I had posted a while back, sorry didn't file. Recommendations on TV programs.

I got some good ideas. Right now DD3 is into Animalia, Zula Patrol, and WordGirl. Any further ideas on this genre? She limited to certain times and I would like to avoid just zone out TV watching.

Ren

Mine has always loved Clifford (still does, at almost 7). It's not academic, but it does teach social skills.

Thanks, she does like Clifford, though it seems to have limited number of episodes. like me, she get bored with repeats.

I also taped Magic School Bus and have about 20 episodes on hand since it went off the air.

She really likes the kids on Magic School bus, connects and loves the episodes.

Ren

DD likes Clifford too, and Barbie movies, and Little Ponys, and Lars the Polar Bear (these ones are really cute) and Shrek, and Spirit and....

More educational, in the academic sense:

Microcosmos and Winged Migration, both from Jacques Perrin.

http://www.amazon.com/Microcosmos-Jacques-Perrin/dp/B0000DZ3BS
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/Winged-Migration.html

March of the Penguins
http://www.amazon.com/March-Penguin...&s=dvd&qid=1211053719&sr=1-1

and last but not least:
Once upon a time ... Man
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264244/

This last one I still have to get it in Spanish this summer. I am certain that DD will love it.

We like a lot of the Animal Planet shows, not just the ones for kids.

DS6 is not usually that into animals, but he went through a short phase this year when he adored "Meerkat Manor." I had mixed feelings about it, since it's heavy on the soap opera and light on educational content, but I figured it could be worse. At least it captures the struggle for survival and all the social jostling that goes into that.

Thankfully, though, he got over it quickly...

Zoboomafoo ?

My DS loves Bill Nye the Science Guy.

We canceled full service and are on a basic one now, which includes 3 PBS channels. No watching TV on school nights. Saturdays are long since DS loves SNL.
Actually, we as a family watch probably less than 5 hours a week total! That is the way to go for us!!! Lots of NPR though.

Have a great summer guys!

Thanks for the movie ideas. Have credit from B&N for months and I didn't have ideas.
Ren

Hi Ren - DS4 loves Fetch with Ruff Ruffman. Although his favorite is the old scooby doos, in which he learns very little! for movies, i love My Neighbor Totoro (DS likes it too, but it's main characters are little girls). DS4 really likes how it's made type shows, too (we just saw a great one on sweden's ice hotel - we liked that they made "snice" - snow/ice combo).

Kriston,
If you like Animal Planet, you might invest in the BBC disc sets "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet". I gave them to DS6 for Christmas and we savor watching them together--absolutely amazing.

Isn't "Blue Planet" the one that's narrated by Pierce Brosnan? If so I was glued to the TV for the episode about the arctic and antarctic!

Anyway, thanks for the tip! Having grown up watching "Wild Kingdom" ("Go on out there and wrestle that alligator, Jim. Then tag that lion, would you?"), I love animal documentaries!

I agree, Planet Earth is absolutely breath taking. I bought Planet Earth for all of us as a Christmas presents. David Attenborough narrates Planer Earth. If I remember it correctly, it's narrated by somebody else as well, but the version with David A. is supposed to be much better. I believe he also narrates "Blue Planet". We got it only recently and haven't watched it yet.

If you want to hear a real nice voice watch 'March of the Pinguins': it is narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Thanks for the ideas. Recently we watched ET and DD3 loved it.

Ren

My DS5 is a math fanatic and is addicted to the PBS show Cyberchase - awesome, awesome show :-)

Yes, and another one from Animal Planet that DD6 (& the rest of us) enjoyed was Prehistoric Park. We watched several of the episodes when they aired originally, then I recently bought the series for $24 or so from Barnes & Noble. For those who haven't seen it, it's kind of a cool concept. This guy Nigel "goes back in time" to save animals like the wooly mammoth and dinosaurs and brings them back to the present to a special zoo that they are building. The show talks about the time periods of the past and also teaches about the different creatures they are saving. The only thing is that it's set up as a reality show, so my DD3 was very confused at first. She thought perhaps we could really go and see a sabor tooth tiger!


Wren, DD3 also likes Peep, which is on after Magic School Bus where we live. It's kind of science based and narrated by Joan Cusak. Oh, and Super Why, too, on PBS.

Super Why was totally loved at first, but they had so few episodes, it began repeating quite a lot. Peep didn't go over, it seemed a little young for her. Perhaps we didn't give it enough time. Her BF at preschool loves Peep but doesn't like Curious George. DD loves Curious George. So different strokes...

I ordered a bunch of Blue Planet and Planet Earth from the library.

Ren - your DD sounds like my DS4 again - when he was 3, he thought Peep was "lame" (i don't know where he gets words like that...), but he still likes curious george. He used to play the Pbsonline george games a lot too. And wordgirl games, but there weren't very many of those.

I forgot to mention "crashbox" on hbo - it's got math things that are over DS4's head sometimes, but he enjoys the word games and the math stuff too, even if he doesn't quite get it yet.

DS6 still enjoys "Peep." It's one I'll actually watch, too, which is saying something. The character Duck is pretty funny! And science shows for younger kids are few and far between, so I think that makes "Peep" a winner!

DS enjoyed Peep until he was eight! It is very "young" but also I think it's just a nice, quiet, calm show... which appealed to him for a long time. Same with Oswald. We have one of the DVDs, but in the past few months he's not been watching it as much.

Erica

I am surprised I didn't get much comment about Animalia and Zula Patrol. DD really likes them. She said today that Cyberchase was for older kids but then she said she wanted to watch it. But she is not so into it.

Ren