Highly Recommended Books and Dvd's for 2 Year Old

The "Braincandy" series is wonderful! My daughter is almost 3 and still loves them. Also the "Brainy Baby" series. My daughter learned so much from them!

My son has learned a lot from the Leap Frog DVD "Letter Factory" and the Preschool Prep DVDs.

http://www.preschoolprepco.com

Hi D.
My Daughter will be 5 in August, Her favorite videos/ dvds were baby Einstein, I can not say enough about them, Old Mac Donald Nad Noah were 2 of her favorites, however we had the whole series and she loved them all. Very educational,along with Leapfrog Letter factory , they also have 2 more. She read her first book to me at a little over 4 years old, she not only knows the alphabet but what each sound a letter makes along with what they do. I also read to her daily, numerous books. Any book that catches their attention is a good one. Use your library as a resource. The books are endless.
As for tv programs, Super Why, Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, Word World, Caillou(probably spelled wrong), Syd the science kid, all very educational, Franny is also very cute. My Daughter gets to watch 2 programs a day (1 hour). Not big on tv however they are educational.
Enjoy, The time goes by so very quickly.
V.

Teletubbies,Barney,Curious George,Clifford,leap frog DVDs

DVDs that are the best - Leap Frog Letter Factory - she'll know her letters in no time

BabySongs - ABCs and 123s is great, but all of the Baby Songs ones are really. For the ABC one I have the kids get sticks for Tap your Sticks and follow along, same with bean bag rag - they get a stuffed animal and do the actions. This teaches them listening and following direction skills plus gets them active.

Books - all of them, lol. I have so many in my library. At that age stick to simple ones with a few words per page. But variety is the spice of life when it comes to books.

The best book on the market for you is "Einstein didn't use flash cards" It helps us all understand that the "learning" toy industry is full of ____. for reading, it doesn't really matter what your little one "reads". It is more a process of interaction between the two of you. Letting her watch the pictures, talking about what she sees, asking her questions, helping her learn vocabulary. Go with her interests. My daughter loves: Angelina Ballerina, Olivia, Eric Carle's "the seahorse", Dora - we got a set of 12 at Costco and they were quite educational: learning manners, going to the dentist, going to school etc. She also loves the one about the blue fish. She also loves lots of the Dr. Seuss ones. We got a box of little books on cars, diggers, airplanes etc also at costco that she loves. She seems to be able to deal with a book that has a story. I don't know how much she understands but she definitely seems to prefer those ones and doesn't read the Boynton ones or other board books anymore. Also on the web: www.starfall.com is great. My little one at 2 has learned all her letters from it. Of course what she understands by the letters is another question. The TV "Baby can Read" is expensive garbage. They have no scientific evidence that children long term read better by that series and really they are teaching drill memorization of shapes rather than reading. You would be better to spend time with vocabulary for which a 2 yr old is in a sensitive phase (aka piaget and maria montessori's "sensitive phases"). For DVD's again the scientific advice is to not use any until past two and even perhaps until age 5 but most of us can't quite survive without any. I find the Dora ones pretty good. good luck

My ds loved the Biscuit books at that age. ALso, the board books for Dr. Suess are really great and he loved them, too. LIke Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Or One Fish Two Fish... stuff like that. OH! The Mister books. Ask at Barnes and Noble. THey will know what they are. You will remember them from childhood, I bet. Oh, and Little Bear. Harry the Dirty Dog.

Berenstain Bears and Arthur are big around here now. I wish I had found them sooner.

Good Night, Moon of course and Guess How Much I Love You. Classics.

For DVD's, he did not watch tv until after he was 2. But then he liked Caillou and Thomas... also now he likes Handy Manny. But of course he's a boy. :) Caillou is great if you don't mind his voice, which I don't and he is a really good gender neutral character. That's why they made him bald so that anyone could identify with him...

Also, Max and Ruby is cute.

Hope this helps. We are BIG into Arthur books and tv now so I have kind of forgotten all the stuff he was into then. I do know Biscuit was huge... because he named our puppy Biscuit last year! LOL

Check out your local library. They are such a great source of information. Ask them and our librarians are soooo helpful!

D.,
Usborne Books & More has won many awards for their books. Please visit my website at www.usborneshoppe.us to take a look. I can make some recommendations if you would like to email me at ____@____.com with her interests. I would also like to offer anyone that reads this 10% off on your order if you email it to me. Or have a party and earn lots of free books!
H.

Both my kids LOVE Karen Katz books....I have a 2 1/2 and 1 year old.

I'm a librarian, though not a children's librarian so I don't have specific book or video suggestions. I do recommend visiting the local library if you haven't already. It's the best way to get a sense for what is out there and what your daughter likes. If you are lost and don't know what to pick up, ask a librarian for some of his or her favorites! Most librarians are extremely knowledgeable about children's books and can give great ideas. Also, you may find the Notable Videos lists from the American Library Association useful:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/child...

This page is the most recent list, though there is a link on this page to take you to past lists. These aren't all "educational" per se, but the site includes brief descriptions so you can see whether any of them interest you, and they offer age recommendations.

Good luck!

We watch PBS and Sprout! My daughter loves everything from Barney and Dragon Tales to Zaboomafoo. I actually do not think there is a show she does not like. It seems to me that most everything on these channels is educational in some way... from sharing, learning about animals to counting and ABCs. I have also bought some of the DVDs of them for while in the car... if you can not find them at the local stores you can find it on thier website. She also loves the Baby Genius DVDs... most are just songs that characters dance and sing to but she loves them and everytime we get in the car she asks for it first.

As for books... anything they will sit down long enough to listen to with you. We also like interactive books- where she has to lift flaps, move things, hit buttons etc. But her favorite is a Baby Einstein or Mozart one(its in her bedroom so I can not check)... it is full of pics of animals and on the top of each page there is a shape and then you push the button that matches it and it plays the music while you read it.

I will say this though... my daughter has not yet gotten into Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast etc... I think these are just too long and too much of a story still for her(she is almost 3) I know with my son we did not watch them until he was around 5 or 6.

Great question and I plan to come back to see other peoples advice since I am always looking for new ones!
Blessings!

I like anything on PBS. My 2 year old loves Sesame Street, Super Why, and Martha Speaks.

It's not crucial to show "the best" of whatever is out there to your child; it's better to provide your child with books or shows that she seems to enjoy and is interested in watching/reading.

My daughter turned 2 last February and loves all kinds of animal books. She likes to learn all the names of the animals and "read" the book to me after I read it to her. Some "classics" are Clifford, Franklin, Berenstein Bears, Max and Ruby, Sesame Street, and Dr. Seuss. As for DVDs, Word World and Super Why are two on PBS that teach early literacy skills. There are many shows made for toddlers that embed some type of learning in them. Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney shows incorporate learning in their shows. You should preview some of them and decide for yourself. Another option is to visit your local library and ask for rec. from the children's librarian. They are a great resource.

We loved "Good Night Gorilla". It's one of our favorite!

If you can go to a story time or toddler time at your library, that could be a lot of fun.

Hi D.,
My daughter loved the Sandra Boynton Books at that age. She is 4 1/2 now and we still read them sometimes. As for videos, She and I loved the Wiggles. They taught her movement and dance, numbers and letters, how to follow instructions, etc... We have not seen any of the new ones with the new Yellow Wiggle Sam but we loved the ones with the "retired" Yellow Wiggle Greg.
Here are a few of the titles:
Big Red Car, Wiggly Safari (with the late Steve Irwin), Wiggly Wiggly World, Wiggle Time (my favorite), & Racing the Rainbow. Let me know if you have any questions.

My girls love the Noodlebug DVD's and cds.

I think as far as books go the easy answer is everything! Anything that gets her attention is good. I second the vote for the Sandra Boynton books - they are just so cute and fun. When my son was 2 he loved the "Here Come The ABCs" DVD by They Might Be Giants. They also have a newer "Here Come The 123s" and he loves that as well. I am pasting in the link to the CD/DVD combo for ABCs. You can find videos on youtube if you want to preview and get a feel for it (it may be an acquired taste). Since these are songs not episodes, it's easy to let them watch just 20 minutes of the DVD at a time.

http://www.amazon.com/Here-Come-ABCs-DVD-Combo/dp/B000BEZPSC

My kids learnt from Galloping Minds DVDs and their flash cards.

www.gallopingminds.com