best movies for toddlers

"Dragon" wrote in message
om...
(Natalie) wrote in message
. com...
I am a professional nanny.
I agree that a 2 year old child should not be exposed to a tv for the
amount of time that it takes to finish a full length movie.
I have discovered that the best thing for a child to watch (if you
need to have the tv babysit them for a short amount of time or you
need something to settle them down and focus) is a video from the Baby
Einstein collection. There are many 30 minute videos to choose
from...ones on world animals, neighborhood animals, the sky, art,
poetry, sea life, etc. Through the use of puppets and the constant
flow of action and change on the screen, even the most active two year
old will sit still, with their eyes glued on the tv for 30 minutes.
And the best part is that they learn A LOT from the videos.
I currently work for a family with a 2 year boy, who is always on the
move. But as soon as I say that we are going to watch "Baby" or "D"
("D" is what he says when he wants to watch a Baby Einstein DVD), he
climbs onto the sofa and stays there...singing and rocking and
laughing and learning his way through the video. I can honestly say
that most of the knowledge that he has about the world around him, he
has learned from the Baby Einstein videos.
When he is at the house, the only time the tv is allowed to be on is
when we watch one of his videos. Because of that, he doesn't know what
he is "missing", so there is never an issue of him wanting to watch
tv. He finds other ways of entertaining himself...mainly through
books.

To each his own, I guess. I found the Baby Einstein videos to be
little more than 25 minute toy commercials, of dubious educational
content. My child was bored with them by the time he was a year old
and, frankly, I was glad. On the other hand, the Sesame Street videos
that feature songs, dancing and that amazing SS animation (there are
tons of them) are classics that my child loves and learns from to this
day (he's almost 5 now). IMHO, you can't go wrong with

Learning About Letters
Learning About Numbers
Silly Songs
Sing Along
Fiesta
Do the Alphabet
Alphabet Jungle
Sing Hoot and Howl
Bedtime Stories and Songs
Play Along Games and Songs
The Great Numbers Game
Let's All Sing Together
Monster Hits
Get Up and Dance
123 Count with Me

The Wee Sing tapes are out of print and hard to find, but good for
toddlers and preschoolers. They're not particularly educational, but
fun. Our family also enjoys the BabySong tapes by Hap Palmer, and the
Disney Sing Alongs.

KidSongs are very similar to Wee Sing. I've had good luck finding all of the
above on the previously viewed video section at Blockbuster (I leave them as
backup activities for substitutes for my preschool/primary music classes if
the substitute doesn't feel comfortable doing regular music classes)
dragon

"jojo" wrote in message .com...
"I don't think Finding Nemo is a good movie for toddlers. It moves too
slow and the
colors aren't vibrant. "

My son LOVES finding nemo, and although he is not allowed much TV, he will
watch this one
through. I also think the colors are very vibrant.
Is this movie appropriate for a 2 year old? hmmm...I have to tell you we
always skip the "mother and eggs getting killed" scene and for a long time
skipped the "Bruce goes nuts" scene. For my two year old, Nemo always begins
with "first day of school!"
jojo

My daughter is 2.5 and she never sits through a whole movie. However,
she really enjoyes 'Finding Nemo'. We always allow her to watch the
whole movie.She loves the color and the fish in the sea really appeals
to her. Some of her favorite tv shows are animal plant, zoomabafoo,
and Caliou.Any show that has animals is enjoyable in our house.
Discovery channel has really developed her ability to recognize and
say animal names.

"jojo" wrote in message .com...
"I don't think Finding Nemo is a good movie for toddlers. It moves too
slow and the
colors aren't vibrant. "

My son LOVES finding nemo, and although he is not allowed much TV, he will
watch this one
through. I also think the colors are very vibrant.
Is this movie appropriate for a 2 year old? hmmm...I have to tell you we
always skip the "mother and eggs getting killed" scene and for a long time
skipped the "Bruce goes nuts" scene. For my two year old, Nemo always begins
with "first day of school!"
jojo

Those scenes didn't bother my DS, but what *did* scare him to death
were the scenes with the dentist's niece. DS is terrified of anyone
in a movie who is hysterical, angry or yelling. We fast-forward
through any scene that horrible little girl is in. Otherwise, he
really loves Nemo. Listening to him sing along to "Beyond the Sea" at
the end of the move is just too cute!

dragon

"jojo" wrote in message .com...
"I don't think Finding Nemo is a good movie for toddlers. It moves too
slow and the
colors aren't vibrant. "

My son LOVES finding nemo, and although he is not allowed much TV, he will
watch this one
through. I also think the colors are very vibrant.
Is this movie appropriate for a 2 year old? hmmm...I have to tell you we
always skip the "mother and eggs getting killed" scene and for a long time
skipped the "Bruce goes nuts" scene. For my two year old, Nemo always begins
with "first day of school!"
jojo

My daughter loves Finding Nemo, too. She even likes the scary parts.
She'll laugh and say, "Shark eat eggs!" I guess she's strange.

Renee