Source of useful cartoons for 4 year old boy?

MichaelR

Hello,

I have recently moved and lost cable TV service, but there is a satellite dish on the house. Now I need to decide on going with Sky or freeview, and the main issue with the free option seems to be the absence of just one channel - Nick Jr.

There are some shows on it that my 4 year old son used to love, and I think some of them are rather educational. The ones I liked most are Go Diego Go and Super Why. (Some others, like Dora the Explorer, Wonder Pets, and Bob the Builder, are nice too but not as essential).

But if I go with Sky, I have to pay over 300 euro a year. Besides, Nick Jr is full of commercials, and I am not really happy with exposing my son to them.

An obvious alternative would be buying the DVDs. But Super Why is not on DVDs at all (except two episodes on a US one); and some of Diego lineup is apparently to be released on European DVDs in late 2009, probably leading to high prices.

So what do I do? Fork over the significant money for Sky, and have to teach the child (of a very vulnerable age) to ignore the commercials? Grab whatever DVDs I can get, and hope Superwhy eventually gets released? Forget it and hope Freeview has some good educational cartoons too? (If you know these please tell). Or is there any other way?

CJhaughey

Just get Cbeebies and you will be fine, It's a good mix of animation and real activities and NO adverts.

Deliverance

MichaelR wrote: »

Hello,

I have recently moved and lost cable TV service, but there is a satellite dish on the house. Now I need to decide on going with Sky or freeview, and the main issue with the free option seems to be the absence of just one channel - Nick Jr.

There are some shows on it that my 4 year old son used to love, and I think some of them are rather educational. The ones I liked most are Go Diego Go and Super Why. (Some others, like Dora the Explorer, Wonder Pets, and Bob the Builder, are nice too but not as essential).

But if I go with Sky, I have to pay over 300 euro a year. Besides, Nick Jr is full of commercials, and I am not really happy with exposing my son to them.

An obvious alternative would be buying the DVDs. But Super Why is not on DVDs at all (except two episodes on a US one); and some of Diego lineup is apparently to be released on European DVDs in late 2009, probably leading to high prices.

So what do I do? Fork over the significant money for Sky, and have to teach the child (of a very vulnerable age) to ignore the commercials? Grab whatever DVDs I can get, and hope Superwhy eventually gets released? Forget it and hope Freeview has some good educational cartoons too? (If you know these please tell). Or is there any other way?

My personal view is that... at 4yrs old Cbeebies is to young for a 4yr old. It is a great resource and v.educational as most cartoons are these days.

Nck Jr is still v.entertaining and educational despite the ads. The adverts are a pain. I find my little girl of the same age (4yrs) addicted to some shows but when the ads come on she is 'Dadda get me that', 'Get me this'.

I don't want her exposed to this materialism so I am planning to instead take her out and do activities that are physical.

I have noticed that she gets lethargic and unresponsive during these tv shows, as good as they are, they are not healthy. I plan to take her out more often.

So bottom line I guess is save your self a few quid and get out more with the little one. It will pay off in the long run as she / he will remember good times with you over good times with 'Peppa pig', 'Super Why', 'Wonder Pets' etc.

Plus as an interesting sidenote... Sweden has banned some of these chanels because they are 'babysitting tv'. Kids get on much better by actually getting out in the fresh air. Eg it was raining today and I brought my 4yr old out dressed in raingear and wellies. She had more fun splashing in puddles and got excercise and was happier as such.

It was a day spent well i.e. having fun splashing in puddles with a few quid spent on wellies and gear over a day spent lethargically overdosed with cartoons and adverts in front of the tv.

deelite

We turned on Disney Playhouse in error one day and the child is estatic with Handy Manny - he's their version of Bob the Builder - he's very good.

Clytus

Ah you just cant beat Nick jr for the ypunger ones. My 2 year old was Peppa mad..all day long it was peppa peppa peppa...but now its Humf. I watched a couple of episodes with him and was amazed at how the makers managed to relate every episode to a typical suitation a toddler finds himself.
Fantastic show...

January

deelite wrote: »

We turned on Disney Playhouse in error one day and the child is estatic with Handy Manny - he's their version of Bob the Builder - he's very good.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse here for my daughter... I know it's terrible... but she smiles everytime he walks over that hill...