Circle Time

Circle Time (also titled as circletime and originally as Circle time) is an interstitial strand seen on the Disney Channel, and later Playhouse Disney in the United States.

A similar strand exists on the UK Playhouse Disney feed.

About the Strand[]

Circle Time is hosted by actor Steve Purnick, who is with a group of children at a daycare (actually filmed on the Playhouse Disney set). When any of the children is/are in a situation, or they are showing a drawing they drew, reminds him (as assisted by the children in finishing) of the story, which he then tells. After the story, the children learn from the story and do something to show it.

Its former incarnation in 1998 had shown short films, including The Adventures of Spot, Will Quack Quack, Curious George, and Microscopic Milton.

Stories[]

"Growing Smiles" (one that rhymes) - Britney gives smile to Steve.
"The Golden Windows" - Breanne and Jenell show some stars they made, a plain red one and a glittery one, respectively. Thus Breanne points out Jenell's star is better, so Steve decides the stars remind him of the story. In it, a girl named Sue, who lives in a brown building in a city, sees another building across the street that at night, has its windows look like golden diamonds, much to her desire to live in such a building. However, when she does see them up close, it turns out their glass was ordinary. Another girl exits the building, knowing it well upon Sue's asking, shows her another one whose windows were shining like golden diamonds. This is surprising because it is the one Sue lives in, so she happily returns at nightfall. After telling the story, like Sue realized that both buildings were pretty, as it was all in how one looked at it, Steve says the same thing about both Breanne and Jenell's stars, to Breanne's eventual agreement.
"The North Wind and the Sun" - Everyone is having fun except Hailey because Eric won't color with her, especially since she didn't ask nicely. He shows her a drawing of a sun she was trying to color in, and she says that was the one. Steve says the sun reminds him of the story. In it, the traveler is a young boy in a big yellow raincoat. After the North Wind's efforts only caused the opposite of his intention, Steve asks whose turn it is, so the children say it is the sun. After the sun's work does get the boy to take off his raincoat, Steve encourages Hailey to ask Eric to help her color again. She asks nicely, so he agrees.
"The Dog and His Reflection or The Greedy Dog" - Everyone is busy coloring except Brandon because James took his brown crayon, but that is because Brandon took his black one. It is shown that Brandon was drawing a doggy bone which reminds Steve of the story. In it, a greedy green dog named Floyd invites himself to a backyard barbecue and steals a fat, juicy steak from the grill and heads over to a river to supposedly see another dog with a steak. Before continuing, Steve wonders if any of the other children is/are hungry because of the story, and they disagree, so Steve continues. Floyd tries fighting with the other dog over the second steak, only to lose the first in the river, finding out the hard way that the other dog was none other than his own reflection. As a result, Floyd doesn't get two steaks. In fact, he doesn't have any at all. He is last seen daydreaming of the two steaks as angels rising to Heaven. The moral of the story is "Do Not Be Greedy." Steve tells Brandon to give his black crayon to James and James to give his brown crayon to Brandon, and they'll both win, so they do give each other the right crayons and win.
"The Story without an End or The Endless Story" - Steve and the children try to make the longest paper chain ever, but one of the kids points out that they had just run out of paper, reminding Steve of the story. In it, a king has such a beautiful daughter to the attraction of every man in the kingdom. Because every man wants to marry the princess, he holds a contest: she would be the wife of whoever is first at telling a story without an end (which is seemingly impossible), but the king would banish any man who failed. A few tried, but ran out of a story to tell, so they were banished. Then a peasant named Bert hops into the moat and knocks on the drawbridge door, asking to enter. The king agrees, but tells him to make it snappy. His story is about a farmer who built a huge barn full of wheat, but unbeknownst to him, there is a tiny hole that an ant could fit through. In fact, the endlessness is shown when an ant crawls through it, takes a piece of wheat, and gets out through the same hole with it. This goes on and on until the king asks, in annoyance, if the story will ever end. Bert disagrees, so he wins, but not before the princess makes him promise never to retell the endless story. Back to reality, Steve, pointing out that what the kids think is impossible really isn't, decides not to make the longest paper chain ever. Instead, the idea is "a chain that never ends."
"The Daydreaming Milkmaid or The Milkmaid's Pail" - The children try to paint a rainbow, but it is all in one color because they mixed all the colors together in an attempt to rush it. This reminds Steve of the story about a milkmaid named Mary who is milking a cow. As she is taking the milk to town (carrying it on her head), she plans to sell it and make money so she can eventually get a fancy dress, but the pail falls from her head in the process to her sorrow. Jordan assumes the lesson is not to carry milk on your head, and Steve says it may be true, but explains that the real moral is that some things have to be taken one step at a time. He then asks if they still want to paint a rainbow, and they agree, but not before bidding the audience goodbye.
"Crying Jack" (another one that rhymes) - Nikki sadly says that she can't do a good drawing, as she did one of a circle. Steve then says it reminds him of the story, which he tells in rhyme. A good boy named Jack decides to cry all he could, all through the day, night, and even twilight, until his mouth gets so big it looks like an "O". Eventually, he cries so much that all that's left of him is his mouth and legs. Because it's such a sad story, Steve points out he could cry, to the children's dismay, so he promises he won't if they won't, so they promise the same.
"The Lion and the Mouse" - Steve can help doing cut the paper.
"The Fox and the Crow" - The children are supposed to put their crayons away, but they say Steve is better at it just to try to get him to do it, reminding him of the story about a fox who gives compliments to a crow just to get a cookie from him.
"My Shadow" or "Me and My Shadow" - The children playing foam letter mats. Like "Growing Smiles" and "Crying Jack," the story's words rhyme. In it, a girl does different things with her shadow, and different things happen to it.