What Children's Tv Programmes Are Currenlty Popular In The West?

[chanchao]

I'm looking to buy/download some children's programmes for very young children, but as I've been in Thailand way too long I have no idea what's currently popular in the West. (UK or USA or AUS, country/accent doesn't matter as long as it's a flavour of English)

I downloaded 3 hours of Teletubbies already, which have had an almost instant impact on my 1 year 5 month old's vocabulary.

So, anything else that's widely available / popular / suitable for young kids? I can either download / buy online, or have people buy & send to me, etc.

[Chan_inbangkok]

That would be Balamory [ very good one even I enjoyed it ],Fimbles,tweenies etc. For fimbles you can get them cheaply anyway in bkk.

[Chan_inbangkok]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/

There are songs and video you can download

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

In case you're wondering, Po speaks Cantonese

Yap yee sap.

[MsFigure]

* Baby Einstein is the most educational I've found (downloadable from torrents) and probably the best for education.

* Another favourite is Dora the Explorer and her cousin Go, Diego Go! My daughter knows all her animals and as well as learning some words in Spanish (good for us as it is similar to Portuguese which we hope to have her learn in the future). Even surprised her aunty who works at one of Australias zoos with her knowledge of animals.

* Some really good australian shows are New MacDonalds Farm and Play School (which I grew up watching). My daughter has learnt so much from them. Hi-5 is also good and Wiggles are popular but is banned in our house by the hubby. He doesn't think it normal for 5 grown men to act the way they do, but I did get her a copy of Wiggles Safari which they fimed at Australia Zoo with Steve Irwin (a while before his death) which I play when he's not around . If it wasn't for all the animals and wildlife in it, I wouldn't let her watch them either as I also find them annoying (nearly as bad as Barney). They must be doing something right though as they are one of Australias biggest exports (think they were Number 1 last year)

If you know people who travel to australia or the UK, ask them to bring back DVDs for you as they are really worth it. If you have UBC, Dora, New Macs Farm and sometimes Diego is shown on SPARK, which you could record for your kids. Plenty of Wiggles, Barney & Fimbles on can be downloaded from torrent sites.

Di

[expatgaz]

My Boy is into Thomas Tank Engine & Kipper the Dog.After this Tweenies,wiggles.Agree with the above comment though,5 grown men acting this way is strange.

[samran]

Toot! Toot! chugga chugga big red car....travel near and we travel far.....

The Wiggles are pretty good.

Four grown men (with child education degrees) colourfully dressed making a healthy buck. Our little one is enthralled the second the ABC Australia logo comes on at the start of the DVD.

[oldoldgit!!]

Chanchao,

Top right hand search box of Cbeebies, type ''night garden'', that is the latest here, another one I type in is ''aeroplane'' and daughter plays that game. (its the come outside game)

Edited April 17, 2007 by oldoldgit!!

[Totster]

You can't beat The Flumps !

totster

[britmaveric]

Oobie - show where the characters are all hands.

Noddy

Wiggles - never seen them, but niece watches them.

Bratz - never seen it, niece loves them.

[MsFigure]

Toot! Toot! chugga chugga big red car....travel near and we travel far.....

The Wiggles are pretty good.

Four grown men (with child education degrees) colourfully dressed making a healthy buck. Our little one is enthralled the second the ABC Australia logo comes on at the start of the DVD.

Your little one isn't the only one who loves the ABC on the DVD intro. I always get told off whenever I go to fast forward that part. How about them Hooley Dooleys in the ABC intro? Another case of grown men gone wild. I'm still sure that some of these type of shows send out some type of subliminal message or use some language that only children can understand. I've witnessed a group of children (my cousins children and my daughter) instantly go quiet and sitting dead still while the show is on. After the first and second viewing, they know all the words and dance movements and join along with their idols during subsequent viewing. To be honest, freaks me out a bit

Because the children pick up more than we can see watching these shows, I make sure to let her only watch the ones that actually educate. If it doesn't teach her anything, she doesn't watch it. You'de be surprised how some of the children cartoons are really not suitable viewing for young ones and are way too violent for their young minds. Not until you are a parent do you see the other side of Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner.

Di

[November Rain]

* Baby Einstein is the most educational I've found (downloadable from torrents) and probably the best for education.

* Another favourite is Dora the Explorer and her cousin Go, Diego Go! My daughter knows all her animals and as well as learning some words in Spanish (good for us as it is similar to Portuguese which we hope to have her learn in the future). Even surprised her aunty who works at one of Australias zoos with her knowledge of animals.

* Some really good australian shows are New MacDonalds Farm and Play School (which I grew up watching). My daughter has learnt so much from them. Hi-5 is also good and Wiggles are popular but is banned in our house by the hubby. He doesn't think it normal for 5 grown men to act the way they do, but I did get her a copy of Wiggles Safari which they fimed at Australia Zoo with Steve Irwin (a while before his death) which I play when he's not around . If it wasn't for all the animals and wildlife in it, I wouldn't let her watch them either as I also find them annoying (nearly as bad as Barney). They must be doing something right though as they are one of Australias biggest exports (think they were Number 1 last year)

If you know people who travel to australia or the UK, ask them to bring back DVDs for you as they are really worth it. If you have UBC, Dora, New Macs Farm and sometimes Diego is shown on SPARK, which you could record for your kids. Plenty of Wiggles, Barney & Fimbles on can be downloaded from torrent sites.

Di

Agree with most of these. Little boy watches Dora & New MacDonald's Farm on UBC Spark & enjoys both. He also likes Blues Clues & Barney (he loves Barney (!) & has started talking to me about road safety & other things he's seen on there) British programmes I think are good are Bob the Builder, Tweenies, Fimbles, Little Red Tractor, Postman Pat etc. Personally I hate Teletubbies, and I don't think little boy has ever seen it. You can get VCDs or DVDs of Bob etc quite cheaply in BKK. Most of these are also on Spark periodically, although I think Barney, Blues Clues, New MacDonald's Farm & Dora the Explorer are the only ones on currently.

[ozymandious]

IN B2S book store (or what ever the name of the book store in Central is) sells Sesame Street VCD's. They're filled with counting, letters and songs and my baby girl is a big fan of Big Bird. Be on the look out for them...

I think Bob the Builder is also a big hit with the kids.

[MsFigure]

How could I forget Blues Clues (i only have nightmares about it nearly everynight)? My daughter loves & watches this everyday too. Angel even has a preference for watching Joe over Steve, and gets upset if I get them confused.

Di

[britmaveric]

Clifford the Big Red Dog

[leisurely]

Thankfully we are out the other side of this, the hours I have spent watching Barney, Angelina, Bob (the biddle) the wiggles, Fimbles......................Personally I can't think of anything educational about the Bratz brand. They are banned from our house, make up, foul bar girl clothing and vacuous. Those aren't role models for my girls - unless it's me doing those things!

[lost_in_space]

That would be Balamory [ very good one even I enjoyed it ],Fimbles,tweenies etc. For fimbles you can get them cheaply anyway in bkk.

I haven't seen Fimbles in Bangkok, and I've been looking. Where did you find them?

[keddy]

That would be Balamory [ very good one even I enjoyed it ],Fimbles,tweenies etc. For fimbles you can get them cheaply anyway in bkk.

I haven't seen Fimbles in Bangkok, and I've been looking. Where did you find them?

My two year old daughter loves 'Fimbles', 'Teletubbies' and old 'Banana splits' clips. 'Barney the bi-polar-dinosaur' is also popular. She also like this japanese thing called peek-a-boo. It's in a different language but it has very good art features, a great central character; a huge dog who conducts things and some beautiful little kids who are just over a year or so old. Good songs as well. We watch all these on Spark, UBC. BBC have a good pre-school site on the internet as well.

[fxm88]

I'm looking to buy/download some children's programmes for very young children...

FYI, the American Academy of Pediatrics urges "parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years." If you buy into that kind of thing. More at http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/c...trics;104/2/341

[chanchao]

What a dubious/ambivalent statement on that site... People who write such texts should be discouraged from picking up a pen / keyboard at all:

Pediatricians should urge parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years. Although certain television programs may be promoted to this age group, research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with parents and other significant care givers (eg, child care providers) for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Therefore, exposing such young children to television programs should be discouraged.

Of course there's a difference between 'television viewing' and selecting a targetted, suitable DVD intended for young kids. This could be a DVD just depicting various animals, shapes or other things that might be appropriate for young kids. Needless to say doing this in no way deprives kids from "the critical need for direction interactions with parents" (duh)

Still, thanks for posting, it's a very relevant opinion.

[Chan_inbangkok]

We got our Fimbles from The Mall Bangkae. We paid 39-49 Baht each. My little girl has got 5-6 of them. I suppose you could get them from a dvd store in any mall.

[sylvafern]

Your little one isn't the only one who loves the ABC on the DVD intro. I always get told off whenever I go to fast forward that part. How about them Hooley Dooleys in the ABC intro? Another case of grown men gone wild.

Same in my house ... and the elmo tap dancing bit .... he gets up and dances along for the 2 seconds it lasts.

Hooley Dooleys is good but only the older ones when there were 3 grown men rather than 2! My son liked Hi-5 the best ond only watched that for ages but has now broadened his interests ... everything else already mentioned I think ... was Thomas the tank engine mentioned? They're easy to get here at Central. At the Mall (and I guess Central) they also have new DVDs with a mix on things on them ... e.g. Barney, Bob the Builder, Thomas, Pingu and Kipper. "Love to Sing" DVDs from New Zealand are good but doubt they're available anywhere else (maybe online).

I think too much TV is harmful, especially if it is replacing the interaction with humans, but if they are getting that, then it's not so bad. Besides, I am usually sitting with him when he watches a DVD and we talk about what is happening. I actually find it amazing what he does learn and remember of some of these shows. Yesterday he was singing nursery rhymes which I definitely did not teach him and I asked him where he learnt them and he said "Play School" (another Aussie show).

PS - Some people mentioned downloading for free .... can someone please tell me how to do that .... not sure if you're allowed to post info like that, so if you can't please PM me. Can it be played on normal DVD players/TVs? I have been given a few downloaded things but can only be played on computers. .... thanx!

Edited April 19, 2007 by sylvafern

[leemond]

Laurel and Hardy with my 3 year old son.....priceless!

[Jacqqq]

"Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Big Blue House ......."

Bear In The Big Blue House !!!!!!!!!!!

And also, don't forget a 'healthy' dose of old classics like Disney's Jungle Book, et al.

Actually, we have tons of CBeeBies VHS tapes and vcds which our little man has outgrown. Anyone interested in them in BKK ???

[CarlBkk]

My son loves Blues Clues on Spark, and that's about the only one. In the UK he's fascinated by the Wiggles (I'm scared by them), Thomas the Tank (mainly for the music), Pingu and this one other on each morning....it's Italian animation of two plasticine cats called "meaw and maow" or something. If anyone knows where to download that I'll be very impressed!!