Just curious what other kids watch. My DS4 is not a huge TV kid...he prefers computers. But he does like to just sit and watch a few shows. He likes to watch wheel of fortune, jeopardy, and that homework help line show on public access..LOL. He watches a few cartoons sometimes (superwhy, martha speaks, magic schoolbus, curious george). I would like to find some things for him to watch that are interesting, but still appropriate for an almost 5yo. Not sure what all is out there. And he is also never watched a movie. The longest he has watched is 30 minutes before he gets bored.

What do other kids watch?

Word Girl is a personal favorite of mine. Very clever!

In our house Bakugan is King! That's about the only cartoon. DS loves deal or no deal as well. He learned how to do averages and he races the banker to figure out the offer.

He actually wrote a letter to Howie Mandel to offer his services as fill in host if Howie ever needed a vacation!

Have you tried documentaries (wildlife etc.)?

My two boys (DS6 and DS4) don't seem to like TV much, they will settle down and watch Disney movies and documentaries and the odd cartoon. They prefer their Nintendo DS's and the Wii!

Mr W really likes Hannah Montana. I don't know why a 14 month old boy is glued to that program, but he is. He'll watch the whole thing.

He used to be fascinated by Handy Manny since 3 months but at 10 mos, he lost interest. Sesame Street and wildlife shows hold his interest now. He'll watch dancing with the stars with DW and he likes musicals. He watched just about all of Wizard of Oz at 9 mos.

DS is a little older (so I wouldn't recommend his favorites to a 4 year old!! LOL) but when he was about that age, Peep and the Big Wide World was a big favorite. It looks like it's on Discovery Kids these days.... I think it used to be part of the TLC morning lineup. We actually ended up buying it on DVD because he liked it so well.

Be careful with "Wizard of Oz." Both my kids were TERRIFIED by it. The witch was too scary. They never even made it to the flying monkeys! DS4--my sensitive one--is still too scared to watch it!

When they were little, they LOVED �The Magic School Bus�. They also enjoyed animal documentaries.

Now, at 12 and 14, they like �House�, �The Office�, �24�, �Man Versus the Wild� and pretty much any documentary.

For movies, they like anything �Monty Python�.

My DS4 and I are reading the Wizard of Oz now and plan to watch the movie afterwards. We'll see how far he gets.

This book is fun: The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together by Ty Burr

The book is a little easier on sensitive kids than the movie, I think. That witch laugh just makes DS4 cry!

We don't let DS3 and DS6 watch a lot of TV. Typically when we do, it's either PBS or something educational. Favorites are:

* Between the Lions
* CyberChase (current most requested)
* Pengu (DS3 requests mostly)
* Kipper
* Thomas (DS3, although DS6 still enjoys it)
* Sci-Q (although there are only 3 episodes)
* any documentary on Space, Human Body, whales, physics, etc.

On weekends we'll sometimes watch a family movie together. But we really limit how much TV they can watch. (Most week days, they don't watch any.)

JB

When DS6 (then between 4.5 and 5) first watched the opening scene of Cars the movie, he got up and ran from the living into the laundry room (which is a long straight shot in our house). Really terrified him!

JB

Oh no, I am the most conservative parent now. The girls to get to watch 30-60 minutes of tv most days - and in the winter I'd say we watch a movie every weekend. But I finally let the 7 year old watch Hannah Montana only to decide - based on that episode - that I just don't like the boy-girl emphasis. I will say but for Discovery Kids channel - the oldest (7) probably wouldn't get to see much. The have a number of "cartoons" but that have some good nuggets. Time Wrap Trio is like an older version of Magic Tree House. Grossology is like a big kid version of magic school bus.

I know it is hard to keep things on track when you have various ages in the house... but I do wish things marketed as "tween" sensations wouldn't be the "hottest" thing in my kid's kindergarten class. No offense to the Amish but maybe that should be my new user name! :-)

DS6 is eclectic in his TV watching. Cartoons of course, Pokemon, Chaotica, Used to watch Bob the Builder, Caliou, and Thomas the Train all the time, over and over and over.... He now watches some Saturday cartoons, and Jepoardy and Wheel of fortune. We are not much into TV. He does get exposed to things he shouldn't because we have a 16DS in home.

DS loved Peep, Time Warp Trio, Grossology and Magic School Bus at 4. He'll be 6 next week and I was just getting ready to ask this same question! We screen what he's allowed to watch pretty carefully and he does not get to watch TV with commercials hardly ever (thanks to Tivo).

Right now he watches Toot and Puddle, Future is Wild and Phineas and Ferb pretty regularly. We have ordered the entire Super Mario Brothers on DVD from Netflix and he loves it. He also likes ChalkZone and sometimes Zula Patrol. We also watch Amazing Race together and some of Time Warp and Mythbusters depending on the topic.

He also has a deep love for the Food Network Challenge :-)Which I think is entirely my fault!

My kids love Top Chef! I don't allow them to really watch it, but they would if I let them! Food competitions really appeal to them.

And kickball, my rules are similar. They probably watch a bit more than your kids on weekday mornings (if their work is done), but they watch less on weekends. We never watch movies. I'm not quite Amish--not as Amish as I feel like I should be with them, frankly!--but not a lot less restrictive than you are either.

Thanks for the suggestions. We don't watch much TV, he watches maybe an hour a day. Somedays less when he goes to school. He has watched some of those shows others mentioned and likes them. Word girl, Zoola patrol, kipper, and he used to watch toot and puddle and peep as well a while ago. It seems like he is ready to get into some other stuff. Just wasn't sure where to go. I haven't heard of that time warp trio...and maybe the grossology as well. I would like to see if he would sit and watch a movie someday...mostly for a long car trip or for when he is sick.

Commercials bother me. We never had that issue before, but since he watches wheel of fortune now it is quite annoying. We DVR everything and he knows how to fast forward thankfully. But sometimes if he sees an interesting commercial he will watch it. The other day he said "so is cepacol really the strongest medication, because that's what they say" Then he thought they were lying and we had to explain that to him. Good times. : )

I'm a very bad parent. I generally let them choose what they want to watch (within reason). DS5 likes TV more than DD3 and always has.

DS5 has always liked watching "older" shows (was over Sesame Street by age 1. It bored him). He's fascinated by martial arts & things that go, so he watches recorded episodes of the Power Rangers (though there's one that he is too scared of) and Monster Jam... ah yes, monster trucks on tv, monster trucks on the wii and monster trucks on the floor (they hurt ya when you step on them).

Both DS5 & DD3 love Tom & Jerry, and I am very guilty of allowing them to watch such a violent cartoon. BUT, I do discuss it with them, etc...

DD3 used to be into Dora, but now she is fascinated by Hip Hop Harry. I loathe Hip Hop Harry!

The kids MAY watch 30 minutes to an hour each day on average, but they would both rather be doing something instead of watching something.

We have movie night once or twice a month(generally Friday nights), and I usually have to BEG for something other than Cinderella, Cars, or any of the High School Musical movies.

And DS5 likes "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?", so we sometimes catch that.

I do like to watch documentaries with them, but we don't necessarily seek them out.

We have been very bad this year. It was really cold this winter so we got addicted to The Discovery Channel, National Geographic and some science shows (DS6) and Little Bear and Franklin (DD2). I figure if it is educational and we can't get outside, why not.

Both of the kids usually watch together.

DS4 likes
- Word Girl (current favorite one)
- CyberChase
- Magic School Bus
- How It's Made (thanks to Kriston)
- Planet Earth was very popular last year.


DS6
- loves the series Once Upon Life. The boys watch it in their other language. I was unable to find it in English.
- the full documentary about US Presidents from History Channel. DS6 has been into presidents big time for last 5 months. Thanks to this we've spent enormous amount of time on social studies and covered quite a lot of US History.

Is my son at your house? LOL! Seriously though, Monster Jam comes on at 7:30am here. DS is not a morning person, but will get up early just to watch this. And he would LOVE to have someone as enthusiastic about monster trucks on the Wii, as he is.

Oh...I forgot about "How It's Made"! The other day dd9 was home sick and wanted to watch it. They showed how to make an artificial eye!!!!! (I was so grossed out!!) She loved it!

I keep forgetting to DVR How It's Made. *I'm* addicted to that show.

JB

That's funny. I hate playing with him b/c he beats the pants off of me! It's crazy! No 5 year old should be that good at that game! ha!

Cyberchase, Zula Patrol, Wordgirl, Magic School Bus and Tutenstein (help me there) and one I love (beside Wordgirl) is Pheanus and Ferb. Just for entertainment, but we all love that one.

Ren

Oh, Mr W was fine. He really loved the Lion.

I saw it when I was 4 and had flying monkey nightmares for weeks!!

Yes, I just meant for other parents. If Mr. W was fine, then no worries.

(Though I'm also thinking that he may be too young for that kind of fear yet. Be prepared for it to wig him out completely at some point even though he loved it before.)

DS8 watches old yu-gi-oh videos, and will definitely tune into a science program. He is enjoying Junkyard wars on the science channel lately, and a series on getting to Mars. But also ICarly, a show about some kids who do a web-tv-show.

Dd3ish is excited by Max and Ruby and Sid the Science Kid; she also likes Arthur now and Magic School Bus. She was running around the other day and ran up to me and screamed - "I have blood cells!!"
Ok.

My DD4 had a scary dream about the witch a few months ago. She's fascinated by the film at the same time!

Val

Max and Ruby is a HUGE hit in our house. I can't recommend this show enough for young kids. Even DS9 still loves it.

DS7 has been watching BBC shows about prehistoric creatures since he was around 2 1/2. He likes pretty much anything with dinosaurs (so everything from The Land Before Time to Jurassic Park).

Star Wars, including the TV show The Clone Wars, is a big hit with DS9 and DS7 to a lesser extent. DS9 and DD4 are starting to get into Star Trek.

Val

My kids love Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My DS6 LOVES Cyberchase and anything on the Discovery Channel or Science Channel....he is addicted to Storm Chasers and The Detonators...my friends poke fun at me because they say my little guy is the only 6 year old they have met that can give a detailed description of linear shape charges :-)

oh geez....I also forgot to add Phineas and Ferb...how could I forgot that one....you are SO busted! My son loves the show so much our new pet - a hedgehog - is named Perry the Platypus Hedgie :-)

Hi all,
Really enjoyed learning what everyone's children like to watch on TV. We started a new rule this year - no TV during the school week. This has been harder on me than on DS7. He really was watching way too much TV and not reading. Since starting the rule he's become an avid reader and even taught himself Origami. Now he barely watches TV on the weekends. Don't get me wrong - I love TV - it was just proving to be too much of a problem for him right now.
Anyway that said some of his favorite shows were: Caillou, Brum, Thomas (pretty obsessed up to age 4), and Little Bear. Now that he's older he loves How it's Made, pretty much anything on the Science & History channel, Phin & Ferb, and of course the latest obsession Star Wars the Clone Wars.
Sponge Bob has been a continuous favorite, in fact I'm pretty amazed by that show's staying power. I have to admit - Sponge Bob is a guilty pleasure of mine. Oh, he like iCarly too but he would never admit to it - too embarassing. :-0 LOL

I'm thinking of investing in Mythbusters on DVD. Are there other kids/adults out there who enjoy it?

Val

We love it but we don't allow DS to watch all the episodes. He's still a bit young (6 this week) and some things really freak him out. So we screen what he can and can't see. Anything that they're using the human dummy guy on is pretty much out!

My son loves Mythbusters.

Our whole family loves it! Great show for real science and engineering.

Dancing with the Stars. Mr W loves DWTS.

OK, confession. We are bad with TV. DS5 discovered Boomerang network, with older cartoons. He loves Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Ricochet Rabbit. He also likes How It's Made.

We discovered Boomerang a few years ago! My kids loved it (still do). And Mom gets a trip down memory lane.

Val