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Educational shows for 4-6 year olds


JRmommy
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I don't watch any TV, but I do allow my son to watch one 30 minute show per day. I record all of the Curious George shows because that is the only show that he watches. I am sure that there are more educational shows out there that I could record or borrow from the library to have on hand when he does watch TV.

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I don't have TV, but I let my ds watch National Geographic For Kids online. They have really nice 5 minute videos about different animals or places. They're grouped into categories (mammals, reptiles, etc), and my ds especially loves the 'Wild Detectives'. He's learned a lot from them. Sometimes there are weird ads before a video, but not all the time. Here's the link:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/videos/

 

We also get an 'All About...' dvd once a week from the library. These are 25 minute videos about many different subjects that are very educational and kid-friendly and even have science experiments in them. They're by Schlessinger Media. My 5 year old especially loves the Plant Life for Children series and Earth Science for Children series.

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I'll cast another vote for some of the good PBS shows already mentioned: Between the Lions, Super Why! and Sid the Science Kids are favorites here.

 

There are also some wonderful interactive games to go with them on PBSkids.org. Both of my kids enjoy the games there and sometimes I think they learn more from the website than from some of our curriculum. :tongue_smilie:

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My kids like Dinosaur Train, Zoboomafoo, and Sid the Science Kid. The younger one also likes Word World, and the older likes Between the Lions and all kinds of nature shows. Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Nature, etc.

 

The older one also liked the "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" videos.

Edited by skueppers
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We don't have cable, and the only broadcast channel that comes in consistently is PBS (yay!). But I don't like to be limited to what's currently playing, so when my kids get to watch TV (usually 30 min per day), we select something available on Netflix streaming. In addition to all the great PBS shows already listed, my 2 and 5 y.o. really like Arthur -- it's not as explicitly educational, because mostly it focuses on emotions and family relationships and ethical dilemmas, but they absolutely love it and it's prompted excellent discussions.

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We don't watch much TV, but I have these DVRd so when they do watch, it is something decent.

 

Between the Lions

Sid the Science Kid

SuperWhy

WordGirl

Word World

 

 

PS - why do I feel the need to explain that we don't watch much? :tongue_smilie:

Edited by MeganW
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Well my kids do watch TV, because otherwise, they are helping me mop, polish, etc... (Someone please explain to me why on earth they can play by themselves, but as soon as I touch a cleaning instrument they MUST COME HELP!!??)

 

The one I love to mop to is Martha Speaks! It's on PBS, and it is funny, irreverant, and a vocabulary builder. Oh, and the kids love it too. ;)

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Shhh. My 9yo even likes Dinosaur Train.

 

Shhh. I like nearly everything listed on this thread...:001_tt1:

 

I 'm sure it's currently debatable at what age it's appropriate, but I check out The Electric Company from the library regularly. For ME.

Edited by Flux
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My kids like Planet Earth-it's pretty awesome. Remember though, there is violence in it-animals eating other animals etc. I occasionally put it on, because they will not zone out on it like other tv shows.

 

That said, tv is allowed on the weekend only and very limited. Kids do much better w/o tv-they use their minds for creativity instead and play :)

 

Since we did used to watch tv though-I won't watch Sid-I don't agree w/ PBS sending propaganda messages to kids, and found some of the facts incorrect, and had to re explain to my ds what was actually correct. Super Why was ok-they didn't really like it though. They did like Pocoyo and Word World. And of course love Spiderman from the 60's. I know some moms here love the leap frog dvd's. I would think pretty much any Nat geo kid show would be ok, or kid nature show. Only because things move slower than a cartoon as far as what a child's mind can effectively process. Real time of an animal on the screen vs some crazy cartoon thingy. I've learned to really look at tv differently, at learning how a child's mind views tv vs how the adult mind processes the same show. Shrug.

For religious educational, I'm sure there are some very nice videos one could get that would teach about morals etc.

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We don't watch TV too much but when I tried a year ago, we watched Sid the Science Kid, Super Why, Magic School Bus, the stuff already listed on this post...

 

Now she loves to watch documentaries, and learns about history, science, natural world, health, art, etc... She also can watch the Walking With series over and over if I'd let her. After all this, she doesn't want to go back and watch the kid's educational shows. So we have a 5-at-a-time Netflix subscription which we love.

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Since we did used to watch tv though-I won't watch Sid-I don't agree w/ PBS sending propaganda messages to kids, and found some of the facts incorrect, and had to re explain to my ds what was actually correct.

 

Uh oh - would you mind elaborating? Both about the propaganda, and about the incorrect facts? When I flip it on, it is usually b/c I am trying to do something one-on-one with one kid and need the others out the way, so I'm not necessarily watching. I thought Sid was a good one based on others' reviews, but may need to reevaluate.

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Uh oh - would you mind elaborating? Both about the propaganda, and about the incorrect facts? When I flip it on, it is usually b/c I am trying to do something one-on-one with one kid and need the others out the way, so I'm not necessarily watching. I thought Sid was a good one based on others' reviews, but may need to reevaluate.

 

 

I recently saw an episode about vaccines that I didn't agree with. I didn't mind watching it with him though. I'd rather watch it at home on Sid the Science Kid and explain to my son why we feel differently about something than to have him hear it somewhere else and have no explanation. I like showing him that all people have different ideas and beliefs. I don't want to hide the ideas that I don't agree with. I want to teach him to face them, learn about all sides and eventually make his own choices.

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