Let’s be real, parents. Kids’ TV is extremely annoying. Even some shows that I see as valuable educationally and promote certain life and language skills are just AGONIZING to watch as an adult… There are a lot of great MOVIES for family and kids. I mean, Pixar and Disney have that pretty much covered. But it’s difficult to find shows for when you are allowing your kid to watch TV that is not super annoying for you. It is also pretty difficult to find shows that don’t encourage whiny, bratty behavior (uh, Peppa Pig and Caillou, anyone?) That’s why I get so happy when I find a kids’ show that is not only teaching my kids but is also entertaining for me.
In a previous post, I mentioned that we do not have a TV service at our house. We save a lot of money just paying for internet and streaming movies and shows. Netflix is the bomb-diggity. I am pretty sure most people know this by now. We have had Netflix since we got married and it has served us pretty well.
Here is a list of shows that you can watch WITH your kids without wanting to scream.
StoryBots
This is a Netflix original that I actually genuinely like. Created by two brothers who agreed that there needed to be more fun shows that parents can enjoy with their kids, the songs are funny and entertaining. There are actually two series “Ask the Storybots” and “Storybots Super Songs.” I personally like the Super Songs series. I will openly admit that I know all the words to the songs. They are so cute, funny, and clever. I think they are hilarious. They also came up with a Christmas special last year that is pretty cute but not as great as the series.
The shows feature kids which is always fun. They often take an explanation of a situation from a child and animate it, creating very entertaining clips.
It turns out there is also an extremely fun website made by the same creators! It’s completely FREE for teachers to create a classroom account but you can access most of the content without an account. There are no ads and so many fun features. My son loves to add his face to the songs from the show!
If I Were an Animal
Narrated by children, this is a show where you just watch animals. Usually baby animals. Maybe not for you, but I enjoy watching baby animals (I mean, who doesn’t like seeing baby animals?) and the narration is not annoying or over the top. The kids describe what the animals are learning and how they are growing.
I like this because it exposes my kid to different animals. Living in the city, I feel like the farm scenes and forest animal segments are great for my kids to see.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories
I included this because it is only 31 minutes long so it’s like watching a single episode of a show. This is an animated read-aloud of the Eric Carle stories. It’s very calming and has the beautiful artwork of the well-known books. No annoying characters like the cheesy kids’ shows bombarding Netflix and TV… It also is a little nostalgic for anyone who grew up reading these books.
The Magic Schoolbus and The Magic Schoolbus Rides Again.
This one is actually two, I guess.
Okay, I’ll admit, Magic Schoolbus can get a LITTLE annoying. Maybe it’s because I grew up with it, but I still really LOVE it. Ms. Frizzle is who every teacher wishes she could be. Kids learn a lot about the world in a fun way with this show. Much of it is inaccurate, of course, for the sake of entertainment, but is actually addressed at the end. They always have the little clip at the end where the “producer” answers calls and discusses the parts that they couldn’t really demonstrate due to time constraints or other reasons.
I was worried that I would hate the reboot that just recently came out by Netflix, but it’s kind of cool how they have updated the characters and technology a bit. Although all the students are the same people but updated and living in the present… Are they vampires?… How are they still in school. How do they always get to be in the same class with the same classmates?… A bit weird…
The new Ms. Frizzle is actually the old Ms. Frizzle’s teacher. Our Ms. Frizzle is off vacationing and having a relaxing retirement.
What are your faves?
We mostly watch movies if we watch Netflix because, as said before, there are a lot of really great family movies out there. But sometimes we want to just have a little bit of TV time for that day. Rather than making our kid watch 30 minutes of a movie and have to turn it off before it’s over, we will watch an episode of a show.
These are the shows that I have found I can actually enjoy with him. And on those days where we just let the episodes play (I’ll admit we have those days…), they aren’t as annoying to watch one after another as some others.
Are there any great Netflix finds that I need to know about to add to our options? Let us all know!
