Good TV Shows for 5-7 Year Old Boys?

Great question! and GREAT MOM! Sponge Bob is disgusting and NOT child appropriate.

We don't have "TV" in our house. We have A TV, but we don't actually use it for public television (we don't have cable or anything...we even use antenas! and yes, we live in a big city)
I purchase or get from the library what I want my kids to watch. Shows like:
Magic School Bus,
CyberChase,
Zaboomafoo,
Our Planet (or practically ANYTHING by National Geographic),
Arthur,
7th Heaven (TV series)
Or pretty much anything educational from the Libary. He can learn about almost ANYTHING he disires to know about.

Families need to spend quality family time together. My girls get 1 hour of "TV" a day most days unless we are watching something as a family, a movie or something. And many days, they don't even take that because the are "busy" with other stuff.

A., you are the mom, you get to decide what you son will watch and for how long. I recommend that anything you choose be watched by both of you (when possible) so that you can discuss the lessons or the humour or whatever. Please use TV as an educational tool.

B.
Family Wellness Coach

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PBS in the afternoon: Maya and Miguel, Aurthur, Ruff Ruffman, Cyberchase.
Also Qubo: tv shows with moral messages (and no kids commercials. At first I wasn't sure I liked all the "Billy Mays" type commercials but then Christmas rolled around and there was no asking for trash toys because no kids commercials.)
I record some shows like Avatar on Nick so that he doesn't watch the stuff in between the shows or the commercials, the little comments and shows can be disgusting.
He does like Zack and Cody and Phineas and Ferb on Disney.

We have the rule that if the kids are in HS (dating, etc.) then he can't watch it.
Good Luck.

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Hi A.,
My son is going to be 7 in Sept. We pretty much only watch Disney shows. He watches Zach and Cody, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, Jonas and Phineas and Ferb (which is a cartoon). The TV shows with the teenagers do get a little into dating but 6 year old kids in elementary school talk about dating in school now so you really can't avoid the topic. However, the Disney shows keep it wholesome and between shows they do educational short topics or music videos from the Disney stars. Phineas and Ferb is hysterical! It's a really funny cartoon that kids and adults can appreciate. It is not obnoxious like Sponge Bob and the kids in the show are respectful to their parents. It is one of my favorites and I will sometimes watch it by myself. We also like Power Rangers - he's been watching those since he was about 4 years old. I watch those with him too. They do fight robots and aliens but the good guys always win and I he knows that you don't really go around blasting people.

My son also likes some of the Animal Planet Shows and Travel Shows and Cooking Shows. I tivo a bunch of them for him and I watch with him to make sure I know what he is watching. If I don't like something I tell him not to watch it anymore but mostly he watches the shows that I have recorded for him so I know they're ok.

Hope this helps.

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Scooby Doo
Pokemon
Total drama Island-cartoon reality show
Electric company

I do not let my kids watch much of any thing on Nikelodeon-too many sassy mouths.

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What about Zaboomafoo? Bindi the Jungle Girl? Not sure what channels you get. I agree on the Sponge Bob (my kids don't watch that).

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You mentioned watching Arthur, which I love too. There are some other shows on PBS that are great for kids that age. Some are Dragonfly TV (it's a science and activity show), Sid the Science Kid, Zoomafoo, WordGirl, and a few more. Try looking on the PBS kids website pbskids.org.

Good luck!
~A.

1 mom found this helpful

My son is 9 and my daughter is 5. Up to age 8, they were kind of both watching the same shows:

[b]Jimmy Neutron[/b] (I hate it, very sassy, but oh well - thankfully he's outgrown it) I would AVOID that show.

[b]Berenstain Bears[/b] - awesome show and perfect for this age - even at 9

[b]Avatar on Nickelodeon.[/b] - That is an AMAZING cartoon for children. 5.5 is a bit young, but unfortunately, my daughter was watching it at 4 (no choice, she's in the room). It's got great story lines and you really have to sit with your child to watch (Adults love this show and M. Night Shalyn? is making a movie of it) so you can explain anything or answer questions. I've used it to discuss right and wrong.

[b]Arthur[/b] - still a fav

Both my kids saw [b]icarly[/b] a few months ago at a hotel room and while I don't love it, it is wholesome so they both watch it now. My 5 yr old daughter LOVES it. I would WAIT on that show though. That kind of slipped under the radar and I'm letting it pass.

I won't let him watch any other Disney channel "tween" show though.

Now he's just starting to watch the Discovery Channel (Bear Gryllis and we watch together) but some of those shows are too intense and I just waited and waited till his mind was more mature.

Disney channel - I would stay away from that as long as possible. I know lots of kids that age already watch it. It is so sad to me. They see the commercials (if they are watching Disney cartoons) and beg for it. That's how it happens.

I can't stand [b]Spongebob[/b] either and I don't let them watch it - period. My 5-yr-old daughter LOVES Spongebob and would watch it if I let her. She begs for it.

PBS all the way!

All these new programs just seem so wierd to me!

Just my 2 cents :)

My son now watches baseball AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.. ahhhh, a tenage boy :)

I think you both might like Avatar on Nickelodean. It's intelligent, exciting and cool and has very solid values presented within the story lines. Might be too young for it, but he may like it now. I believe it's recommended for 7 and up, but watch it and see for yourself.
M.

I may be repeating some suggestions, but here it goes. I have an 8 year old girl and a 5 1/2 year old son. I can't stand a lot of the Disney shows like Zack and Cody because most of their humor is based on humiliation as comedy, and they are just rude to each other and adults...I also don't like the shows where there is a lot of dating and "first kiss" type episodes.

My son LOVES The Electric Company on PBS - it's not the one we grew up with, but it's just as good. He actually has learned to read with that show. Also, Wordgirl is a new show on PBS, and although the superhero is a girl, it appeals to both my son and daughter (and it's REALLY funny, even for adults). I also saw Between the Lions mentioned in previous posts...my daughter learned to read with that show. For non-educational type, we love Phineas and Ferb on the Disney channel, as well as the Penguins of Madegascar, which I believe is on one of the Nick channels.

Good Luck!

My personal childhood favorite and now my four-year-old daughter's favorite, Scooby Doo! Although I have one brave cookie on my hands :) Boomerang used to show it regularly, now occasionally so you'll have to DVR it. Or, Target has $5 DVDs.

I have a 6 year old son and I was going through the same thing till I noticed that he really enjoyed the nature, history and anthropological documentaries that I watched. He loves the discovery channel and his favorite show is Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls. He even did a project on him for first grade. He also loves anything having to do with Egypt and and the pyramid. As an added bonus it is educational and he has no idea. Nation Geographic has great videos that are often available at the library. I hope you find something that works for you.

Deni B.

Yes show on PBS is good (Martha Speaks) also Goosebumps (if they like stuff that's slightly scary). How about The Spectacular Spider Man. Older cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Rugrats (my kids are 3 and 5 1/2 and love these shows), I feel like most shows these days are for teens and are too advanced for our young ones.

Ok so I am totally the odd mom out here! LOL Our entire family watches SpongeBob! We all love it. He does get on my nerves sometimes though.

Anyhow my son just turned 6 and he LOVES Bakugan (cartoon network in the AM) Transformers Animated (same channel usually right before Bakugan) iCarly is another fave he has along with Drake and Josh. Power Rangers of course, and he loves to build Lego Bionicles so I bought the movies off ebay and he watches those more then anything now.

Other then that he loves to watch Dog Town and the Dog Whisperer on Nat Geo, and Mythbusters is another family fave. He also is really into watching Clean House on the Style network. That one even inspired him to pick up his toys and get rid of half of them!

Do you have Disney XD? That is part of the Disney Channel, family geared specifically towards boys. My favorite "boy" show is Phineas & Ferb. Funny cartoon.

My son just got VHS/DVD of Rescue Heroes and he LOVES them.

I personally don't let my son watch the nature shows because I believe it leads to being too "wowed" by a video and then not impressed by nature itself. I read something about this and it really affected me - a teacher who has always shown kids pond muck under a microscope, and he has really seen a change in the kids' reactions since Discovery Channel/National Geo, etc. have been around, from excitement to "this is boring, I already saw the crayfish eat the mayfly on tv." I'm a little over the top with my anti-tv feelings. : )

While it is great to censor the shows your son is watching don't for get the commercials. I think PBS is the best for this because there really aren't any interruptions but cartoon network we had blocked from out TV because the commercials were so inappropriate.
some of the interesting shows like star wars my husband and I used as as rewards we just had to say no more unless we can find them in the -on demand- feature. My 6 1/2 year old son was not happy about that but i was shocked by the clips of other shows advertised on the same channel.

My 4 & 7 yr old boys watch:
Zaboomafoo
Super Why
Word World

I like these shows because they are educational. Recently my 7 yr old started watching Bakugan. At first I didn't approve, but it teaches some good lessons like team work, friendship and having confidence. He also loves watching Discovery Channel shows like Planet Earth, Dirty Jobs and How Things are Made.

I know this isn't a TV show you're requesting. But my daughter loves "In Between the Lions". If you have netflix, you can get it there. It's PBS and is really teaching my 3-year-old how to read. There are even story plots too.

I still find some good shows on Noggin and Disney (Disney in the morning) for my kids. 4.5 and 6.5. They love imagination movers. Do you have On Demand? You can find some good shows there too. My kids love scooby doo but I can only take so much so they get that every now and then. I'm with you on the HM and Jonas Brothers. There was a time when my oldest asked for it, I watched one HM episode with her and told her she was too young for it. She hasn't asked for it since. For the most part, try to stay away from a channel with all those commercials! I think they make the kids more crazy than their shows! I think Nickolodeon is one of them, however if you watch it On Demand it's not so bad.

** after seeing another post I'm reminded that both of my kids LOVE Nat Geo, we watch it together often. They love anything about our planet, animals, medical shows and then the other channel we watch together is Food TV - they LOVE cooking shows, my daughter more that my son. I find my son gets very hungry (don't we all) when watching a cooking show. SurvivorMan is a great show.. OK, now things are coming to me! Animal Planet and Nat Geo - I bet your boys would love these channels!! Plus they'll be learning for sure!
Best wishes,
M.

Mythbusters
How'd they do that
several programs on animal planet and the discovery channel might interest him and are generally "safe".

as far as cartoons, i like Johnny Test, the Saturdays, or Pokemon. We've stopped watching a lot of the disney stuff because the "live actor" programs are really more in the preteen/young teen age range (like you mentioned).

All that said, its worth having a DVR. Even my little one (4.5yo) can operate ours and get to programs he wants to watch.

Hope that helps.

If you have a computer, a good place to see videos (free) is http://www.hulu.com/channels/Family

My sons LOVE "Harold and the Purple Crayon" episodes, and there are movies there too.

They do have commercials, but they're not like the crazy saturday-morning cartoons' commercials that keep me from letting them watch regular tv.

P.S. I'm with you on Sponge Bob. :)

I have an 8 year old boy. For the past 2-3 years Pokemon and Backugan have been his favorite shows. Though there is a level of "battling" I see it more as a battle of wits at using the right moves with your pokemon or backugan. The main characters are caring to their pokemon or backugan...making sure they eat/sleep and get medical care. Though both shows did lead to a collection...Pokemon cards and Backugan figures. We were able set up incentive programs for earning cards and figures. And it has been amazing to see him memorize the cards/figures names along with their strengths and weeknesses. And he has been interested in reading the Pokemon books as well!

My son is 4, so he's a little younger, but I just put on Discovery Kids for him last night and he watched it mesmerized...although he was annoyed by the commercials! The shows were actually a little old for him, I thought, but he really liked it. There was a show about kids on an overnight trip to Sea World and a show about kids going to help Polar Bears in the Arctic. I think he enjoyed the nature part of things and also loves seeing shows with kids in them.

Good luck! There really is a shortage of good stuff out there for kids...and I'm with you...can't stand Sponge Bob either!

-M

I have a 5 yr old boy, and he loves a lot of the shows on the PBS station. His favorites are Super Why, Word Girl, and Word World. They are great, educatonal, and he really enjoys it. I agree that at this age, they are too young for some of the more mature Disney shows.

We don't actually have TV anymore (Ha! Read ON, this isn't as snooty as you might think:) We go off of DVD's or things that are streamable on Netflix. Anyhow...because people have different versions of "wholesome" these are my son's and my favorites from the past 2 years, no holds barred:

Educational & Fun
- Magic Schoolbus
- Nova Specials...on just about anything (but he HATES imax)
- The Universe series...PBS I think...stunning visuals (PBS has a LOT of good ones)
- Engineering an Empire series
- "Walking With" series ( with dinosaurs, with prehistoric beasts, etc., ) ..stunning visuals
- Zaboomafoo
- In Between The Lions

Fun
- Avatar; The Last Airbender...this is the only cartoon series *I* got addicted to. We ended up buying all 4 seasons.
- Pixar stuff (Wall-E, Nemo, Ant Bully, Cars, etc.)
- Wallace & Grommet
- The Pink Panther
- Scooby Doo
- Bugs Bunny & Road Runner (originals)
- The Muppet Show (original)

You Let Him Watch WHAT?
- Starwars
- Indiana Jones
- Doctor Who (NuWho, and the old series, but nuWho is his favorite)
- Pirates of the Carribean
- Inuyasha (in japanese, not dubbed)
- Harry Potter
- Transformers
- Monty Python
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Labyrinth
- Around the World in 80 Days

The Making Of:
- Nearly any film or TV show...he LOVES to see exactly how they make it

Old Favorites
- Kipper
- Bob the Builder
- Fireman Sam
- Angelina Ballerina
- Pingu
- Schoolhouse Rock
- Pigglywinks