Educational Children’s Programs and Is This Okay?

[nameobsessed]

Hi! We’re a mostly screen free house but my 3 year old gets thirty minutes to one hour of TV a day in the evening but she’s outgrown the tv shows for her age group already and I’m struggling to find anything new.

She loved Bluey and similar comforting, low stimulation shows from 2-3 but right before her birthday decided they were for babies and she didn’t like them anymore. Fair enough, she likes the more non fiction stuff. We tried number blocks, alpha blocks and similar but she knows her letters and numbers off pat and didn’t find it engaging. The only shows we have in our rotation now are:

Horrible Histories (the favourite)
Operation Ouch (close second)
Nature Documentaries (David Attenborough- she loves them but sometimes they are quite sad)

Horrible Science (tolerated, not really asked for)
Ranger Hamzas Eco Quest (asks for sometimes but not often)

It’s always quite an involved process when we watch tv, she asks lots of questions and we research things and because her memory is pretty good now I can’t really play the same episodes twice. Family have expressed that she’s quite young for some of these programs and I agree but she has no interest in ‘normal’ three year old entertainment (on screens). She does love fiction in her books, has a great imagination and it’s clearly not doing her any harm- she takes the gory stuff in her stride and isn’t scared or squeamish. I just worry when she goes to nursery in September she’s going to be teaching all her little classmates about ancient torture methods and how anaesthesia works!!

She’s very grown up for her age in general and that’s great when it’s just us but I’m worried she won’t fit in. Her best friends are all a year or more older than her and she hasn’t got many common interests even with them.

I think I’m mostly asking for recommendations but also reassurance there’s no problem with this I guess.

I don’t see any problem with it but watching only those shows seems a bit restricted tbh. What about some of the fictional shows that have a lot of factual content? e.g. Octonauts has a lot of factual info each episode on the different sea creatures they encounter (ditto Go Jetters on the different places they go to); shows like Dino Dana (on Amazon) are really good on the different dinosaurs, and so on).

Or you could try some of the CBeebies shows aimed at a slightly older viewer which are quirky and cleverly written like Sarah & Duck and Charlie and Lola.

My DD also loved the CBeebies Shakespeare and other plays special productions — they should all be on iPlayer somewhere.

Otherwise the danger is you will end up ready to punch the TV after hearing the Charles II King of Bling song for the millionth time (as I was!) 😆

Creature Cases on Netflix is good. My 4 year old often tells me a random animal facts! Deadly 60 with Steve Backshall ( not as upsetting as a David Attenborough!)

I think that’s why I’m worried, she has a very strong preference for her shows and nothing else will do! She used to love Charlie and Lola but now it’s in the ‘for babies’ category with everything else. I’ll test out some of the others, especially the plays as live action programs seem to go down better than cartoons.

Oh my goodness, I can imagine although I do find myself glued to the screen watching it lol. 🎵 All hail, the king, of bling,
lets sing, bells ring, ding ding 🎵

Thanks for the reply x

I will check them out thank you! I remember deadly 60, my little cousins used to watch it and I think it would totally be her kind of thing.

My 3 year old watches less telly than an hour a day on average and I wouldn’t think to call his upbringing “screen free”. He still likes tv programmes and watches them whenever he asks.
You don’t need to add a caveat that you’re “mostly screen free” to feel better about her enjoying telly.

It also simply isn’t true that she’s “outgrown” them, and she will return to a lot of kid dross in a few months to a year guaranteed. Nothing wrong with that. She’s 3 and a lot changes between 3 and 4, and 4 and 5, so worrying about her not fitting in with school friends is really premature. She’ll love whatever shite they’re all into when the time comes.

What do you mean by “knowing her numbers”? Numberblocks covers a lot of information beyond counting to 100. Similarly why can’t she watch an episode of something more than once? Kids this age are sponges with astonishing memories: enjoying the programme again and again is developmentally appropriate, it’s not a sign of poor memory.

So to your question: is this ok? It’s fine. I wouldn’t be showing my 3 year old stuff about torturing people though.

And recommendations for 3 year olds? Mine likes Andy’s Dinosaurs, Thomas the Tank Engine, The Moomins, Wallace & Gromit, Lego Masters, Arthur, Numberblocks…

One Zoo Three on CBeebies sounds like would be a good choice.

(also, alpha blocks and number blocks gets into pretty solid maths and phonics so might be that she’s actually too young for the next level bits of it rather than bored).

Does The Lingo Show still exist?

Have you seen graces amazing machines or any of the programmes with Maddie on CBeebies? My DD still loves these even though she’s school age now, they are really good factual type programmes about how things work. Also Mr Tumble might be a good one!

It's fine for her to have preferences but also not inappropriate to correct her if she's referring to programmes as being "for babies". It wouldn't be nice for her to go to preschool and start saying to the other children why are you wearing a Bluey t-shirt, that's for babies. Bluey isn't for babies anyway, it's aimed at 3-7yos and my friend's 8yo quite happily watches it! It's sad when kids start coming home from preschool or school and starting to reject things they've enjoyed because other children are saying XYZ is babyish and they then internalise that and feel ashamed for liking it.

There's a lot of different Andy's adventures on iPlayer about a wide range of animals, habitats, etc., so that could work. Also Down on the Farm, although not so many of that. Maybe also look at some later episodes of numberblocks – the beginning is very basic, but they get into more advanced maths in later series.

Like a PP, I would also gently correct her on the 'for babies'. She doesn't want to watch it, that's fine – but there are plenty of children her age and older who do, and that's also fine. My 6 year old still remembers a boy at nursery telling her that her balance bike was 'for babies'. She was 3. A balance bike was perfectly age-appropriate.

Trust me I know! It’s actually worse than that, she recently had a ‘spat’ in the supermarket with a teenage boy with learning disabilities wearing a peppa pig T-shirt. I wasn’t even there but I was mortified.

She’s not being mean, obviously, she’s just blunt (and probably on the spectrum, like me) so pretty stuck in her ways but I do gently correct her every time. I would never want her to upset or discourage another child.

Thankyou! Will check them out and it’s a brilliant idea about trying the numberblocks again further in, we didn’t get through many.

I replied to another poster but I promise I always correct her, I personally love watching bluey at my big age!

Thank-you I’ll check them out!

Im going to try numberblocks again a little further in and see how she feels about it. She absolutely loves numbers and ‘maths’ which I cannot relate to at all so I think it would be good for her if she can engage.

Sorry I should’ve been clearer, obviously not totally screen free- she has more like a 90’s kid idea of screentime. Monitered and scheduled TV in the evening only, no IPads or other devices, no using our phones or watching TV on the go but sometimes we look things up on the computer. I don’t feel bad about her screen time, I’m going for everything in moderation while avoiding addiction.

I really hope you’re right! She’s very much ‘3 going on 13’ just like I was at her age and can be very stubborn. I’d much prefer her not to be so serious at her little age (for her sake) but it’s just how she is. Thank-you for the reassurance, I will try and forget about it for a while.

One or two of the PP’s made a really good point about numberblocks. Since I started it from the beginning I’m going to try and skip ahead to numbers and concepts she isn’t familiar with, she is much more engaged when she’s learning. I think we just wrote it off too soon. It’s the same story with rewatching shows, her memory is pretty good and if she isn’t learning new things/she remembers the episode she gets bored and wants to turn it off. I on the other hand rewatch my favourite shows over and over again, even the ones I started watching at her age.

That reminded me that as a little girl my favourite shows were red dwarf, fawlty towers and similar shows for adults- I must’ve grown out of children’s television early because I don’t have any memories of watching it. I was left unsupervised a lot and I wouldn’t let DC watch them yet but it’s interesting.

Thank-you for the suggestions I’m keeping a note in my phone to try over the next few weeks and for the advice!

DD used to like another number programme called Numtums (or the “number squirrels” as she used to call them 😆) It’s got a bit more story and jazzier songs. And if she likes programmes for older kids, she might like (either now or in another couple of years) a Canadian programme called Odd Squad, where kid superhero agents solve programmes with maths. Both should be on iPlayer.

Thankyou I will check these out! We’ve had a little more luck with Numberblocks, especially when the counters and flashcards are out at the same time.

Number squirrels is a much better name too 😂

Maybe try a bit of Blue Peter? My 6 year old has really enjoyed the show and it’s a nice mix of age appropriate non fiction.

Andy’s dinosaur adventures? I’m sure he has aquarium and safari and maybe some other series too if she’s into animal shows.
Disney+ have a documentary about one of their parks, animal kingdom. It’s all about animals and the care they get, but it’s not really sad. mine like Arthur too, which I think is from the 90s and a bit aimed at older children

I guess I’d just want to make sure she really was bored of things, And not that she feels she has to be grown up and clever and always learning, sometimes things can and should just be fun.

Not because he thinks they are babyish but ds had almost the same list of favourite shows at that age. He's now 6 and really loves saving lives at sea (she's too young for that) and grand designs 🤷‍♀️. He also likes spring watch when it's on. She might like The Zoo on CBBC ? It follows the goings on at Paignton zoo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/the-zoo

Does she spend much time playing with other children of a similar age at the moment?

I was going to ask if she was autistic but you answered that already!
I would say don't stick too rigidly to having to have screen time, if it's a battle and you can get away with phasing it out then do it.
I just do and hoc screen time. Similar situation, but I've always used screen time as a tool in the context of some other activity, rather than as a thing in its own right.
So it's more like let's learn about the cutty sark, or something about music or trains.
I found once I get into too much of a routine with things it can end up with arguments so I stick to ad hoc. Although I feel like my son could occupy himself for hours in an empty room so I haven't had to use screen time to keep him busy if you see that I mean.

She doesn’t really, her ‘best friends’ are an equally mature 4, nearly 5, year old cousin and a very sweet, shy 6 year old neighbour. If we go to the park, soft play or a children’s birthday party she gravitates towards the older children or even the adults for company.

I have encouraged her friendships with similar age children but she often doesn’t join in with the way they want to play, she’ll often get a book out or start colouring alone quietly. I was similar as a child too, it will probably get better once she starts in September and she has lots of different children with different personalities to play with.

My now 5yo DD has always preferred more non fiction programs some of her faves on cebeebies are:
one zoo three
Andy's adventures
Get well soon
Go wild
Maddie's do you know
She also loves Secret life of the zoo on channel 4 and Disney+ also has quite a few nature ones, musicals and stage shows that she enjoys watching.