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Since someone brought it up in family activities, this is a question I wanted to ask.

Easy about Barney, Elmo etc in the early years. I have found Super Why(new but only about 5 episodes), WordGirl, Between the Lions, Magic School Bus. But I see all these shows listed: Growing Up Creepie, Cyberchase.

What are the "academic" shows for the kindergarten set?

Ren

My kid is a little older (8), so I don't know what is happening for K as far as TV shows. Also, he rarely watches TV unless he's sick.

We have watched Cyberchase a few times. It is about a bad guy who is trying to take over the world (or something). The kids in the show have to foil his evil plans. To do so always involves some sort of math stuff: working through fractions, making a graph, etc.

Not TV, but have you looked into brainpop.com? It's filled with short videos about all kinds of subjects. Some information is presented and there is some humor, and then if the kid wants to, he can take a little online quiz. It's a subscription site but there is a selection of videos that can be watched for free.

There is also a junior version; some of the topics on the regular brainpop (which is designed for upper-elementary through middle school, I think) are questionable for younger kids. I was fine with it, but would advise you to look through the site yourself thoroughly before unleashing your kid there. Some topics (i.e., Adolf Hitler, AIDS, etc.) may be ones you want to tackle with him first before he watches the BP videos. Most of the topics are fairly innocuous, though.

Best,
Tara

We don't get much time for TV but on days off, my K and 1st grader enjoy Cyberchase (PBS), Fetch(PBS), Bindi the Jungle Girl, Trading Spaces Boys vs Girls, Magic School Bus, Super Why and Word Girl (mostly my K'er). They still watch some of the kiddie shows too. They like Max and Ruby, Wow Wow Wubzy and Pinky Dinky Doo.

Hmmm.... maybe they watch more TV than I originally thought!

Jamie

We're all big Word Girl fans around here. Even I find myself laughing out loud at it. It's the only show my kids never miss, and since it's only on once a week, that's fine with me.

My 3yo likes Max and Ruby, Super Why, Thomas the Tank Engine, Wow Wow Wubzy, Peep, Time Warp Trio, Hi-5, Clifford, Reading Rainbow and Between the Lions.

We don't watch all of these in a single day. Heck, we don't watch all of these in a week! But when asked, DS3 just named them as the shows he likes.

My son is 5 and he just doesn't do cartoons anymore.

He watches How Things are Made, Dirty Jobs, and Myth Busters. When not tuned into the Discovery Channel, he is usually watching whatever sports he can find: Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Football, Golf, Tennis, Billiards. If it's competitive he's usually watching and cheering for one team to win.

My 3 year old DD is still loving Little Einsteins. SHe's been watching obsessively since around 18 months. She's limited to one 22 minute episode a day. IMO, it's plenty for her age.

Good thinking, crisc! Maybe I was shooting too young...

My 6yo loves How It's Made, Dirty Jobs, and Myth Busters, too. Plus Survivorman and Man Vs. Wild, and anything on the Science Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel or the Military Channel (the latter with Dad only, just to be sure it's not too graphic).

He'd watch TV all day if I let him. Even though anything he watches is at least marginally educational, I prefer no more than an hour or so per day of media time for him. (A bit more on the weekend, but not all day or anything.) So I REALLY have to limit it for him!

He also likes Star Trek in all its incarnations, especially TNG and Voyager, and that's fun to watch as a family.

We love Dirty Jobs, Myth Busters, Man vs Wild, etc. here too!!! I get a huge kick out of the guy on Dirty Jobs.

My kids used to love Cyberchase but they don't care to watch it any more. It is a great show for younger kids though. They like Boomerang (not educational in the LEAST I'm ashamed to say) and all the old cartoons. It is interesting how much classical music they used in the old cartoons like Tom and Jerry. We went to the symphony and they played a piece of music (I can't remember what) and DS6 said "that's from Tom and Jerry!" I thought that was funny - but at least he recognized it I suppose. Maybe that could be considered educational??? LOL!!!

Magic School Bus is still one of MY favorites though they have seen them all and don't watch it any more. I just love how science is made fun. Someone mentioned brainpop.com and I agree that is really cool. Our school has a subscription but I believe there is a free area you can try out.

We too do one episode per day only and right now DS3 and DS5 are into Cyberchase.

We also watch Planet Earth when we have a few minutes in the afternoon. Any recommendations for good documentaries (nature, science, engineering)? I think the kids would enjoy that as long as it is not too much over their heads.

brainpop.com is excellent. Well worth the money. It provides lots of new information.

We get these tapes from the library called Ancient Civilations and DD3 loves them. Also, Eyewitness series. They had a couple at school and DH happened to bring one home from the library on the Seashore.

I totally recommend them.

Ren

No cable available here, so we don't get most of the shows mentioned.
A variety of PBS shows are watched in our house. A weekly favorite is Thomas the Tank Engine. GS8 has an extensive train collection and we have plans in the making to shoot our own TTT clips. Documentary's on PBS are favorites.
Adventures in Odyssey(?) and a couple others, shown on the 'Jesus channel', as he calls it.
"Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" is a family favorite.
Jeopardy, and another trivia contest show that he and grandpa watch together. I just stay around enough to tell them to behave themselves.
And every night at 7 PM(the earliest the TV is turned on during the week), The Simpsons! Bad grandma , but he loves them.
And he's discovered sitcoms from the sixties. New Years Eve we babysat GD7 & GD4 and of course we had GS8. GD4 had surgery earlier in the day and we couldn't go out, so I got Gilligans Island, season 3, from the library. We watched Gilligans Island for 5 hours! Sometimes you just have to be silly.

P.S., thanks Wren for the recommendation for Ancient Civilizations. GS loves ancient history and I just checked our library and see they have them.

OHGrandma,

My guys LOVE the Simpsons, too (guess that makes me Bad Mama). However, there are a hundred examples of how much they have learned from it (some good, some not). DS 6 will say something amazingly insightful, I'll ask him how he came up with it, and he'll explain the Simpsons episode that addressed the topic. I'm convinced that some day someone will write the book, "Everything I Know I Learned from The Simpsons". Maybe DS 6. Or DS 9, or DS 11, etc.

We had to cancel our satellite TV because the kids would watch it all the time when left alone, and then WOULD COMPLAIN TO US that TV takes too much of their time. They just could not control it. The household rule is no TV on weekdays, unless one of them is home sick or it is a no school day. They both ADORE The Simpsons and still get to watch it on weekends, if we happen to be home. Other than that, daughter will occasionally watch NOVA on Tuesday evenings (exception to the rule).
We watch a lot of movies together though !

Hahaha, there is The Gospel According to the Simpsons!

Another alternative to TV is a good movie. Don't limit yourself to recent releases. DS8 recently laughed his butt off watching A Night At The Opera with the Marx Brothers.

Tara

I gotta put my plug in for Bill Nye the Science Guy. They're reruns, but they're good! DS5 loves them.

My kids watch Bill Nye at school whenever they have a substitute--they love him.

For DD9, she used to enjoy anything Animal Planet (and still does) around Kindergarten age. We also have School House Rock DVDs, which DH used to watch growing up. She also watched Zoom on PBS and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Now she is still is into Animal Planet and a new one is Nova on PBS. I have to preview to topic though, just to be sure it's not too graphic for her.

Jen

Much of what I know I learned from Schoolhouse Rock!

A fond memory: in 8th grade, we had to memorize the preamble to the Constitution. The teacher's one rule: no humming the Schoolhouse Rock song out loud!

Hilarious!

I can't say the preamble without hearing the music in my head. Schoolhouse Rock rocks!

I loved schoolhouse rock! I didn't know they were around on DVD! Thanks for the tip. I can still hear the preamble song ...

Oh my, schoolhouse rock! My DS's class was watching this on Monday and the teacher played the preamble and she and I were singing as loudly as the rest. This seems to be the song that has stuck with us all. Do you think it is because we had to write it in 8th grade (as Kriston mentioned) and we all sang it in our heads as we wrote it???

My kids love the DVD and it definitely brings back fond memories for me. I wish they still made those things - they were great.

I also still sing "Conjunction junction, what's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses..." and some of the math ones. They just stick in my head.

A bunch of St. Louis bands made a CD back in the 90s of Schoolhouse Rock covers. Great fun, and very popular! On long trips, I play it for the kids, who like both rock music (the heavier the better) and learning. Great fun!