suggestions for a 7 year old

[KathinJapan]

Hi

We live in Japan, but my girls mainly watch TV in English. My 7 year old DD LOVES Arthur, we watch on youtube or download from iTunes. I am wondering what other good shows are out there. We had a link for The Magic School Bus, but it seemed to have been pulled. We can't watch the stuff at the PBS site as we don't live in the US. 

She enjoys watching some of the stuff we have for the younger DD (almost 4) such as Dora, Little Bill etc..

*I* don't like Hanna Montana or Suite Life etc.. I have not seen enough of iCarly to know if it is a good show or not. 

So what do your kiddos watch?

TIA<

Kathryn

[wagamama]

Hi, I live in Japan too. Three awesome cartoons for kids, that you can watch for free on youtube are: Caillou, Peep and Quack and Charlie and Lola. Caillou would be young for a 7-year-old, I guess, but it's a sweet Canadian cartoon about the everyday life of a 4-year-old. Peep and Quack is PBS -- funny and a bit educational. Charlie and Lola is a British cartoon -- it is so amusing. I love it more than the kids do. Start with "I will never not ever eat a tomato".

I see you are in Iwate-ken. Hope you are all OK up there.

[KathinJapan]

OK this may be a silly question but how do you find the links? I think we have one for Calliou, which my girls found at the side of another show. The original Arthur link came from blinkx. 

I also like Charlie and Lola. I don't know Peep and Quack.

We are OK... we live a few hours from the coast so still in a house and have power etc.. the gas shortage ended in April and supermarket shelves are mostly stocked now.  Thanks for asking.

[wagamama]

I just go to youtube, and then type in the name of the show. Then various choices pop up.

Glad to hear you are OK. I am in Kanagawa - OK too, but worried about possible effects of radiation on the kids. We have a big list of instructions from our yoichien, like "don't go outside on rainy days", "don't go out the day after a rainy day", "wear long sleeves and long pants", "don't drink milk, eat eggs, green leafy vegetables ... "  Sigh.

[KathinJapan]

Hi I tried to find Dora or Jungle Junction before but could not get entire episodes. I think that was my problem, I did find magic school bus today and both girls are happy. They are not huge Caillou fans. Will look for more PBS shows and maybe older ones as those don't seem to have been taken down.

Sorry to hear about things where you live. We are about equal distance from Fukushima, I think. People are not so worried here. Too busy worrying about the coast I guess. So far the radiation levels have not been high here. I have always tried to eat locally, and will continue to do so. 

[monkey's mom]

iCarly is very funny, imo. Worlds away from Hannah Montana and the other Disney junk. Very clever writing for a "kids' show."

Fetch with Ruff Ruffman is a huge fave around here. Kind of a game show/treasure hunt w/ real kid contestants hosted by an animated dog (Ruff). The kids go on adventures and do tasks that are always very interesting and educational.

What about Electric Company (newly revised and pretty cool--def. better than when we were kids) or Word Girl? Between the Lions is a nice story-telling/reading show.

Phineas and Ferb is also a very funny cartoon.

[KathinJapan]

Thanks I will look for those on youtube.  I am not a big fan of Phineas and Ferb somehow. Maybe it will grow on me.

Kathryn

[rhianna813]

Yup my 7 yo son likes Word Girl, Fetch! and also Dinosaur Train, which is a cartoon about a dinosaur family but has a live palentologist giving cool dinosaur facts during the show.

Rhianna