What's good on TV these days for children? And the Internet? (age 8 and 6)

[fuzzpig]

Inspired by another thread about news programmes for children...

We hardly ever use our TV to watch actual TV - have mostly used it for DVDs (of which we have a ridiculous amount, so they do watch their fair share of films and cartoons!) but I've realised that while our aim was to get them away from screens more, which did work, they must have actually missed out on loads of interesting stuff!

We are home educating now so have more time and I'm no longer being precious () about having the TV off all the time, so what would you recommend to inspire conversation and spark interests?

Also the Internet, as we finally have a decent laptop. We will be getting Minecraft when we've got the house tidy (kind of a family reward/incentive as all 4 of us want to play!) and I've been directed to BBC 'Dance Mat Typing' for my eldest, but anything else would be great...

Thanks in advance :)

The good stuff is not going to help with social skills and friendships, i.e. Life on Earth and Horrible Histories will not come up as much as Celebrity and Cake shows, but I know which I'd encourage.

Oh I see what you mean! Thankfully they aren't in the slightest bit bothered about keeping up with the latest shows, they very much have their own taste and it doesn't really come up in their friendships, particularly their new home ed friends.

Life on Earth, is that an Attenborough type thing? :)

Mine are the same age. Good ole Blue Peter is a recent enthusiasm here, and DCs have learned a lot from Deadly 60 and Horrible Histories. I thunk Steve Backshall has a new series starting, something like Steve Backshall's Deadly Adventures. They also like Kickabout Extra which is a general sports magazine show on cbbc, but I'm not sure if it's on at the moment.

They also like some adult quiz shows such as Pointless. I think it's good to have adult/family tv on sometimes.

Internet I don't know, I am planning to investigate Scratch as our eldest uses it at school. If I see a suitable article on the bbc news website, I email DC1 a link. The science section is good - new discoveries about dinosaurs, planets, archeology etc.

Thunk = think (facepalms self)

My almost 7yo DS loves Deadly 60 on CBBC and has learnt a lot about animals from it and it has sparked a bit of a passion for him. Steve Backshall is fantastic.

We haven't watched Horrible Histories yet but that's another that springs to mind.

They sound great thanks!

I didn't know there was a sports show for children - I forgot to mention they've been really enjoying the athletics and it's inspired them. I'll make sure I keep an eye out for more like that (DH usually does keep an eye anyway, big sport fan)

I've heard of scratch now I think about it, would love to give that a go.

Good point about having grown up shows on sometimes too. We started off shielding them from everything but I think actually we went too far!

Scratch is great, DD has made a few things with it now.

My 8 year old has a DS and plays Professor Layton games which are logic/puzzle based - I've been really impressed with them, she's stuck at it although has needed some hints and tips along the way (google a walkthrough if you go down this route!).

TV wise, they like: Newsround, Horrible Histories (and the books which have lead on to Horrible Geography/Science etc too), Deadly 60, Pointless, Dragons Defenders of Berk (based on How to Train Your Dragon series), How to be epic at everything, and Ooglies (which has led on to making their own stop motion animations). Can't think of anything else.

I agree that adult TV is often very suitable, so long as it doesn't deal with hugely inappropriate themes. So what if some of it goes over their heads? They'll understand more than you expect. And parents deserve to learn interesting stuff too.

Here are some which we've enjoyed recently.

iPlayer:
Edwardian Farm
Back in Time for Dinner
Coast
Horizon: Secret Life of the Cat
My Life (Particularly, "What's a Girl?" which is a wonderfully well-done, age-appropriate discussion of gender. The teenaged presenter is not a "girly girl", and explores the significance of that with other girls.)

YouTube
My dd is very interested in manufacturing processes and engineering, so we like to see how various things are made and built: Pringles, coins, wool blankets, pencils.
Vi Hart, Doodling in Math Class
Also if there is a specific programme which you remember having enjoyed, you can look on YouTube and if you are lucky you may find part or all of it there.