[MMC66]

Ok it's time for me to suck it up and get a few videos for Addy (now 17 months). I'm trying to come up with some creative ways for her to sit still while I do her hair in the morning and thought maybe a cool video would help.

What do your kids like ie, what is most likely to send them into the TV zombie state for fifteen minutes or so

Martha

[mikiment]

My 2 kids (23 and 24 mos.) aren't allowed to watch much tv, but they still love their Baby Einstein videos, especially any with animals (On the Farm, World Animals, Neighborhood Animals, Baby Noah.) They last about 30 min., have soft classical music intermixed with little nursery rhymes/songs (but not at the same time, heh, heh), and aren't too "fast and flashy" so the children don't become too aggressive or overly excited.

Another set I love is HBO's Classical Baby -- it has 3 DVDS, one for art, dance, and music. The music DVD is absolutely beautiful if you love classical music. I put it on, and if I'm in the kitchen where I don't see the screen (and the singing cows, animated polar bears, etc.), I honestly forget that it's a "children's video" (thus much less painful.)

Any of these would probably work very well at your child's age. Longer videos are probably too much to hold her attention span (no hypnotizing her now!)

Good luck, I know there are many good ones out there so hopefully you'll get some good responses.

[blessedbybug]

DD is 25 months... she has enjoyed Baby Einstein since she was about 6 months old (only for about 15minutes when Momma needed a break!). Now she LOVES Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street and Barney.

[Lovebug]

You guys are my heroes!!!! My son LOVES the TV! He would watch all day if I allowed it! Lol. He loves Sesame Street, Barney and Clifford and on the Disney Channel he likes Jojo's Circus. I try to limit is as much as I can so I let him watch one show a day, kwim?? Like here Sesame Street is on at 9 until 10...I usually put it on for the last 20 to 30 minutes as Elmo's World is at the end and he loves Elmo. Then the next day I'll put on Barney which is at 10:30 - 11:00. Then the next day I'll put on Clifford which is 11 - 11:30 and then the next day I'll put on Jojo which comes on here at 1:30 - 2 so every day he watches about 30 min of TV, but it is all different times so he doesn't get sooo sooo sooo attached to it and so he has a variety of stuff he sees, kwim??? Plus, 30 minutes for me to check email or drink my coffee is good for me, too! Lol. I admit, though, I even like those shows and we really get into Barney and sing and dance with them. I sing the song to Clifford and Jojo and Elmo's world and we basically watch together and I talk to him through the show and we interact about it...basically adding another dimension to our day and not just letting him veg, kwim???

--Renee

[GCS]

My oldest is 4.5 and my youngest 21 months. We have just about every Baby Einstein movie. I usually put one on after I've gotten them dressed in the morning so I can get ready. They watch it together. I will sit with them once a week or so and watch it too. I always watch the movie with them the very first time they see it.
Our favorites are:
Baby Mc Donald
Baby DaVinci (Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes)
Baby Neptune

Sam actually learned a lot of English from the shows when we adopted him last year - he was 3.

Good luck!
Christina

[brandydawn]

My daughter is 15 months and the one that gets her to "go zombie" is the movie Madagascar.

Regards,
Brandy

[ahimsa]

OK...I preface this by saying I'm a total "be nice to animals" kind of person. I'm trying to instill those values in my kids, and feel better about movies that do as well:

Free Willy
Babe
Chicken Run
Madagascar

Good Luck!

[GCS]

Free Willy is a great one - especially for the over 2 crowd. It was my son's first favorite movie after coming here from Russia. I know he learned a lot of English from it. He still is supremely interested in whales and all things aquatic. He calls every orca "Willy".

Christina

[Poolside]

I'm going to have to go with the Baby Einstein recommendation. We bought 2rd old Baby Noah for her birthday... loved loved loved it.. Last week I put in Baby Bach for new baby (3months). TWO year old watched it for an hour!! You really cant go wrong with anything in that series. Baby MacDonald, Baby Davinci. awesome.

**We also have circa 1980 Sesame street vidoes. Pre-Elmo but very sweet.

[Bassette]

At that age Kiran was mesmerized by "tubby tubbies" (teletubbies). Now at 2.5 it is Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin. He really enjoys singing and dancing. Don't they all? *gush*

[ermiller]

Natalie is 16 months and I admit to letting her watch way more tv than I ever intended

I 3rd (or 4th) the Baby Einstein videos, she loves Baby MacDonald.

She also likes her Sesame Street videos - particularly Elmo goes to the Dr.

Sesame Street is by far her favorite show on TV but she likes JoJo's Circus, The Higglytown Heroes.

Erin

[maxkinzie]

We started with the BabyEinsteins, anything animals. They also put out an interesting SignLanguage show, doesnt' seem all that exciting to me, but it keeps DD's interest. I think we burned out on the B.E.'s for a while, lately it has been the Wiggles, I watch them with her the first couple times, then I can kind of go through it while I do her hair. They're fun, creative songs, and if I remember that these guys didn't set out to do this for a living, I can tolerate them. I even wake up with their songs in my head

Barney holds her interest sometimes but not for long. I am actually not a big fan of Sesame Street, at least for a 15 month old.- I really don't want DD to emulate what a lot of characters on that show do, wild, loud, fits of frustration etc. JMHO...

To keep it more interesting yet affordable we have been checking DVD's, VHS's out from the library (FREE!!!). Plus then if one is really a dud, no loss!

max

[MMC66]

OK I feel really silly for asking but where do you buy these videos - I've been out of the loop for a while - next oldest kid is 9. Does Toys-r-us sell them?? Barnes and Noble???

Thanks,
Martha

[MamaTo6]

Mikey loves Barney.....and I have bought tons of Barney movies and others such as Blues Clues, Dora, and Wiggles from 2nd hand stores. They also sell new movies and DVD's in stores like Walmart.

TreeHouse is also a great channel and free with cable. Im not sure about where you are but here our Treehouse channel plays 24 hours a day so I was able to tape some of Mikeys favorite shows for when I need some mommy time.


Also Freecycle.com...you can ask for any free movies that somebody else may be finished with. They grow out of them so fast and at 20 bucks a DVD I prefer to go the cheaper way.

[wtjames59]

We brought our son home when he was 10 months old. We did not start with dvd's until he was 14 months and we began with baby einstein's including their signing dvd. We also used Signing Times dvd - which was a supreme hit. We use signing with our son and this one especially floated his boat. He has become more physically active and now at 2 we don't use dvd's or tv much in his presence.