Suitable TV programmes for 18 month old

[sazzerbear]

I have 18 month ds and he watches very little tv but I know that some exposure to the right stuff is good, what are the best programmes for this age? I have been doing some research but there seems to be a lot of rubbish out there! Is Night Garden actually good for them? Some friends won't let their kids watch it, others think its great!

watch some yourself and chose what you are happy with them watching.www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ website has descriptions of their programs if you want do some research.

Very little kids TV is "good" or "bad" for them, all depends on how they watch , most things are "better" for kids if watched with an adult who can comment and explain and get child talking about rather than passively watching. However many of us do expect our kids to watch things on their own because we trust that that a programe will not contain anything we disapprove of.
I got caught out by a scary episode ( to my 2.5 yr old) of lazy town last week, serves me right for not watching with him.

Thanks UniS, that's great advice!

DD 5.5 mths loves itng. DH loves it too Don't see the problem with it. Cbeebies has some great stuff.

My ds (14m) loves itng, and I think it's great to be honest. The characters are sweet and friendly, the stories are easy to follow and comforting, and it calms kids down ready for a nap. Also there's a lot of educational language used, like the pinkyponk (a kind of living airship) goes up and down and over and under and through and round etc, and there is a family called the pontypines who have 8 children so there's always some counting to ten involved when they're around. The characters go around helping each other, making music, visiting each other, and exploring the garden. Nice, harmless stuff imho.

Yes, it is sweet - he's watched it a couple of times and amazingly knows all of the characters without being told..the power of tv!

[waves at James]
dd 14m (and I) like Pingu - ITNG is too long for me if not for dd.

Hi MrsBadger! Hope you and lo are doing ok.

Yeah the unfortunate side effect of watching so much itng is his first almost recognisable word is "iggle"

My DS loves ITNG. He is 2.7. He says night night to the characters etc, so I don't feel that he's just sat staring at a moving picture.

He also loves Thomas (we have it on DVDs and watch it on channel 5).

There is some stuff on that I just think is utter bile, but just watch it yourself and see what you like. Things that I don't like and find a bit of a racket are Carrie and David's popshop and Space Pirates and these aren't really aimed at younger children I don't think.

I quite like Balamory and Big cook little cook.

Ah yes, i've heard that a lot of mums like Big Cook Little Cook for all the wrong reasons lol

Ds likes Numberjacks and that one with Auntie Mabel & Pippin the dog, as it's numbers and where things come from. Probably a bit too old for an 18m old though.

They both liked watching Justin/Mr Tumble on CBBC as he's visually funny & I liked it as it's inclusive of SN/NT.

DD who is 2, so closer in age to your ds, likes Noddy & Peppa Pig which is on Channel 5 in the morning.

Think these are 'safe ground' when it comes to toddlers.

My daughter loved ITNG, Balamory, Something Special, Teletubbies, Story Makers and Pingu at this age. She loved to talk to me about the stories she was watching and what the characters did and it was a fantastic stimulus for conversation for both of us. To be honest, I can't think of anything on CBeebies that I totally wouldn't let a child of that age watch, I'd be more likely to be limiting it to a certain amount of time per day, say twenty minutes or half an hour. It's all pretty harmless stuff and pitched at a fairly basic level. Even if they don't understand everything that happens, you can talk to them and explain things and words and events and it becomes a great opportunity for teaching them things that might not necessarily come up in your usual daily round.