To ask where the good kids TV is?

[ProcrastinatorsAnonymous]

I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old. Screen time is limited, but even then I struggle to find much that I'm happy for them to watch. I feel like kids TV used to be so much better when I was little!

I'd love to find some shows that are entertaining but also educational - things like Horrible Histories and Operation Ouch. Or shows with genuinely engaging storytelling. What are your kids are engaged by?

Perhaps I'm just not finding the good stuff, but AIBU to think kids TV has gone majorly downhill?

CBeebies. For instance "Lola and Charlie"

I agree it's gone downhill. I noticed that when they switched to mainly computer animation in the early 2000s that the quality of the shows went really downhill.

I have mainly just had my kids watch older shows. There are a lot available by streaming - Postman Pat (the older ones) Sesame Street, etc.

One you might try that's not as well known for really young kids is Nanalan', on Youtube.

Storybots is a good one

Bluey is amazing and I will happily watch it by myself ❤️

CBeebies pantos (most are on iPlayer. Eg; Peter Pan, Alice in wonderland, thumbelina, beauty and the beast etc)

the Julia Donaldson stories on iPlayer (gruffalo, Zog, highway rat etc)

musical story land (bbc philharmonic) again on iPlayer. (Jack and the beanstalk, story of the Chinese zodiac, the gingerbread man etc)

*the above mainly aimed toward the 4 year old but I do have a 7 year old who will sit and watch them whilst there on as they are well done.

ds7 loves walking with dinosaurs, horrible histories, and like pp mentioned he absolutely loves the old mr bean episodes (hates the cartoon version!)

More for the 7 year old than the 4 year old but me and my 9 year old both enjoy Inbestigators and Little lunch on Netflix - both Australian TV shows with 10 year olds as the main characters.

I haven't seen it in ages but DS1 (who still loves maths) used to love Blaze and the monster machines.

For the 4 year old...any of the Andy adventures (Dinosaur, Animal etc)

Just introduced 2.5 year old granddaughter to Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley (made in the '60's. She's loving it.

Ada twist
Storybots
Octonauts
Alpha blocks
Number blocks
Magic school bus

Maddie's do you know is a great series for real world knowledge, she has a space one, plants, around the house etc. Grace/Katy's amazing machines also good.

We have also shown them old-school shows like Number time
Scrapheap challenge
Robot Wars
Planet Earth
Where's Wally

The Simpsons is usually a hit as it's a cartoon so they will just watch it. And Shaun the Sheep is pretty good. Much better than Timmy Time!

Generally agree with you that kids TV now is mostly utter rubbish. Especially on YouTube.

The sheer volume of content is overwhelming!

My 4yo watches -

Daniel Tigers Neighbourhood (Netflix) is really good. It’s not over stimulating and deals with emotions, friendships, or practical things like hand washing and road safety

Anyrhing Julia Donaldson on iPlayer

Numberblocks

Mr Bean (cartoon version) think it’s on iPlayer and episodes are only around 10mins long

I've tried to get them into The Muppets, but they weren't as enthusiastic about it as I was (still am!). Devastated!

My 6 year old is really into Maddie + Triggs at the moment. It's a simple show with short episodes but it's so well made, the songs are all bangers.

@devongusscott yikes I am guessing your animations and songs are just as AI generated as your post. Sorry, but this is what most of us are trying to avoid for our kids.

@devongusscott christ that's abysmal.