My two oldest children are 4 and 3, and have sampled many of the children’s TV shows on Netflix. Here are my five favorites of the shows currently available (as of August 2015).
1. Octonauts
This is hands-down my favorite kids show on Netflix right now. It reminds me of an undersea children’s Star Trek – a team of cute animated animals live together in an underwater station/submarine, and travel around helping marine creatures. There are two stories in each half-hour episode, and each story features a new sea creature or fish.
I love that the show is NOT centered around interpersonal conflict. The characters care about each other, help each other, and rescue each other. Each has a distinct role and personality, too, such as Peso – a Mexican penguin medic who is fearful of everything, but always summons up his courage once he realizes that someone needs help. There are some moments of (very tame) peril, but even scary sea creatures like sharks are animated in a cute, harmless way and their voracious hunger is played for humor rather than fright.
And at the end of every episode is an adorable, fun theme song called the “Creature Report” which recaps everything they learned about the featured sea creature (along with a photo or video clip of the real-life animal). My son, especially, has retained a lot of what he’s learned from this show.
Potential cons for some parents may be: occasional use of burps for humor’s sake, and some talk of “ghosts” and “monsters” (which of course always turn out to be perfectly normal sea creatures).
2. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That
This is essentially The Magic School Bus for the toddler set! In each story, two neighbor kids named Sally and Mick find a new conundrum to solve, and the Cat in the Hat shows up to whisk them away in his “Thing-A-Ma-Wigger,” a contraption that – like the Magic School Bus – can transform itself in all kinds of ways. (They always get their mothers’ permission before leaving, too, which is a nice change from the Dr. Seuss books where things are done behind the mom’s back.) They learn about animals, habitats, insects, and sometimes processes like how chocolate is made. At the end of each episode is a random collection of animal facts and songs.
Potential cons: I can’t even think of any, except for the extreme catchiness of the theme song, which can be a bit annoying at times! 😛
3. Curious George
The Curious George show is very different from the books. I have a major beef with the books – he always disobeys and makes all kinds of trouble, but never gets any consequences and is portrayed as a hero by the end! But the TV show is NOT like this. George still gets into mischief, but we see him try to right his mistakes and get reprimanded for them, and he always realizes that what he did comes with consequences to the other people around him. By the end of each story things are made right again, and rather than learning he can get away scot-free, George has actually learned the importance of listening and staying out of trouble. The result is that the show is a just a sweet, cute romp through an adventuresome monkey’s life as he learns new facts about the world around him. It’s all about learning and exploration.
Potential cons: sometimes George imagines people crying in response to whatever trouble he made. These “thought bubble” scenes (and other scenes where George or side characters are afraid) are disturbing to my son, who is rather sensitive to characters’ emotions. I doubt most children would have a problem with it, but it’s a con for me.
4. Stella and Sam
This show wins the prize for “sweetest!” It’s about a big sister who leads her brother in fun imaginary adventures, using ordinary, everyday things like leaf piles, sweaters, chairs, and rainbows. It’s a very gentle, happy show that portrays and models kindness and affection toward your siblings, which I greatly appreciate.
Potential cons: unless you are opposed to discussion of imagination and pretend “magic,” I really can’t think of any!
5. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
There is a lot to like in this show. It’s modeled after Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, except it’s about an animated tiger and his family and friends. It’s like Mr. Rogers meets Blue’s Clues (which is not on Netflix – but it is free for streaming on Amazon Prime, if you’re looking for another great kids’ show and you are a Prime member!).
Every episode follows Daniel through a new experience, situation, or adventure…picking strawberries, going to the doctor, first day of school, trying new foods, first sleepover, etc. One of my favorite things is that each episode teaches a short, simple song to help kids remember things like saying please, keeping your temper, or what to do when you’re afraid. These are simple, helpful ditties that might actually help kids cope with new situations or unpleasant emotions. There are also frequent interludes about using your imagination, in which Daniel imagines inanimate objects coming alive to sing with him. At the end of every segment is a live-action portion with a child experiencing whatever Daniel did during the story.
Potential cons: again, unless you are opposed to the hefty use of imagination, there’s not much to critique here. There are some episodes about fear, which might be something to consider if you have a sensitive child like my son.
A few short reviews of other shows you might check out:
Chuggington – This show follows a team of anthropomorphic trains who are “trainees” (get it?) learning to do their jobs. There are lots of episode themes like responsibility, following directions, including others, and so forth. Recommended!
Magic School Bus – This show is great, but it’s better for the older set, who will get more out of it. There are also a few episodes I prefer to skip at this point because they focus on haunted houses or I’m concerned about other aspects of the content. When my kids are a little older I’ll love it for them! If you have a more advanced or older preschooler, this is still a great show to check out for them.
Mighty Machines – This is a cool show that just uses live footage of construction vehicles and adds voice-over vocals to make them talk about what they do. A new type of machine is featured in each episode. I’ve found my son adores this show but my daughters are disinterested.
Thomas the Tank Engine – I suppose most of us are familiar with Thomas. It’s not a bad show! Aside from some grumpy or ill-tempered characters, and the occasional supposed “ghost” (which isn’t real) I don’t know of many cons for it, but my kids don’t find it incredibly engaging. They rarely ask for it. Worth checking out especially for a younger toddler boy who loves trains.
Kipper – This animated show about a dog and his friends is very, very tame and quiet. It’s visually minimalist, with quiet British voices. I would like it more if it were not for the strange obsession with aliens… For some reason every other episode is about Kipper encountering something that came from space, with spooky music. Also, I’m pretty sure there are some episodes with a ghost. I’m not a huge fan. (Also, Netflix lumps the episodes into hour-long collections, rather than bite-size episodes by themselves.)
Clifford – My daughter asks to watch this occasionally. The characters can be so catty, and all the lessons it teaches are about doing the right thing – which, of course, means that they show the characters doing the wrong thing first, a concept that can be great for older viewers but for toddlers just seems like a great way to teach them bad behavior. It’s not my favorite show.
Sofia the First – I saw a few episodes of this at a car dealership once. They’re cute stories, but like Clifford, characters can be very catty and mean to each other (no need for my kids to learn that sort of behavior), and there was also an evil magician who was portrayed in a way I wasn’t comfortable with.
Trotro – The first time I saw an episode of this, the donkey was hiding his food under his napkin so he could go outside to play faster. Thanks for teaching my kids that cool new trick, Trotro! Bye forever. *clicks back to main menu* 😛 There are so many cute shows for kids – I don’t want to spend time on TV that teaches my children new ways to misbehave.
Bob the Builder – Cute animated show about an architect/builder and his team of anthropomorphic construction vehicles. Some shows have live-action segments with real builders, explaining how they construct homes, train tracks, or other structures. Most of these on Netflix are “collections” of episodes, so they are over an hour long each, but definitely worth checking out, especially if your child is into construction vehicles.
LeapFrog educational videos – There are several of these short movies on Netflix, so it’s kind of like a short TV show season and worth including here. They teach skills like counting, math, letters, and phonics. The older ones are a bit annoying (terribly corny dialogue and music), but the newer ones with the digital animation style are much better.
Do you know of any other good shows for toddlers and preschoolers that can be streamed online? Let us know in the comments!
