First, I apologize for starting here a bit before the time limits, although I'll admit to sneaking in and reading up here most recently because it feels like where we belong...

Anyway, my kids are too old to enjoy Caillou, and most of the Noggin shows and PBS Kids stuff that I have simply adored having for them. So, now where do we go? I do not want them exposed to all of the boyfriend/girlfriend world think and/or all of that non-educational programming. What else is there that is good, has good educational value, etc?

I saw The Magic School Bus, and it was delightful. What other shows have really good content and values?

You guys usually know everything -- I'm counting on you!!
Thanks so much!


Cat w/3 Kittens
Caidan, Carina and Caeleigh
Born at 31 weeks, 1/8/04.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE "Magic School Bus". Except for somebody's cousin, Janet, who is pretty snotty and a braggart (sp?). My kids pick up on it. Maybe she's only in the space ones??? We have the DVD.

Mine have started watching other PBS shows. "Word Girl" would be good. She triumphs over evil with vocabulary and a few well placed punches- but it's all very "comic book" and not too violent. Very "tongue-in-cheek" humor too.

I think "Word World" is probably too basic for you kids, but they still might enjoy.

"Between the Lions".

There is a really cool math show that I happened to see once at "o-dark-thirty" when a kid got up too early. I think it's called "Math Monsters" or something like that. It wasn't on our PBS long....wish it was and at a different time slot. A friend used to DVR for her trips and they loved it at 5 and 6 years old.

My kids love "The Electric Company". We also started watching "Animalia" and "Cyber Chase". Might be a little "old" for your crew, but they would be ready soon. I think it depends on how mature you want the themes to be. "Cyberchase" is a logic-problem solving show.

On Discovery Kids, we like "Bindi the Jungle Girl". Some of the other kid shows on there are too "pre-teen/teen". One of my girls LOVES "Saddle Club", but there is a "rich-bi#$%" character and some coupling. The characters are middle-schoolish. I'd love it if they were younger. The shows always finish with good lessons, but the snotty characters come back next episode still snotty.

If you want to avoid coupling, then avoid Disney. I think the very early "Zack and Cody" didn't go there, but I see an awful lot about winning over girls, etc as they have grown.

Oh, and my kids LOVE "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?". And I can see them enjoying it more as they start learning more of the stuff. EVen in K, they could answer a few questions. One DD could answer just about any Animal Science question. When it was on, we used that show for incentive for calm bedtimes during the week. Bonus on Friday if you earned the right to stay up to watch "5th Grader".

Oh, and Caillou bugs me to death. Mine will still watch it if I let them. And I'm not too fond of "Arthur". Good lessons learned, but his sister is a brat and there is another "rich-bi$^%" character. A lot of name-calling.

Oh, whatever happened to "Davie and Goliath".

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

We watched Animalia this morning and the kids adored it. I'm also thinking that Cyberchase might be a good fit. They adore the Magic School Bus and Zoboomafoo. There's another math show that we're going to look into. The Bindi show sounds like something that we'll look at.

And, you guessed it -- I don't want any of the coupling stuff or snotty stuff. It's frustrating to know that Arthur has some of the snotty stuff and the name-calling. That's the thing that I've loved about the Noggin shows -- they genuinely encourage children to get along and include others. Someone else suggested Sid the Science something-or-rather...

Another thing that we've been doing is watching ballets and musicals. I find that if we discuss the story before the ballet starts, they really get into it.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I really appreciated your input on the content. I'm planning on recording these on tivo and checking them out rather than simply jumping in cold turkey.

Oh, and in the process of hunting for shows, I found something really cool: Scholastic.com. Their site not only promotes some good shows, but it also has a reading list of books and you can enter the interest age/level of the child and then their reading level and it will put together a list of good books for the child. I didn't know what level the kids were reading to, so I used this in reverse and simply entered the title of a book that they were reading to me yesterday to find out what level they are reading to. It's really a wonderful tool.

Anyway, I really appreciate the help. Thanks so much.

Cat w/3 Kittens
Caidan, Carina and Caeleigh
Born at 31 weeks, 1/8/04.

Oh, yeah. "Sid, the Science Kid."

And mine will sit through "Clifford" and "Curious George", although they are a bit old for them. "Clifford" has Jetta- she can be a bit snotty, but she's not as bad as other rich, snotty girls on other shows. And nice Emily Elizabeth always takes the high road.

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

Oye...my kids' favorite show is "Wipeout".

I'm sure that is not what you are looking for, but that is all that my kids have been talking about recently....and I have to admit that it is funny.

Honestly, they really don't watch anything else. They have been much more interested in using their "screen time" on the computer or the Wii lately.

Kelly
Ben, Jack & Drew 05/28/02
Charlie 07/06/06
Aunt to: Liam, Aidan & Connor 03/05/08
www.outnumberedmommy.blogspot.com

Okay -- what is "Wipeout?" It sounds like something I might get a kick out of during the after hours and might eventually have to add to our repertoire out of a sense of guilt...

Cat w/3 Kittens
Caidan, Carina and Caeleigh
Born at 31 weeks, 1/8/04.

HAHAHAHAHA! Mine LOVE that show too. On Sunday, they lined up their Anywhere chairs 3 in a row and then were jumping off the recliner, bouncing off the chairs like the big balls in Wipeout.

Then screaming! "OH, I fell in the water!"

They had a blast.

BBB born 7/26/04 at 35 weeks

Hi Cat,

I am unsure as to whether or not you have HBO, but if you do, there are two fantstic kid's shows on there called "Crashbox" and "Magic Cellar."
They are educational and really fun for the kids.

How are you doing? I hope hanging in there.
Please drop a line when time allows. We still need to get-together!

7mozz

Oh, yeah. Love those too.

"Crashbox" and "Magic Cellar."

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

My three are almost 6 and LOVE Word Girl. Sometimes Cyberchase is too "scary" for one of them but even she is getting into it now. As for Sid the Science Kid, we have all found it a bit annoying. One of Sid's friends is definately behaviorly challeged (can't sit still). Sad since it's such a nice concept, but I can't get the kids to sit through it. They do get lots of science concepts from Curious George still thankfully.

They are also big Martha Speaks fans, though some of that might be a bit old for them (sarcastic talk and the like). It does do a good job introducing vocabulary and the like.

I suppose our days on Noggin are numbered too. My son referred to it as the baby network the other day. I will miss Maggie and the Ferocious beast as well as Pinky doo or whatever her name is.

Andi
g/b/g
born Aug. 2003

LOL Pinky dinky doo! she's cute. My girls are 9 1/2 and still watch Noggin. They like disney too but I've been censoring that one lately-too much boy/girl stuff and mean behavior in them. My 7 yr old still watches Yo gabba gabba - which I HATE! It's SO annoying! The Wiggles are always a good choice.

Korrie~
^i^B/G/G 24 w 3d,1/17/00
B 10/31/01
B 1/27/03

<a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="" alt="Lilypie Kids birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a>

My girls love to watch "Pet Star" on Animal Planet. Not really educational, but the girls like to see the animals perform tricks. First time I saw it I thought of David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks -- Gloria

My girls have recently started watching "Time Warp Trio" on Discovery Kids Channel. It's based on the popular children's book series by Jon Scieszka. I was watching it with them tonight, and it looks interesting and teaches history. -- Gloria