I'm in search of some TV shows or DVDs for my two year old son that are NOT animated. He really doesn't like cartoons at all. He is very into Baby Einstein and Curious Buddies but I'm going to lose my mind if I have to watch these videos that much longer and would like to have a few more options in my DVD cabinet. I have been trying Sesame Street with him for some time but it only holds his attention for about 5 minutes on a good day. I've also shown him the Wiggles a few times but he doesn't seem interested in that either. Puppets of virtually any kind and animals are really what seem to hold his attention the most. Any ideas please let me know! Thanks!
I LOVE TOY TRAINS series...
And at age 2, TV and videos really shouldn't be holding his attention for more than 5-15 minutes at a time. That is normal for an active little guy.
My 2 year old's favorite show is "In the Night Garden" it airs on The Hub. Made by the same people that made Teletubbies and Boobahs, she likes those too, we have DVDs from her brothers.
Thomas the Tank is another one.
A slightly older Disney Channel show is JoJo's Circus. My boys loved that to bits. There are DVDs of it but I'm pretty sure it doesn't air on TV anymore.
Some others I was going to suggest are listed already.
Fraggle rock (hub), the muppets, thomas the train dvd's and sat morning, between the lyons (pbs), backyardigans (nick jr)
The Fresh Beat Band!
Take a few minutes and tool around on YouTube to find stuff he might like. You can do searches for non-animated children's shows. Also, you can do similar searches on the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com).
Fraggle Rock!
Thomas the Tank Engine
The Muppet Show
Wallace & Grommit (LOVE these, they're claymation, however. Not cartoons, but not real people/puppets either)
National Geographic (animal movies/documentaries)
Old School Musicals / Operettas :) :) :)
- Annie
- My Fair Lady
- The Sound of Music
- Pirates of Penzance
AND... it will delay his verbalizing a tad... but if you can get shows in other languages (like nature shows, sesame street, etc.) his audiocortex will EXPLODE in growth and development. He won't be learning the other languages, nor the concepts in the shows -but really, he won't be missing much, but his brain will learn to HEAR the sounds of other languages that don't exist in English, and he'll learn the rhythm that goes along with other languages. So when he DOES go to learn those languages later on he'll be accent free. ((Think of how you 'hear' a french person speak english, or an italian speak english, or japanese, spanish, russian. Those accents you hear are because their brains CANNOT actually hear the sounds that we're making in English because their audiocortexes atrophied when they were children.))
Oobi (on the Noggin channel It is a Puppet show. VERY creative. I like it myself) http://www.tv.com/oobi/show/19906/summary.html
The Upside Down Show (Noggin channel)
Gullah Gullah Island (Noggin Channel)
Boobah
These shows are great.
See if they have DVD sets on it.
Online.
I believe they do.
My kids love these shows.
It is age appropriate.
This is also very good:
http://www.babyfirsttv.com/
We have this channel, per Dish Network.
My son loves it.
Try and see if you have this tv channel.
Lots of NON-animated kids/toddler shows... very good.
BARNEY!!!! My child was obsessed for 2 years! It's actually way less annoying than it used to be.
Copy-Kids is a DVD that encourages healthy eating in young children; http://copy-kids.com/ Simple. Adorable. It features kids having such a good time eating fruits and veggies, that when children watch it they want to join in.
My daughter wouldn't watch cartoons either. She loved Barney and The Wiggles. Barney still comes on PBS but I don't think the Wiggles do. I bet you would have to find them online or buy DVD's.
Updated
My daughter wouldn't watch cartoons either. She loved Barney and The Wiggles. Barney still comes on PBS but I don't think the Wiggles do. I bet you would have to find them online or buy DVD's.
not animated....hmmmm....
my daughter used to love Barney when she was 1 1/2 to 2. she's 3 now and has found many other things she liked so doesnt watch as much. she also likes the Wubbulous World of Dr Seus, which has all the Dr Seuss characters as puppets rather than animation. i'm interested to see the responses. its so hard to think of non-animated shows! what doesnt he like about cartoons? is the animation too much/too busy? if so, he might like Kipper. my daughter loves it! the animation is very simple and "non-busy". its about a british dog and his friends.
My son is the same way! It's animated (however, very different animation), but he LOVES Pocoyo. You can search for it youtube, to see if he'd like it. They have many episodes on there. There is also a DVD we found called "Puppy Party." (I think redbox has it!) It has all kinds of cute puppies, and my son just loves it
Jack's Big Music Show on Nick Jr. is a puppet show that also has people. Laurie Berkner is on there a lot.
Have you tried "Elmo's World"? My son didn't like Sesame Street, but he loved Elmo.
Other suggestions (besides Barney):
Teletubbies
Signing Time
Wonder Pets - they're not like traditional cartoons, not sure if he'd go for it
Yo Gabba Gabba
Baby Genius
My son absolutely adores Imagination Movers. He's 16 months old and dances to all the songs!
