videos for 3 year old

[monkey]

Can anyone recommend a video for a 3 year old boy. (relative wants to buy him one, but I don't lnow what to suggest)

We don't have a tv but do have video. He's got btb, tweenies and Thomas. atm he's particularly keen on Thomas. I don't really know what's out there.

Can anyone suggest something, or should I just stick with one of these 3? What's Postman Pat like? Anything wuth firemen in?

thomas is always a good idea, my three love him and always come back to him as a favourite. postman pat is pretty good but may be a bit long for very little ones, there are also a wide range of fireman sam videos. i've picked up a few cheaply at woolworths and smiths, look out for buy one get one free offers. my local tesco is also sellling videos off cheaply. my eldest son is fascinated with trains and i managed to pick up a video called at the train station, it has sing along songs and was only 4.99!!

My ds is I suppose totally innocent, so nothing scary or sad - I don't think anything like Lion King would be suitable, but thanks for all your efforts. I guess I'd never considered any films - can a 3 year old really sit & watch that mu8ch? I don't think I'd like him to anyway? How do they cope with breaking a film in 3 or 4?

oxocube, I thought there would be complaints about the violence in Tom and Jerry not lovely old Pooh and his friends!

PamT, Monsters Inc is a FAB film, not scary, just v. funny. I've seen it twice (so far) and we will deffo be buying it in September. DD2 (3) is quite obsessed by it, and her favourite is Randall, who is the baddy - she says she likes him "because he is naughty", I guess she sees him as a role model!
Re the "day full of songs" video - we've got it, and I cannot stand that man, I think he's a bit sinister. And as for the kids! Did you know by the way that one of the backing singers on that video is Sophie Ellis-Bextor. It's produced by her mum. Don't ask why I watched the credits for ling enough to find this out! Just glad I've finally been able to share this useless bit of knowledge with someone!

Oh, and am I the only one who has a quiet snigger (well not that quiet actually) at "The book of Pooh". (the title of the show that is). No wonder my children love me when I'm so much on their level. And no wonder DD2's favourite word is "poo"

Emsiewill, is it Janet Ellis who is on A Day Full of Surprises? ("We're going out for the day......", with the dream cafe, snuffy steam train etc.) I believe that Janet Ellis was the one who was sacked from Blue Peter because she got pregnant out of wedlock and it wasn't considered fitting for a 'proper' children's programme.

More video trivia, the school railway station in Harry Potter was filmed at Goathland station, N Yorks (where Heartbeat is filmed) but which station was used for the beginning of his journey? I thought it looked like York but I'm sure that I heard it was somewhere else in the Yorkshire area, anyone know? I really should get a life outside these 4 walls!

I have just returned from a week with my parents who had, thoughtfully, got a couple of videos out of the local library to entertain ds. Thomas and the Magic Railroad was one of them. Having seen it several times, I feel it is one of the worst things ever made (much worse than Revenge of the Nerds, for example). I noticed that Britt Allcroft, the woman who has the Thomas copyright in a stranglehold, WROTE and DIRECTED this incredibly bad film. And what were actors like Alec Baldwin and PETER FONDA thinking of?
Ds fortunately still loves Postman Pat and especially Fireman Sam, and it was such a relief to get back to these. He did enjoy their other choice, Lady and the Tramp, though - and so did I.

PamT, I haven't had the "fortune" to watch any of the other videos - but I think it was Janet Ellis who was sacked for being a fallen woman.

I didn't mean to start anything when I suggested The Magic Railroad - I feel quite guilty now and I haven't even seen it all the way through.

Our Usborne video of Farmyard Stories went down very well and was watched over and over, as were the BBC compilations that came free with magazines or cheap at Woollies.

Marina - I totally agree with you - my dd (now 7) had that Thomas video. I have to confess to getting at it with the scissors as I couldn't bear it....

We had a lovely christmas one year with a thomas wedged in the video. We could stop/play fast forward and rewind but it just would NOT eject!!

MABS and Marina, thanks for the warning about Thomas and the Magic Railroad. DS loves the original Thomas stories (narrated by Ringo Starr) and I'd heard of the Magic Railroad, not seen anything about it. I should have known it would be an Americanised version anyway from the word Railroad - will now avoid like the plague!

I was also wondering, as some of the Classic Disney videos were mentioned, when did you feel happy about your children watching videos/looking at picture books of things like Snow White, Hansel & Gretel, etc.? Maybe I am being too over-protective (ds is only 2 1/4 though) but I just don't want him to see stories yet about wicked queens telling the woodcutter to have the princess killed or old witches luring children into their candy-covered houses in the woods to fatten them up to eat!

jodee, dd is 2.7 and most Disney vids are too scary for her - she doesn't like anything with witches in...so that pretty much rules out the bulk of them. Lady and the tramp is a goody, as is the Jungle Book and the Aristocats. She'll only watch 30 mins or so though, then toddles off to do something more stimulating, leaving mummy, gripped, on the sofa under a blanket

Fireman Sam? Postman Pat is good too. Elmo in Grouchland is a fave of my 3 yr old ds. He also likes Barney but is is very "american". Also action videos about "real" things like diggers, planes, trains, etc HTH

How about a more old-fashioned Disney favourite - my almost 3 year old loves Jungle Book & also Peter Pan.

Monkey

My son probably sat and watched a film all the way through at about 3.5 (it also depends on the film).

His first favourite film was Toy Story 2 which he loved (and still does, so do I as a matter of fact) At nearly 5 he has graduated to the likes of Tarzan, Dinosaur, Harry Potter, Shrek (his favourite). We took him to see Monsters Inc. (which he adored) and Ice age at the pictures, and didn't move a muscle the whole way through the films.

As I mentioned before, the obvious 3 year videos (like Thomas the Tank, Tweenies, etc....) are all too soon tired of I find, and now remain on the video shelf gathering dust - but the films are watched over and over again. Woolworths have had an offer recently - by 2 disney videos/DVD's and get £10 off, so I have purchased Snow White (for dd, aged 18 - a bit too old for her now, but will be good for the future) and Atlantis for ds.

I just love disney/pixar movies, you can't beat them.

LOL Enid, I'm the same, and I also blub at the slightest thing!

Can I just ask about Harry Potter for young (ie 5 yr old) children. Did they not find it a bit scary. I saw it at the cinema, and dh bought the DVD, but I'm not sure whether to let dd1 watch it, as I think there were some quite scary moments in it (the chess match comes to mind). How did other young ones react?

Ds, nearly 5 loved it - although he didn't much like the end bit with voldemort and the 2 heads (but he still had to watch). I must admit I was in two minds about letting him watch it, but he badgered me senseless and I ensured that I was with him during the whole film incase he did get frightened of any bits.

To be perfectly honest it really did not seem to bother him and he certainly did not have any nightmares afterwards, but I think reactions very much depend on the individual child.

I've just asked him if there was anything in HP that he didn't like/like: He says he didn't like "the crusty man bit" (i.e the voldemort scene at the end), but he liked the troll and the 3 headed dog best.

emieswill, ds (nearly 5) loved Harry Potter and wasn't at all scared: depends on your child I reckon. He also loved Jurrassic Park, which scared the crap out of me!