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Favorite Netflix Streaming Educational Shows for Elementary Age?

Halcyon

By Halcyon,
in K-8 Curriculum Board

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debbielong

debbielong

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Not sure what all Netflix streaming has (we subscribed to Discovery Education and now I wonder what the difference might be...:))...

 

But, I can tell you that my very favorite kid documentaries are from Schlessinger Media, which can be found at http://www.libraryvideo.com/

 

Every Schlessinger Media video we have watched has been fantastic. I have been able to find some of their stuff at the library and some on DE Streaming. The series we all especially loved was Physical Science for Children DVD Series

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Paige

Paige

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FYI- the Peter and the Wolf with the Russian style puppets was a little traumatizing for my kids. It's dark, and one of the boy's only friends gets killed on screen in front of him. Granted, it's a duck but you should have seen my kids' faces!

 

We liked Liberty's Kids. My 6yr olds loved it! My 6yr olds also like Sid the Science Kid, Beakman's World, Meercat Manor, Cyberchase, the Disney Tall Tales and Legends movies, classic musicals like Oliver, Annie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I consider it cultural education), National Geographic Creepy Creatures, and Super Why. Most of the other documentaries we've watched have bored my 6yr olds and they leave but my son, at 9, is starting to enjoy them. He likes the ones on ancient history and the body. I also have some art show by Sister Wendy that I plan to try soon. I've never seen it but it looks interesting.

 

I know I should underline or italicize titles but I don't feel like it.

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Soror

Soror

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Nothing to add as we just renewed Netflix(we always cancel in Summer). We watched Peter and the Wolf Monday and the kids really enjoyed it. This weekend we watched Jim Henson's Storyteller and it was really neat. The Storyteller is old folk tales, fairy tales and such from around the world. One we watched was "The Boy Who Couldn't Shudder" coincidentally we had just read that in Lang's Fairytale book the previous week and it made a good 'scary' movie for the kids for Halloween.

 

We have the Nutcracker on our list for FineArts study next term so definitely adding that to our list.

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katilac

katilac

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I just wanted to say not to prejudge what documentaries your kids are going to like or understand. My dd10, who would rather play Polly Pockets than do school ;), has enjoyed quite a few adult documentaries (since she was 7 or 8).

 

Hmmm, maybe I should have said 'documentaries not aimed at children.' Adult documentaries sounds like porn for smart people.

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melissel

melissel

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We love a lot of the things that are listed. I don't think anyone mentioned All Creatures Great and Small, based on Jim Herriott's books. I loved that show as a child, and I still do now.

 

Also, I find that a lot of the documentaries are above my girls' heads, but they are usually pretty interested for most of whatever we watch. We don't do TV during the week, but most weeks we'll do at least a few days of "Learning Lunch." I pick the video or documentary, and they spread out on a blanket on the living room floor and watch while they eat lunch, play, or just relax. It gives me something to listen to while I putter around making lunch or cleaning up, and they usually stick around for most or all of it. They have the option to stay or go play, no questions asked. It's one of the ways I get to watch what I want on Netflix :lol: And they pick up bits and pieces too :D

 

ETA: Sometimes I find myself surprised at what they get engaged with--once I put on a documentary about how a group of modern researchers tried to reconstruct the boats that ancient Egyptians used to transport goods to and from India and other regions. I found it interesting and just a tad slow. When I offered to turn it off, they both yelled at me and watched it from beginning to end! That's on Netflix too, I think.

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Irishmommy

Irishmommy

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I just wanted to say not to prejudge what documentaries your kids are going to like or understand. My dd10, who would rather play Polly Pockets than do school ;), has enjoyed quite a few adult documentaries (since she was 7 or 8).

 

Hmmm, maybe I should have said 'documentaries not aimed at children.' Adult documentaries sounds like porn for smart people.

:lol:

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Skadi

Skadi

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MYTHBUSTERS, without a doubt! They have almost all the seasons on Instant Play, I think. I know a mom who has her kids do a narration page about their favorite experiment from that episode. She also comes up with myths of their own to test now and again.

 

When We Left Earth is a cool documentary by the Discovery Channel that uses lots of original footage (love that).

 

Greeks: Crucible of Civilization is a PBS documentary narrated by Liam Neeson.

 

Ken Burns: The Civil War is pretty much the definitive Civil War documentary out there.

 

BBC's The Life Of... series is pretty cool, e.g. The Life of Mammals, The Life of Birds, etc.

 

I love that they have Sister Wendy: The Complete Collection available. Definitely check it out if you're not familiar.

 

This isn't on Instant Play (yet -- I'm hoping it will be eventually) but the three-disk series Battlefield Britain is neat!

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naturegirl7

naturegirl7

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Right now the big faves in our instant que are Mythbusters, Beakmans World, Walking with Cavemen, And Jim Henson's Greek Myth Storytellers. (plus Mn vs Wild and Fraggle Rock and ScoobyDoo :D)

 

Those are his fave shows and he watches those for the fun of it. :D I think we have seen Walking with Cavemen and Storytellers over 20 times each. :tongue_smilie:

 

Others we have recently enjoyed:

 

Anythign by Discovery but especially their Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Life or the Dino series. When Dinos roamed America was cool.

Walking with Monsters/Dinos/Cavemen has been awesome too.

James and the Giant Peach

Imax Deep Sea

Creation of the Univserse (the one about the formation of stars - wow!)

All the Magic School Bus videos

Nat Geo Egypt: Lost Tombs

Cyberchase

Peter Pan (play version)

Incredible Human Machine

March of the Penguins

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ElizabethB

ElizabethB

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Mythbusters

 

Planet Earth and Blue Planet

 

My daughter likes most animal ones--growing up X is one the rest of the family liked OK(they have several), but the series that we all really enjoyed is only on iTunes, Animal Planet's Most Extreme

 

The Beaver IMAX one

 

King Corn, of all things. My son tells people it's about "guys with corn in their hair."

 

Prehistoric Predators, but that may have been partly because we just had visited the La Brea tar pits and lived in the LA area at the time, so that made it really interesting for them. (I kept yelling at the movie people that just because 10X as many wolves died didn't mean that there were 10 times as many wolves around at the time (and the exact number is not 10, I don't think.) Hello, people, maybe the dire wolves were just stupid and the big cats were smarter and said, hmm... I wonder why there are all these animals just sitting here, maybe I should check it out a bit first. The wolves just said, "food" and jumped in.) Rant aside, it was really well done and we all enjoyed it and will watch them again. In fact, I think we've watched a few of them twice already.

 

They liked some of "The Universe" ones, some they did not.

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Entropymama

Entropymama

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I just wanted to say not to prejudge what documentaries your kids are going to like or understand. My dd10, who would rather play Polly Pockets than do school ;), has enjoyed quite a few adult documentaries (since she was 7 or 8).

 

Hmmm, maybe I should have said 'documentaries not aimed at children.' Adult documentaries sounds like porn for smart people.

 

:D

 

These are great, keep them coming!

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heliconian

heliconian

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My guys thought that they would hate Babies, but they adored it. They talked about it for weeks. Also Microcosmos, Rivers and Tides (some crude language in one or two segments - preview it if you think it will be a problem), and many other things already listed. But not Beakman's World. I can't stand that show, therefore they must also hate it.

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Stuart

Stuart

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Not Netflix but free. Hunting for the Elements on PBS.org. My son is on his third viewing and it amazes me what he knows about the elements. It is a two hour documentary.

My son is also really enjoying Revolution. On Netflix.

My guy is a documentary freak. He will watch any and love them.

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