Screen time, it’s a tricky topic with many many different approaches and opinions among parents. I don’t claim to have ever wanted to be that parent who’s child never watches TV but I’ve also maintained that Amelia doesn’t watch too much and that we don’t use it as a parenting substitute.
There are times though, especially now that she is getting older when the TV or Youtube on our phones are the only way we can get her to sit down for a moment. I find putting a Youtube video on my phone in the mornings super helpful because she will actually sit still and allow me to comb her hair and get her dressed.
We also find that an episode on TV in the evening after nursery keeps her occupied long enough for me to get her dinner ready without her round my ankles in the kitchen.
As a household we have definitely chosen our favourite toddler TV shows; the ones we turn to most often and those that Amelia seems to enjoy the most, I thought I would share them with you:
Raa Raa The Noisy Lion
Her absolute favourite at the moment is Raa Raa and his jungle friends. Amelia is obsessed with this show. She shouts Raa Raa and points to the TV or to our phones when she wants to watch it which is always. I’m constantly telling her that Raa Raa is having a nap and he will play later…she’s buying it for now. In fact, I think if I’m honest with myself the favourites in our house goes Daddy, Raa Raa, Grandad, Nana and then Mummy.
This show is all about sounds and noises of all kinds and focuses around a lion and his friends who live in a jungle and spend their days searching for the source of the sound they can hear that day.
It’s also got the catchiest theme song which you will be singing along to all day.
Teletubbies
Coming in a close second are these little cuddly friends. Amelia loves Po and even has her own talking toy which she gives a “big hug” to and has learnt to say Po when she wants to play with it.
We like the Teletubies too, I like that they cover specific topics in each episode and have real-life clips of children doing activities related to the episode topic. It’s full of colour and repetition which is great for little minds but I just wish the Teletubbies themselves would pronounce words properly because that really does wind me up.
Hey Duggee
Are you even a parent if you don’t know the stick song? I digress, Hey Duggee is a lovely show all about a teacher dog and his little students. They earn different badges each episode in all sorts of activities and it reminds me of brownies or scouts where you earn badges in different skills.
The characters are cute and all different animals but it’s a bit weird that Duggee can only woof when everyone else can talk…
Yakka Dee
This show is brilliant if your toddler is trying to talk and learn new words, every episode is focused on a single word like boat, cat, bike, house and the idea is to repeat the word as many times as possible in 10 minutes to encourage your child to repeat it.
It sounds annoying and it kind of is but it’s such a great learning tool that you just have to accept it. Personally I love that Amelia looks just like Yakka Dee when her hair is in bunches and whilst I know she is too young to understand it’s great to see mixed children being represented in cartoons even for such a young age.
Little Baby Bum
We actually stumbled across this on Youtube when Amelia was really small and then forgot about it but it’s great when you want to entertain them but they can’t hold their interest in an entire TV episode. It’s cartoons singing nursery rhymes and children’s songs and it just goes on for ages, all different characters, and tunes.
Amelia loves to dance to it now which means it’s not the best choice when trying to brush her hair but I put it on for her in the living room sometimes and she will dance around and try to copy some of the movements.
These are our current favourites and I’m sure it’ll change as she gets older and starts to understand more. As I said at the beginning, Amelia doesn’t watch a lot of TV but educational shows like these can be a parenting godsend when you need your little one to sit still for 5 minutes so you can comb their hair or make a cup of tea and have a break from chasing them around.
Rachel xx
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