Shows for 5year old

[mainemommy1]

We do not watch much tv but while I take a shower each day I do allow a 30min program. My DS enjoys Curious George, Clifford, Bob the Builder, Cat in the Hat and sometimes Martha-all on PBS. But he lately wants to watch episodes he has never seen before and there are always repeats making this tough. I just wasn't sure if there is some other program appropriate for a 5year old. We tend to just do PBS but I'm willing to venture onto other channels too-I just don't know what is out there. I don't want anything scary. Any ideas or suggestions?

[eepster]

DS is 4 3/4 yo.  DS is extremely sensitive and won't tolerate any thing at all scary.

We don't have cable or an antenna, so DS can't just watch TV.  Instead, he watches videos.  DS finds many of his videos online.  Most of the websites for shows have a few episodes that are changed every few days.  Since they are online and can be watched over and over, you can preview them yourself for appropriateness.  nickjr.com and pbskids.org both have nice easy to navigate sites with plenty of appropriate stuff.  DS also sometimes watches some shows on disney.com, but that website is much more confusing. 

Also, there are some old TV shows on hulu.com.

Some of DS's favorite shows are:

Dinosaur Train (PBS)

Blues Clues (Nick Jr)

Sid the Science Kid (PBS)

Imagination Movers (Disney)

Max and Ruby (NickJr)

Mickey's Clubhouse (Disney)

The Fresh Beat Band (Nick Jr)

Ni hao Kia Lan (Nick Jr)

The Partridge Family (hulu.com)

DS is also very fond of Curious George, but you've already got that listed and they don't have full episodes online (just clips.)

[LynnS6]

My younger child is 6 and she enjoys:

PBS

Clifford

Arthur

Martha Speaks

Word Girl

Fetch with Ruff Ruffman!

Wordgirl

Berenstain Bears

She's enjoyed Curious George, but seems to have outgrown that recently. She's watched Sid the Science Kid. I hate it because Sid yells.

I like Between the Lions

Nick Jr.

Franklin

Little Bear

Backyardigans (she wasn't all that thrilled with it)

[velochic]

Dd is almost 9 and although we have all of the cartoon channels through satellite, she is only allowed PBS (the rest are blocked, but she isn't even aware that we have them).  We absolutely will not do Nick or Disney, etc.  We do not feed into the media machine and don't allow character anything in the house, though, so that is why it's PBS only.  PBS has enough advertising for being "public".  That being said, our particular public TV stations (we have 3) show a great variety that dd likes:

Still likes Curious George (has not yet "grown out" of it)

Fetch with Ruff Ruffman

Martha Speaks

Peep and the Big Wide World (a favorite for its tongue-in-cheek humor - very witty)

Dinosaur Train

Super Why

Word Girl

Word World

We DVR a few of these each week and she can watch them on the weekends.  No TV during the week.

I have to say that she has learned a few very interesting science facts watching Fetch.  I think that's probably the best program on PBS.  Sometimes I'll stop what I'm doing and sit down with her to watch it.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by velochic 

  We absolutely will not do Nick or Disney, etc.  We do not feed into the media machine and don't allow character anything in the house, though, so that is why it's PBS only.  PBS has enough advertising for being "public".  

Nick Jr, is actually completely advertising free.  It doesn't have the sponsors at the beginning of each show.  There is certainly a lot of character stuff from PBS shows.  I see Artur on juice, Elmo everywhere, and DS certainly yells "look mom it's Curious George" often enough.  Most of what is on Nick Jr is also gentler than what's on PBS.  I would say, Max & Rudy is the gentlest show on TV.

[mama*pisces]

If he likes dinosaurs, there is a cool new-ish show on Nick. Jr called Dino Dan. It's not a cartoon, but the description suggests that it's ok for ages 5 and up, DS is 4 and a half and he really enjoys it.

It's about a school-age kid(probably 8 or so?) that sees dinosaurs and tries to take care of them. I'm not sure if anyone else can see them, I think his mom might be able to feel their presence, but she is still skeptical when Dan talks about them. It's pretty neat, and he can learn more about dinosaurs.

[hopefulfaith]

My ds is 5, and we only do PBS on TV, as well, although we have recently introduced Friday Night Family Movie night --- and fwiw, SuperWhy is his favorite show on PBS.

[newbymom05]

We're in the same boat. I tend to stay w/ PBS, but you should check out the offerings on NickJr. Like another person posted, it's commercial free. My 5.5 y/o really likes the Backyardigans.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

If you have Netflix you can stream a lot of really great stuff, many of the shows mentioned above, and then you can decide what you'd be interested in watching.  We don't have cable or channels so we only watch dvd's and such.

Pingo

Little Bear

Signing Time

Eric Carle videos

Maurice Sendak videos

[3xMama]

We don't have cable either and for whatever reason we don't get PBS on our antennea-which bugs me to no end!! I'm not a huge TV person, but I LOVE documentaries and NOVA is fabulous, plus the kids programming is some of the best out there. (rant over :P)

We rent a lot of movies from the library and here are a few of DD's favs (she's 4.5)

Jakers

Its a Big Big World

Charlie and Lola (I really like this one, it is a great example of a fabulous sibling relationship)

Word World

Dinosaur Train

I'd highly recommend checking out your library for kids shows on DVD.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by velochic 
I have to say that she has learned a few very interesting science facts watching Fetch.  I think that's probably the best program on PBS.  Sometimes I'll stop what I'm doing and sit down with her to watch it.

I agree. I love Fetch! I'm so sad that this season is the last season. They canceled it due to lack of funding.

[trini]

Wanted to 2nd Peep and The Big Wide World.  We LOVE that show.  Used to be on DiscoveryKids but we don't have that channel anymore. Saw it advertised on PBS now, so I'm not sure what the deal is.  You can watch videos of it online, though.

Also love Fetch with Ruff Ruffman.  DS (age 5) learned about concussions today and the science behind bicycle helmets.  I'm so sad to read that it is the last season. We just discovered it recently.

Sid the Science Kid is awesome.  He started watching it at age 3 and learned so much. 

World World is great, too.

I like all of the above shows way better than Clifford or Martha Speaks.

Oh, and Sesame Street is still awesome.

[Miss Chris]

My daughter also loves dinosaur train and all the good PBS stuff, but she LOVES a show called Zoboomafoo.  It was canceled a few years back but you can still get it online.  It's a live action show featuring two brothers and their Lemur, Zoboo.  It's very educational and fun, all about animals and nature and DD is practically obsessed with it.  The two brothers made another show called Kratt's Creatures which she also enjoys but Zoboomafoo is her favorite.  I think you can actually watch it on the PBS website and they have a lot of episodes so you can see something new.

[trini]

Originally Posted by Miss Chris 

My daughter also loves dinosaur train and all the good PBS stuff, but she LOVES a show called Zoboomafoo.  It was canceled a few years back but you can still get it online.  It's a live action show featuring two brothers and their Lemur, Zoboo.  It's very educational and fun, all about animals and nature and DD is practically obsessed with it.  The two brothers made another show called Kratt's Creatures which she also enjoys but Zoboomafoo is her favorite.  I think you can actually watch it on the PBS website and they have a lot of episodes so you can see something new.

Actually, my ds still watches Zoboomafoo on PBS every day.  In our market it comes on at 1:30, I think.  It must be reruns he is watching, but they are still broadcasting it.  I agree that it is a very good show.

[Miss Chris]

Zoboomafoo on TV!  I wish we had that here.  We only get to see it when we go to grandma's house because they show it on Demand, or when we look it up online.  I thought it had gone off the air entirely but you give me hope that maybe we'll see it here someday.  I should suggest it our local PBS station.

[Cujobunny]

My 5 yo ds likes all those plus Caillou, Go Diego Go, Mighty Machines and his FAVOURITE is Things That Move- it's on the National Geographic Channel so it has commercials but he LOVES it- each time he watches it he talks to me for about 20 minutes about, well, how the things move LOL. Usually he sticks to the littler kid shows though because 3yo dd is watching with him. She is not such a fan of Things That Move.