What videos do you like showing to your kids?

[marit]

I am desperately looking for new videos. My DD doesn't like the baby Mozart/Bach anymore and she didn't like signing times either (I thought it was too boring anyways...) We do have some videos in Hebrew which she loves, but I want to introduce her to English ones as well.

I heard there is something called "little people" but couldn't find it anywhere. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

[Rachels]

BABY SONGS! Abigail loves them. www.babysongs.com. We're also Sesame Street people.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[marit]

Thanks! It does look very nice. Which one do you have/recommend? Should I start with the original or go for another one?

[peasprout]

I think the little people videos come with the little people toys. DD isn't that interested in them though. She does like the Baby Einstein videos that are aged 1 and up like Dr. Doolittle Animals and the new Baby MacDonald. Oh, and she loves the Wiggles! Still too young for Blues Clues or Dora though. HTH!
JP

[Jeanmick]

Another vote for "Baby Songs!" My DD and DS especially love the "Baby's Busy Day" DVD.

Edited to add: We have all three of the DVDs and really enjoy them. Any of them would be great, but my kids really like the songs from the above mentioned one. The DVDs have more songs than the videos, I think. BTW...at our Costco last weekend, I saw a three-pack of the DVDs for 14.99. Unfortunately, there were only three packages left.

HTH!

[AngelaS]

Veggie Tales! :D There's something about armless/legless singing vegetables that my kids love! And they're 'Saturday morning fun with Sunday morning values' that I love! :D

[mamicka]

Another vote for Veggie Tales - I love them myself.

Allison

[Rachels]

All the DVDs are great!

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[momma_boo]

Mine really enjoys the Wiggles "Yummy Yummy." It's mostly singing, which she enjoys. There is one part with a lame magic scene, but I usually fast forward that.
I'd definitely recommend this as the first Wiggles video.

[Sarah1]

Audrey is totally into the Wiggles too. She loves to dance to the music, and the music's actually pretty good!

[HGraceMom]

Make that 3 for veggie tales - "Little Joe" "Jonah the movie" and "Silly Songs" are rotated as our 3 favorites in the afternoon (while I'm making dinner, etc.) Sesame Street has the exclusive 8-10am on in the background time slot at our house - the "Zoe's dance moves" is ok & "ABC's" with Little bear is great. Sleeping Beauty always puts DD to sleep when she's a little anxious about napping (really she never makes it past the previews.)
HTH - Renee

[nola]

We don't show our baby videos or TV. After reading The Plug in Drug, we decided to skip it.

Edit to add: I am sorry. I shouldn't have brought this up here. Excuse me for being such a jerk.

[marit]

Don't apologize. My husband also doesn't like the idea that much, but as the one that only gets to spend 2 hours with her every evening, he doesn't feel he has the right to tell the one that spends 24 hours with her what to do.

I personally don't think it’s the best quality time for her, but I also don't think it's going to grind her brain. I try to take such books and advice with a grain of salt.

[sweetbasil]

Four cheers for VeggieTales...you can buy the DVDs on overstock.com for usually $9.99 each- and we got the new Easter Carol DVD at Sam's Club for $8.84. Woo-hoo!

The Ballad of Little Joe is probably my personal fave- halfway through each VeggieTale, there's a silly song with Larry (to break up storytime for little ones' short attention spans), and the one in Little Joe is called "The Bellybutton Song," by their veggie group, Boyz In the Sink. They're all dressed up (the veggies, that is) like Backstreet Boys and are hysterical! That song, along with Mr. Nezzar's "The Bunny" in Rack, Shack, and Benny (a varied story about Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego) is a hoot.

And for drive time, we have the Veggie Tales Greatest Hits CD- a collection of songs from their first 10 years. It's one of the most bearable kids CDs we have in the car!

[jamsmu]

Marit, I don't have any to recommend, I'm in the same boat as you are. But I wanted to let you know that Veggie Tales are Christian videos. I'm guessing that since you are showing Hebrew ones, you probably wouldn't be interested. Our music teacher (public school) made the mistake last year of showing them to my class... we had the Rabbi's son! Whoops!

[marit]

Gee thanks! I guess I'll take it back to Costco... (BTW, I wouldn't show her Jewish videos either, I just don't feel like pumping religion into her just yet)

[egoldber]

I have seen Veggie Tales at others houses and while I think they are cute, they are too Christian for us. They didn't do much for DD either.

But have you tried just taping some shows off the channels you may already have? PBS, Nick and Nick Jr, Disney Channel and Noggin have lots of shows for young kids. Some of these are more for older kids (like Blues Clues, Dora, Syanley, Clifford...) but you never know.

Some that DD likes are:

PBS:
Sesame Street
Barney
Teletubbies
Boohbah (weird, but she does like it)
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Jay Jay the Jetplane

Disney Channel:
The Wiggles (practically universal favorites)
JoJo's Circus
Stanley
Bear in the Big Blue House

Nick/Nick Jr.:
Blues Clues
Dora the Explorer

Noggin:
Maisy
Oswald
Miffy and Friends
Connie the Cow

HTH,

[mamicka]

There are some that are religion-free. The Silly-Songs video comes to mind.

ETA: It's the Ultimate Silly Song Countdown

Allison

[StaceyKim]

He doesn't watch videos often but I love the Brainy Baby videos. I have Right Brain and Left Brain and I think they are pretty educational!

[kthomp]

Ally (almost 9 months) loves the Baby Einstien videos geared towards the older babies. Her favorites are Galileo, Shakespere, Newton, and McDonald. My favorite of these is Baby McDonald; you just can't beat the adorable square dancing puppets!

She also has two Veggie Tales videos which she likes a lot. They are good for kids and I think there fun for older people to watch, too. I understand people's concerns about religon- I just think they are fun with cute stories and I kind of ignore the religous parts. Although you could never do wrong with a few good lessons, religous or not!

[amyff]

Ava isn't into videos much but her best buddy LOVES all of the Sesame Street Kid's Favorite Songs (volume 1 and 2) with Elmo. She seems to like the puppets over animation. She also loves the ABC video as well! She is a couple months older than Maya but they may still do the trick!

[MartiesMom2B]

I'm glad that we are not the only ones who fast forward through Greg's magic scenes. Our Wiggles library has grown to include: Wiggle Time (OK), Toot (average), and Cold Spaghetti, which I haven't opened and am hoping to find a place that I can exchange for Wiggle Bay.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[jamsmu]

I didn't even know there are Jewish videos! I don't have any interest in pushing religion. DH and I are different religions and we're raising DS to be open to both, though because of my background, he'll probably have a little more Jewish culture.