Monday, July 6, 2009
What's In Your DVD Collection?
By Katie M
Ok, Smarties, I'm calling on you again! Much like I did for my Ipod blog, and my summer reading blog, I need your help in coming up with some great DVDs for my children's enjoyment - and for my sanity and relaxation - during our 8+ hour drive home from vacation next week. We're lucky in that we drive a mini-van equipped with DVD players - and we're finally at the age where both our children (ages five and two) can simultaneously watch movies (and sometimes the same movie!) for longer than 5 minutes at a time. But what to watch?
Thankfully our kids are not TV junkies. We do turn on the TV in the early morning hours and right before bedtime - but it's almost background noise in our house anymore. If it's not Dora, Diego or Thomas the Train - then forget about it.
My daughter (age five) is a huge Disney Princess movie addict - and a budding Barbie movie fanatic. Give her any flick from those collections, and she's hooked. She's also a big music lover, and loves classics like Wizard of Oz, Annie, and Mary Poppins. My son (age two), however, is not so predicatable, and he doesn't sit still for any of her favorite movies, unfortunately. I would have thought any movie featuring Barney, Bob the Builder, Clifford - or other boyish-themed cartoons - would have caught his attention. Instead, he prefers movies I think of for older kids: ET, Polar Express, Wall-E, Monster House, and Mee-Shee The Water Giant - go figure! And on the flip side, my daughter doesn't necessarily dig these movies either.
So, I've already reached out to a couple of Smarty readers for their help in compiling a list of DVDs suitable - and popular - for this age group (ages 2-6). Below are some titles they sent. If you have additional suggestions, please add them in the comments below! I would love some quiet time on the drive home this year!!
Suggested DVDs for Ages 2-6
From Robin F:
Wizard of Oz
Mary Poppins
Madeline (the one with people, not cartoon)
Hotel for Dogs
Pippi Longstocking
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
From Summer R:
We have loved watching the scholastic DVD collection it's available at Costco of course, and you can check them out at the library. Each tape has several popular children's books that have been animated based on the illustrations in the books. It is a great way to tie in literacy, and most of the DVD's have a "read along" feature so the words will go along the bottom of the movie as you go. I highly reccomend these!! Connor has recently loved Popular Mechanics for kids, which is all live action informational DVD about specific topics. We hardly watch TV anymore either.. actually we've only been watching DVD's once every couple of days.
From Rachel H:
Both of my children like Scooby-Doo (any and all of them!), The Parent Trap (new and old versions), High School Musical, E.T., Home Alone, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the one with Jim Carrey). Jake also likes- Star Wars, and Wall-E. Anna also likes- Leap Frog Letter Factory, Word Factory, and Math Circus.
What else do you suggest?
Don't forget to sign up for the fabulous FREE family portrait session with Andrea Halsey Photography! This promotion ends at Noon on Friday, July 17 and the winner will be announced on July 19. You must be a Triad Smarty Pants newsletter subscriber to enter. Just click here to register. Good luck!
6 comments:
My kids (ages 4 and 7) love "Firehouse Dog" and "Racing Stripes". Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry and Superfriends (yes, the cartoon WE used to watch!) are also big hits.
My kids like the Leap Frog DVD's also. I honestly think that is how my oldest learned the sounds of letters at such a young age. (But we don't have a DVD player in the car!!!)
One I love and recommend is a collection of the Peanuts TV specials. They are great because they are seasonal (although we watch them year round) and relatively short. A little sketchy on the language (stupid, blockhead, etc.) but still magical. They take me right back to my own childhood.
Another one that I love I bought for a friend's kid. It's Season 1 of the Muppet Show. It's time to play the music...
And one I haven't remembered to get out yet—a good friend bought me the complete Schoolhouse Rock collection a few years ago—pre kids, even. I definitely need to get out Conjunction Junction, I'm Just a Bill, and Interplanet Janet!
Oh, and my kids both love the Toy Story movies, and were jumping in the pool yelling "To Infinity...and Beyond!" all day after watching it.
We take a lot of summer road trips & have since my son was an infant (he's 5 now). He's a GREAT traveler & I credit that to a lot of quality DVD's. Our fav pics are: Wall-E, Scooby Doo, Brother Bear series, All Dogs Go to Heaven series & the VeggieTales! Of course, we occasionally turn it off to turn his attention to the great outdoors! After all, isn't that all we had to look at on long roadtrips when WE were kids???
The Wonderpets DVD's are great. The music and singing aren't annoying to parents, which is a plus. They story lines are also healthy and fun.
Post a Comment