TV programs/cartoons for 2 year old

[Anonymous]

My DS (2.5 years old) watches either Noggin or Playhouse Disney. When he was a little younger, he went through a Dora/Diego phase and and Little Einsteins phase. He also loves a couple of the Disney movies - mostly Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and Cars. These seem a little old for him, but he will watch 15-20 minutes and be entertained.

What we did to avoid cartoons (Noggin doesn't have any, but I agree with some of the other PPs, some of the Noggin shows are irritating - Little Bear, Max and Ruby - doesn't Ruby remind you of the most annoying girl in your class from junior high - you know, the one who always kissed up to the teacher?) - we bought episodes of the Disney shows that we like on iTunes - Handy Mandy, LE, etc. - and bought an Apple TV and have it hooked up so that we can watch DS's favorite shows whenever we want and without commercials.

[Anonymous]

Oops - I meant, avoid COMMERCIALS...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Noggin and sprout do not show commericals. Disney is noe commerial after another, like watching Oprah.

Sprout definitely has commercials. When it first started a couple of years ago, it didn't, but now it does. A lot of them are geared toward parents though, rather than kids. Speaking of commercials, has anyone seen the one for the Pancake Puffs that I think is on Noggin or Nick Jr.? Talk about good marketing - my son totally wants to get it and talks about having pancake puffs all the time!

[Anonymous]

We buy the DVD's of the shows. The boys love Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Blue's Clue's. They really don't watch much TV but it can be a great distraction if I need one.

[Anonymous]

I have to say from watching Diego my 2.75 year old son has learned some unique vocabulary. I don't think "pygmy marmoset" and "tapir" are in most almost 3 year olds vocabulary! We have also both learned some Spanish!

[Anonymous]

My 2 kids (4.5 and 2.5) love Little Einsteins, Thomas the tank engine, Bob the Builder and Dora and Diego. We record (DVR) and then fast forward through commercials, if there are any. We also get these videos from Netflix or the local library.

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old loves Little Einsteins, as do I. We recently discovered that we can download individual episodes from itunes for 1.99 each. Hurrah!

[Anonymous]

DD loved Backyardigans, Sesame Street, or Dora. She now watches Blues Clues occasionally. Sesame Street is good for counting, ABCs, sharing, and language. Backyardigans was great for imagination, she would play out for a week or more stories about whatever they were doing. Dora just seemed to be entertaining.

We TiVo or buy the DVDs to skip ads. I have to agree with one of the PP that Thomas is creepy, something about the accents/voices and language choice. We've never allowed teletubbies just because they also rank high on the creepy factor.

[Anonymous]

if you have comcast on demand, we use the 'kids' menu. you can get select sprout shows, nickelodeon, discover, noggin on there. To the best of my knowledge, the shows start/end with some commericials (often for other programming), but there is nothing during the actual show. my son also loves Baby Boost/Baby Genius - the nursery ryhmes (typically 12 minute segments). Maybe this is how everyone watches these shows, but I thought i would mention it. It helps b/c you can always get the show you are looking for, regardless of what is playing 'live'

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old and 19 month old LOVE Super Why- I think it's WETA (we TIVO it.) I am a reading specialist and really picky about shows.

The only other show my kids watch is Sesame Street.

[Anonymous]

We have DVR and tape a few shows for DS to watch -- he watches about 30 min total per weekend day (none on weekdays)

Shows he likes:

Sesame Street
Thomas (annoying in that it's in 5 min increments with 5 min of commercials between each one)
Bob the Builder a bit
Dora

That's about it. He will whine for it sometimes but we don't cave. He also has some Wiggles DVDs but we only use those on car rides.

Wiggles are on Disney, all the rest are on Sprout I think.

[Anonymous]

My just-turned two year old loves the Wiggles. She sings and dances to their songs. They are on Disney. The rest of the Disney shows are crap.

Sesame Street is very good too.

[Anonymous]

PP, there are Thomas episodes on regular PBS that don't have the commercials. I think it is Channel 42. The episodes are also newer and different from the ones on Sprout. We do have Directv if that makes a difference.