I am looking for recommendations for movies and/or t.v. series on DVD for my 2 boys, 2 1/2 and 4 years old. My 4yo seems more sensitive to suspense, for instance he was severely affected by Elmo in Grouchland recently. We had to stop mid movie because the mean monster was scaring him and he was crying about it for quite a long time after. He loves Blues Clues and Little Einsteins, and sometimes Barney. I am looking for specific DVD's I can buy. And especially some movie suggestions. Thanks, mamas!
Thanks, everyone! There are some great suggestions I will definitely be looking out for now. We don't have a t.v., but i put dvd's on my laptop for them to watch, and they've gotten tired of watching the same ones over and over! They will be excited for some new characters, too!
My 5 year old loves The Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies, Dora, Diego, Wonder Pets, Super Why, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That
The movies he likes are Cars. Toy Story (all 3), Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Meet the Robinsons (very cute and very touching), Tangled
My 2 1/2 year old will pretty much watch anything his big brother watches, but he really loves Dora and The Wiggles
My daughter was absolutely OBSESSED with "Lady and the Tramp." She watched it over and over, every day.
My kids love PBS & PBS Sprout: Super Why, Dinosaur Train, The Wiggles, The Berenstein Bears.
I think they're all available on DVD, but I know The Wiggles and The Berenstein Bears are.
Do you get the Sprout Channel or Nick Jr? My son likes their programing. He loves Thomas and Friends, Caillou, Dora, Diego, Team Oomizoomi, ect. The shows on PBS are great too like Super Why, Cat in the Hat, Sid the Science Kids, and Curious George. None of them are scary and my son loves them (he is 3). Plus they don't have those obnoxious attitudes that the tween shows seem to have.
Be sure to check, out websites for Disney Jr., Nick Jr., & Sprout. They have info on all their current kid shows, with full episodes you can watch online. You can decide from there where you want to spend your money on DVD's. My girls love Disney movies like Cars, Nemo, Little Mermaid, so many others that they watch over & over. Elmo in Grouchland was also too scary for my girls when they were younger, but are ok with it now, though not a regular favorite.
Also, check with local libraries in your area. Most libraries have a collection of videos on VHS & DVD to borrow for free. This can give you a wide variety of things to watch as often as you want to borrow it, without spending any money. If you find something your kids really like, then you can buy it from a store, or online.
My son likes:
Busytown (Richard Scarry)
There are 2 series:
The Busy World of Richard Scarry http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179558/
and
Busytown Mysteries (available on Roku)
The episodes are short and there are 2 mysteries to each show.
He also likes Dinosaur Train - fun and not scary
We also sometimes watch
Fraggle Rock
YoGaBa GaBa
the Backyardigans
tv shows my 4 boys like: backyardigans, thomas the tank engine, bob the builder, chugginton, jake and the neverland pirates
we don't do many movies but they like cars (just showed this to my 2 yo and he loved it) peter pan and finding nemo.
Have they ever seen the Little Bear series??
My daughter loved little pony and some Disney. She could;t watch pocohantes(sp) until she was older it scared her big time. For a boy I'd say Bernstein Bears, Little Einsteins, Franklyn and Little Bear. Even some old Wiggles music ones
I have a 5 year old boy and a 2.5 year old girl. Some of the favorites in our house are Backyardigans, Dora and Diego, and Wonder Pets. Wonder Pets, Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder are all very toddler friendly and not at all scary. Backyardigans is very imaginative and funny so it's more tolerable to adults. We have also watched Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Show and older Sesame Street episodes on DVD. I believe there is a web site that reviews all movies, even those rated G, in a lot of detail (practically scene by scene). Cars is great and fine even for a 2 year old. My kids liked Nemo also. Some other Disney is better for 5 and up. I'd put Tangled and Bambi (that starts with a forest fire and the mommy deer dying) and maybe some others in that catagory.
Tangled has a super scary scene so I would stay away from that. My 2 year old is literally OBSESSED with Cars right now -- the first thing he asks for when he wakes up and the last thing he wants to see before bed. lol. it's really cute to see. It's a Disney flick but I don't think there are any scary parts in it. The only thing I can think of is that could possible bother him is when Lightening McQueen is thinking of how he'll become a movie star and there are alien ships that shoot a laser beam and it disintegrates a car on spot. Its literally a second long and my 2 year old just says "oh no" when he sees it. but i don't know if my boy spooks easy (haven't shown him anything scary yet -- tangled included). so it's your call. but its a really cute family friendly movie.
My boys absolutely love Kipper and Wonder Pets, both t.v. series you can get on DVD. These are both great shows that are big on the imagination.
Toy Story 1,2,3 are great movies, as well as Finding Nemo and Winnie the Pooh Heffalump.
My daughter LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the Franklin the Turtle series. There are tons of books and videos and they are great for this age range. They are really cute too. I always get them from my library, I can do inter-library loan so I just go onto the site and order from different libraries and they get delivered to my library. It's much better than buying them. She also likes Max & Ruby, there are also a ton of videos of them too. Oh, I almost forgot! Everyday on Nick Jr. Max & Ruby and Franklin are on. If you have cable, check your listings to see which times they are on. BTW, my daughter gets gets easily scared by a character that you would never think she would be bothered by and these series have none of that.
At that age my son loved Thomas the Tank Engine. The stories are nicely told, each has a moral, and they transitioned into imaginative play and reading. Once he was hooked on the character he was very excited to find a section of books in the library. Good luck.
A lot of the Disney movies are scary at some points so I'd stay away from them.
I second pretty much anything on PBS or Nick Jr. And maybe bring him to see the Winnie the Pooh movie that is coming out. Looks so good.
Dora, Diego those are pretty nice t.v shows.
As far as movies go, I would say toy story 1, but it might frighten him since he's sensitive.
Whinnie the Poo is cute, with calm tones. There is no screaming or hurting involved. Give it a try.
Our kids love the Scholastic Storybook Treasures Dvd set. It is a collection of books on dvd. The one we have has 50 books on 7 dvds. I found it at Sams. I love them too. If you can't find the set, they are also sold separately. We have checked them out at the library too.
Curious George, the movie is really cute.
My son was the same way and would run from the room when a movie was too suspenseful or scary. We couldn't watch most of the Disney movies because all of them have scary parts. Little Einstein, The Wiggles, Dora, Diego, and Max and Ruby are all on dvd and my kids liked them.
I go to Christian movie review websites to find out what is in movies because I can find out if there are scary plots/content, as well as other junk I don't want them to see.
Movies: Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Tangled (yes, it's about a G. but it's for boys as well), Bolt (some actions scenes at the beginning but it's a pretend tv show the dog and G. are on together), Toy Story 2, Milo and Otis
Tv Show DVDs: any of the Phineas and Ferb series, Berenstein Bears, Tigger and Pooh (Super Sleuths series), Little Einsteins has a ton, Imagination Movers is great
You can NEVER go wrong with Winnie the Pooh. In fact we're taking a MUCH needed break from "Alvin and the Chipmunks" by watching "Piglet's BIG Movie." The soundtrack is awesome too!
"Wonder Pets" is also a huge hit here, even with DAD!
If you get noggin or nick jr, Franklin the Turtle and Little Bill are really sweet (and my husband and I like Little Bill too, a show by Bill Cosby, all positive about simple things like family, community, learning how to play together, etc). The whole family's favorite show is Jack's Big Music Show (sounds stupid, but it's a lot of fun and even we parents love it and have watched it when the kids weren't even present). You can buy the DVD online or at the store (unfortunately, just one DVD...there's also a CD we bought, heck, we even got the boys a "clubhouse" like Jack, and we're even having a Jack's Big Music Show birthday party in November).
As for movies...that's a hard one. If he's super sensitive then Disney may be out because I think there's ALWAYS a bad guy or a dead parent (usually a mom). Perhaps Cars, Charlotte's Web, Mary Poppins, Babe, Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that kind of thing? The 2 year old may not sit through the whole movie but music can bring their attention back.
