"Planet Earth" type videos for 3 year old?

[basilico]

Has anyone watched the Planet Earth series with young children?  DD turned 3 the end of December and has taken an interest in animals through magazines and books. Are there other series that are good for her age?  We try to limit TV but I figure something like this once in a while would be so much better than anything else on TV nowadays. Thanks!

[SweetSilver]

Have you watched the series with her, or just interested in it?  My girls would have liked something like this, and still would.  

Right now, we have the 3-part series "Madagascar" back in the house.  Narrated by Richard Attenborough.  Simply gorgeous-- one of the best nature shows I've seen.  We didn't get it until last year (they are now 6 and 8) but I'm sure they would have loved it when they were younger.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

We watch all the David Attenborough documentaries with ds. He's 5.5 now and we've been watching them since he was 4 or maybe younger. I can't recall whether or not we watched them at 3 as we didnt watch that much with him then.

He also gets the Ranger Rick Jr. magazine. And has been getting it for several years. He really likes it.

[Cassidy68]

My son used to like the EyeWitness videos at that age; lots of nature topics (Pond, Ocean, Arctic, Butterflies, Cat etc). Your library might have them. 

[basilico]

Thank you for all the suggestions!  We have not watched the Planet Earth series with her yet.  I was typing my original post a bit too fast and meant for it to ask if it is age appropriate haha.  Oops. I think we might just go ahead and watch it with her in segments, and just explain what is happening.  We don't want to shelter her from nature but don't want to scare her away from it either.  We will definitely look into the other ones that have been suggested as well! 

[SweetSilver]

My only complaint about Planet Earth and some recent BBC nature films, is their overuse of slow-motion.  This would never have bugged me so much--just look at the detail!-- but 3yo have no notion of slow motion and I feel some obligation to explain what was slow and full speed.  Then to use it so much-- even I find it annoying for myself.  I also find computer simulations to be problematic, too, for the same reason.  The History Channel is particularly bad with this, and they don't say "simulation", nor do they explain when video footage is taken from another similar event, like one on an otherwise good documentary on Mt. St. Helens, they showed film footage that was obviously a similar eruption in the Caribbean, but none of it was noted.  I found that annoying.

Another series I liked, that my girls have liked for years, was Triumph of Life, with 6 episodes.  

[basilico]

That's a really good point!  I wouldn't have thought of that.  Although, when looking at dinosaur books for DD, I did pass on one that showed dinosaurs in a city (comparing the size and amount of space they would take up) because I didn't want her to put the two together thinking dinosaurs live in cities. 

[mamaprovides]

Frozen planet might be a good tv show...the Alec Baldwin narration is funnier somehow...

You may want to also consider shows like...animal kingdom? I only know it in Spanish (which is Rieno Animal). This takes an aspect of animals and highlights them for half an hour (hooves, fur, swimming mammals, dogs, etc) using real animals in their habitat or zoos. It also has commercial break quizzes and is silly and informative.

And my son really loved the series walking with dinosaurs & walking with beasts (you can get them for free on YouTube). They are kinda gory...so you may want to avoid it.

[SweetSilver]

Do you mean "Animal Atlas"?  Those are fun.  Not "PLanet Earth"-type, but fun.

[basilico]

Lots of great ideas here!  Thank you so much!  I can't wait to see which ones our library has this week. 

[Breezy88]

We got the old VHS series " Zoo life with Jack Hanna" and it's great.

Not animals eating each other with blood everywhere.

We love it.

Maybe you could find it online.

[Breezy88]

Woops...didn't mean to double post...sorry

[SweetSilver]

Two narrated by David Attenborough we have loved:

Madagascar

Life in Cold Blood

[esg]

I'm going to write down some of these suggestions. I watch planet earth with my two year old and he enjoys it. They're pretty tame though we did have a discussion about what crocs eat and why. Good stuff though.