Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Four year old who loves the History Channel...

Hi all! Wondering...Do any of you have preschoolers who also love the History Channel??? My DD is 4 and it's her favorite show...Along with also loving Bill Nye the Science Guy and CyberChase...I'm hesitant at times to allow her to watch the History Channel though, because of its sometimes violent realistic views...She is fascinated by the show and while her friends are all playing with Barbies, she's shrugging them all off saying Barbie is not "sciency or mature enough" sigh...Thoughts???

We don't have cable however I have been considering getting it because I'd like to be able to use things like the science shows, etc. to supplement what we are talking about at home with my kids (K and preschool age). I've been so far away from cable (8 years now) that I don't even know what is on anymore. Dh thinks we can get shows over the internet for free but I'm not finding much out there yet. For those of you who use educational channels and shows with your kids, what do you watch? Our focus is definitely science right now - human body systems, robots, inventions of any kind. He is almost 6 and can comprehend a lot but it does need to be geared down somewhat - at least taken down to the middle school level. History would be good if it's geared toward kids. That's an area we haven't explored a lot except relating to science and inventions.

I wouldn't worry about her not playing with Barbies (I'm anti-Barbie so maybe I'm biased??). My 3 year old has no interest in dolls. I wouldn't mind if she played with her baby dolls - she just doesn't care about them as a plaything. She is too busy learning other things like letters and numbers and other things. The violent TV is something I stay away from, even if it is historical. I made the mistake of letting the kids watch a movie about Nazi Germany, thinking it would be OK since it was a Hallmark movie and seemed safe and then, yikes!, they put a bunch of women before a firing squad. Luckily, I was right there to stop the tape when I realized what was happening.

Check out utube for videos...

As for the history channel I watch it with my boys, but then they are very good about telling me when things are too much for them.

public library, netflix...

a 2nd vote for Youtube. Does she like the magic school bus? The last I checked, all the episodes are on there.

Only issue with Youtube, you really have to stay with them, I've walked off from ds9 watching one thing on youtube only to find he's innocently clicked on some video which turned out not-so-innocent!

The barbie thing reminds me of when I was a child, I don't think any of my 3 sisters or I had barbies, but I had a really cool 'Bionic Woman' doll. I don't recall this was by my choice, but maybe my mom knew I would really enjoy all the parts that popped open to reveal 'electronics', and her skin on one arm would roll up so you could see her inner workings, etc. It *was* really cool.
I doubt you could find that exact doll nowadays, just a reminiscence.

Netflix has streaming video now, I noticed there were several good historical series available in their entirety, if you have a good fast web connection. Dd3 has been watching things like Annie and Heidi, so not exactly up the same avenue!

Here's a few things to get you started. Search the internet for Zoom, Nature channel, Discovery Channel, Nasa, National Geographic Some of these have movies. I would also look for Computer CDs and DVDs at the library for learning history stuff for kids.

http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/
http://www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/lesson.html
http://www.rokenbok.com/
http://sodaplay.com/
http://www.globalwonders.com/
http://georgessecretkey.com/cosmos/
http://www.show.me.uk/parents/parents.html

Thank you so much for all of the great suggestions! It's a rainy gloomy day this morning...Perfect for checking out all of these new fun sites Much appreciated everyone... My little one will be THRILLLED!

Yes, thanks for all the good websites to check out!!

http://tv.blinkx.com/show/the-magic-school-bus/akf_VBqWkqLe628ZLaTub9Dqe9A#s2

this has magic school bus video. looks like kids will have to be supervised.

The Magic School Bus links give you a message saying the content is no longer available.

This week I got 20 Magic School Bus books (the picture ones) for $20 on eBay. I was so excited!