I know that kids shouldn’t watch a lot of TV, but if you’re looking for some good educational TV shows or DVDs, try these:
This cartoon is on the Discovery channel and features a baby rooster (Peep), baby robin (Chirp) and baby duck (Quack) exploring their world. They explore different science or math concepts in each episode. There are two segments in each episode, so you can keep screen time short by only watching one at a time. Each segment is followed with a short video of real kids exploring the same topic covered in the show. Also worth noting, you can buy books, CDs and DVDs through WGBH.
I have to admit that this series seems to me to be a bit of a rip off of Peep and the Big Wide World. I know Curious George has been around forever, but the series on PBS is relatively new and mimics the format of Peep completely. That being said, if your kids like Peep and the Curious George character, they’ll love this show. George explores science and math concepts, the show is in two segments and they show videos of real kids after each part. Sound familiar?
This PBS series started in September 2008, so there aren’t a ton of episodes yet. If your kid loves math and science and doesn’t mind a very predictable show format with many scenes reused, check this show out. Four related topics are explored each week and then the fifth show reviews the topics mainly using flash backs. My son found the review show annoying, so we stopped watching them. With the amount of each show that is reused (arriving at school and greeting friends, etc.) it seems like they’re penny pinching in production, but we still enjoyed the few episodes they have out.
This show is great for beginning readers. The series has a ton of episodes (the website lists 100), but I don’t think it’s still in production. The older episodes are one segment and the newer ones have two. I read that the newer shows just chop down two older shows and stick them together. The characters are a lion family that run a library. They work with special sounds as themes to each show and present them in a variety of interesting ways. I like how they read books and highlight words as they go and the songs they make up about things like “the two sounds made by c”.
Some of these DVDs were shown on PBS at one point, but were taken off the air due to a lack of sponsorship. They introduce a variety of ASL signs in each video along with original songs. My kids love the music and watching kids their age signing. If your child has a speech delay, you may want to try ASL to promote communication. As of June 2009, they have 30 DVDs, 10 music CDs, board books and flash cards.
