TV for toddlers

brokensoul

I had two 20 month olds. We decided to (in so far as possible) not allow them any screen time until they are two. They have seen the odd match or the news but no cartoons, phone games etc.

So they will be 2 this summer and we will start introducing some screen time then. Just looking for recommendations on what people have found good or educational for kids.

I was thinking of Sesame Street DVDs but maybe that is just nostalgia ;-)

shesty

Honestly, we just stick to CBeebies and rtejr as channels.I am not bothered about TV being massively educational to be honest, that's a nice by-product.More interested in the fact that there's no ads on those channels, and the programmes tend to be slower and more suited to toddlers and small kids.

My pair at that age were interested in 'In the Night garden', "Twirlywoos" and "Mr Tumbles".

They have plenty of years ahead of them to be watching other stuff, so trying to keep them away from the likes of disney/nick jr etc for as long as possible.I find they are filled with ads anyway, mostly aimed at older kids, and the programmes are fast, flashing and somewhat overwhelming for small kids.

catrionanic

+1 for CBeebies. They have their toddler stuff on in the early mornings. Big hits here are dinopaws, teletubbies, and raa raa the noisy lion. Haven’t put on In the night garden because it freaks me out!!!

shesty

I always come away from the Night Garden wondering what the hell it's about, but the little ones LOVE it!
The day they discovered Teletubbies was hilarious, similar effect!!They also love Pablo interestingly enough, which is on in the evenings.It appeals to both my 23 mth old and my 3 year old which is unusual these days.

CheerLouth

+1 for CBeebies here. We watch in the Night Garden & then the story. Best thing about CBeebies is that it cuts off after the Bedtime Story.

Baby TV (#623 on Sky) is also quite nice.

Neyite

Uninstall or hide the you tube app on your devices. Even the kiddie one.

Stick to kiddy telly, netflix or DVD.

At best, the stuff on it will utterly wreck your head. At worst, there's Peppa Porn and the like that are carefully edited to slip through any internet safety features.

farmchoice

if i could do it all again i would stick to rte junior and cbeebies, and as neyite said the longer you can keep them away from youtube the better.

i have a two and a half year old he developed a serious serious peppa addiction.
that was bad enough but then his four year sister turned him on to you tube un-boxing videos, now i would give anything to have that fat obnoxious pig back in my life.

SeaFields

If I ever meet "Blippi" in person I shall kill him dead to death!


That said, the kids can't get enough of him. I'm not sure why a toddler needs to be shown how to fly a helicopter or to check the oil level in a school bus but they seem intrigued anyway.

Lemonposset

Hey Duggee is brilliant. It is cute and funny and beautifully made. You will enjoy watching it with them and as each episode is only 7 mins it doesn't go overboard. We bought the dvds so that we weren't necessarily tied to the tv schedule & could give them to grandparents too if needed

catrionanic

Guys what time are these things on? We just record stuff and watch it on the planner.

shesty

Can't stand Peppa.We don't do it here (and we don't use any devices to watch stuff other than the tv).I think she's rude and cheeky, and not just to the dad but to other characters on the programme.Not how I want my 3 year old seeing "kids" interact.
I'm gonna sound SO sad here now but....from 6pm -7pm CBeebies do a bedtime hour.Clangers at 6, Abney and Teal after, then the Night Garden, a story and that's it.Rtejr not so good for little ones at night, has Scooby Doo and the like.Hey Duggee is great, it's earlier maybe between 4-4:30? Pablo is around 6:45.Teletubbies is earlier in the day round 9/9:30am and I think Twirlywoos is the same time.Mostly TV is on in our house in the evening, rarely during the day. Try to totally avoid morning tv unless desperate or killing 15 mins.

I need to get a life......

appledrop

In the night Garden is a bit hit in our house. Also on Netflix programme called Little Baby Bum our little boy loves. It's not a programme but loads of little nursery rhyme + songs. He loves music + singing.

mirrorwall14

For Netflix try

Daniel tiger (some well done episodes about emotions and new baby sister too)
Little Baby Bum (all songs, he loves it and sings along with it these days)
Puffin rock (Irish show, cute enough)
Masha the Bear (no idea why he loves this but he does)

mirrorwall14

appledrop wrote: »

In the night Garden is a bit hit in our house. Also on Netflix programme called Little Baby Bum our little boy loves. It's not a programme but loads of little nursery rhyme + songs. He loves music + singing.

Jinx! Yeah my little boy has loved this for the last year (he’s three now)

appledrop

Oh yea + Masha & Bear! Forgot about that one. He thinks that one is hilarious.

brokensoul

Thanks lads. Will be buying DVDs I think as we don't have a smart tv, or netflix for that matter

#Luddites ;-)

brokensoul

brokensoul wrote: »

Thanks lads. Will be buying DVDs I think as we don't have a smart tv, or netflix for that matter

#Luddites ;-)

Netflix is free for the first month by the way!

shesty

I quite enjoy Chris O'Dowd's voiceover in Puffin Rock!!!Can be very amusing :-)

Peatys

Shimmer and shine, blaze, paw patrol.. kids love it.
Poor aul peppa and Ben & holly are long forgotten and the kids are only 4 & 5..

I wasn't ready for the transition

Neyite

I was hoping the young lad would watch Ben & Holly over Peppa but sadly he never got into it. I love Nanny Plum. The sexual tension between her and Wise Old Elf is gas.

Peatys

Neyite wrote: »

I was hoping the young lad would watch Ben & Holly over Peppa but sadly he never got into it. I love Nanny Plum. The sexual tension between her and Wise Old Elf is gas.

If it's any consolation, same voice actress does nanny plum and Mrs rabbit.. good at the humour aimed at the folks

ShaShaBear

SeaFields wrote: »

If I ever meet "Blippi" in person I shall kill him dead to death!


That said, the kids can't get enough of him. I'm not sure why a toddler needs to be shown how to fly a helicopter or to check the oil level in a school bus but they seem intrigued anyway.

There's a few things I'd do to Blippi if I ever met him, murder wouldn't be top of the list though

SeaFields

ShaShaBear wrote: »

There's a few things I'd do to Blippi if I ever met him, murder wouldn't be top of the list though

That's beyond weird

rainbow kirby

My small lad is mad about Teletubbies and In The Night Garden, the amount of drugs their writers must be on...

CheerLouth

Neyite wrote: »

I was hoping the young lad would watch Ben & Holly over Peppa but sadly he never got into it. I love Nanny Plum. The sexual tension between her and Wise Old Elf is gas.

I love Ben & Holly - the jokes in it for the parents are gas! Sadly, our little girl went straight from Peppa to Paw Patrol with barely a backward glance!

hollymartins

Hey Duggee is the go to guy in our house and Peter Rabbit. Like others have said we tend to stick with Cbeebies as there's no ads and I prefer the tone of the shows, they're kind of gentler and don't get our toddler hyped up. We occasionally watch RTEjnr like Puffin Rock, I'd like to watch it more as I'd rather our child watch Irish shows but there doesn't seem to be too many even on RTE.

CheerLouth

Puffin Rock is lovely & it's on Netflix! We also like Ilama, Ilama on Netflix, it's very gentle. There used to be one called Lily's Driftwood Bay on Nick Junior but I don't see it on any more. It was lovely too.

texas star

Ruby and Max on Netflix it's a nice show brother and sister rabbits.

optogirl

Charlie & Lola, Peppa, The Wiggles & old sesame street & muppets all favourites in our house (6 & 3).

Ciarrai76

My 21 month old loves Cbeebies, especially Mr. Tumble (something special). He's even learned some sign language from it which is brilliant. He also loves the Night Garden. If I show him anything on the ipad, I usually try & find the same programmes from CBeebies, as well as some from Baby Tv (when we had that channel). He LOVEs Charlie & the numbers off that. We only have a free to air box, so CBeebies is really all we have that's suitable for him, but its perfect, plenty of lovely programmes for him and he enjoys them.

appledrop

Puffin Rock is a new favourite in our house. So cute I love little Ba Ba. Ben + Holly also a hit now. Actually really good + educational. My little boy was amazed at caterpillar + how it turns into butterfly!

ally_pally

Some great recommendations here. My girl is only 14 months so keeping her away from screens too. A friend was over with her little boy one day and we put on CBeebies for him and turns out our girl LOVED a show called Tinga Tinga Tales - fun colourful animal stories about why leopards have spots, why monkeys swing from the trees, etc. The theme song to it is our failsafe to get her to stop crying. If she's in bad humour and nothing else is working, stick on the theme song and she's smiling in seconds. It's amazing!