Walking with Dinosaurs - suitable for what age?

[GeorginaA]

My ds1 (3 years old) has just discovered my copy of Walking with Dinosaurs on the shelf. He's a big dinosaur nut and is desperate to watch it, but I'm not sure if he's old enough really. I remember some parts being quite gory and scary.

Box says PG but parts unsuitable for young children. I wondered at what age other's children watched it and if they enjoyed it/got bored/found it too scary. If it's not recommended at this age, is there a more suitable children's dinosaur video which has the realistic movements/effects similar to this series?

My ds (only just 4) loves anything with dinosaurs, but his favourite videos are Godzilla and Jurassic Park. Earlier this year we took him to the Walking with Dinosaurs exhibition and he loved it - not at all frightened

I bought it for my dd who was 3yrs 9 months at the time. She loves it although she gets a little sad (not afraid) at episoid 2. Funnily enough she prefers the second disc - the "making" of Walking with dinosaurs. I've watched it and was a little concerned myself. In the end we bought it based on two conclusions. Firstly a lot of the disney videos are just as frightening - my dd (now 4.5) still finds the scene of Snow White running through the forest frightening and yet this is classified as a U. Second we've never stopped her watching nature programmes and these are no different in my opinion. She adores it and I feel far better about her watching things like this than Nick Jr . I think you are right to be cautious though and if you do let him watch it possibly you should sit with him through out the first viewing - I did this with dd so that we could stop the whole thing had I felt she was reacting badly.

message withdrawn

we watched it as a family and discussed bits dd 3.6 was unsure of. I would not let her watch it on her own tho. But it did spark discussions and I was surprised by how much she knew

Thank you all for your advice. We watched the first two episodes together earlier today (well away from his bedtime just in case). I warned him he might find bits scary, and to let me know at any point if he wanted to stop it.

So far, I needn't have worried! He's really blase about it, desperate to learn all the different names for the dinosaurs he saw. Wasn't even sad at the baby sauropods getting picked off one by one, let alone scared of the carnivorous dinosaurs!! He's really enjoying it though, so that's good - although some bits are a bit slow for him - he wants to hurry up and see another type of dinosaur.

I agree with the comments that some disney videos are just as if not more frightening - in fact, he can't watch finding nemo without a cuddle during the divers and the shark bits. Odd child.

Will continue watching with him though, just in case. I seem to remember the T-rex one making me jump more than a couple of times...

I love this series and my ds did too aged 4 GeorginaA but it's a bit nature red in tooth and claw isn't it? Glad he liked it though.

Actually, I don't love it, I have no interest in dinosaurs! But I loved the effect it had on my ds, he really loved it and I was impressed at the effects etc. I think you're doing the right thing watching with him for a while.