more widely than you first expect, and the importance of consent.
CLICK the picture to go to the webpage to watch the episode.
Episode 3 – Playing Games (6-7 years)
Jessie, Tia and Mo are playing the exciting online game Avelzon where they are trying to beat their nemesis Dr Yekl. A ‘friendly’ unknown gamer starts chatting to Jessie in the game and offers to help the ‘Supertotalmegaheros’ in their quest. However Jessie soon discovers that the gamer’s intention is not to help the friends, but to trick them into losing instead. Jessie, Tia and Mo learn that when playing online games they should keep their personal information private, only talk to people they know in real life and that they can tell an adult they trust if anything happens that makes them worried.
CLICK the picture to go to the webpage to watch the episode.
