Guest post by Tiffany of Don’t Waste the Crumbs
Several years ago, my husband and I had to cut our expenses by 50% in order for me to become a homemaker. Cable TV was a luxury and was the first expense to go.
Once we survived TV withdrawal, we looked back and realized that much of our lives had been consumed with fantasy entertainment. We viewed those hours as time forever lost. Instead of doing something constructive as a family, we sat purposeless on the sofa.
Six years later and we still don’t have cable, although we do have a subscription to Netflix. We love the ability to choose shows with purpose, and to be entertained when our schedule allows rather than living our lives around the TV guide.
TV time is limited in our house and our kids know that watching a show or a movie is a big treat. Still, I don’t want even those few hours a week to be “lost time.”
As we’re gearing up for our first official year of homeschool in just a few weeks, I’ve compiled a list of current shows available to stream on Netflix that are both educational and purposeful. It’s like putting kefir into homemade fudge pops. Or using coconut oil and whole wheat flour in a batch of chocolate chip cookies. A little bit of healthy mixed in with the fun!
Educational Shows on Netflix
Math
- LeapFrog: Numberland, Numbers Ahoy & Math Adventure to the Moon
- Emily’s First 100 Days of School
Reading & Phonics
- Martha Speaks
- LeapFrog: The Amazing Alphabet
Based on Children’s Literature
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- The Mouse and the Motorcycle
- Runaway Ralph
- Ralph S. Mouse
- The Wind and the Willows
- Danny and the Dinosaur
- I Spy
- Three Little Pigs
- The Cat in the Hat
Science & Animals
- The Magic School Bus
- Peep and the Big Wide World
- DisneyNature: Wings of Life & The Crimson Wing
- Wild Kratts
- Animal Planet (many titles)
- National Geographic (many titles)
- Plant Ocean (many titles)
- Blue Planet (many titles)
- Schoolhouse Rock! Earth
General Education & Life Lessons
- LeapFrog: Adventures in Shapeville Park, Let’s Go to School, & Museum of Opposite Words
- VeggieTales (many titles)
- Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (similar to Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood)
- All About… (many titles)
- Sesame Street
Wholesome Fun
- Kipper
- Arthur
- Curious George
- Charlie Brown (many titles)
That is quite the list! Unfortunately, shows available to stream on Netflix change often. These shows may be available today, but they may not be available in a few months when we’ve moved on from coral reefs to sharks.
It’s also difficult sometimes to find new shows that your family will enjoy. Watching the same ones over and over is not only boring, but it doesn’t give the kids anything new to think about. Time is a commodity that homemakers already seem to be short on, and spending precious minutes trying to search for a TV show just seems so wasteful. Here are a few tips to help you search better on Netflix:
Common Searching Methods
- Choose a Genre. From a computer or Netflix device, hover over “just for kids” menu item and choose a genre (i.e. “from books” or “ocean adventures”)
- Use the Search Bar. Enter in key term(s) for topic or title (i.e. “planet” for series by Planet Earth or Blue Planet or Animal Planet, “Egypt” for topical shows)
Alternate Ways to Search
- Browse Characters. From a computer, hover over “just for kids” menu item and choose “kids home.” Browse through the characters to see all shows with the character. (Note: the same list can be seen when using a Netflix device.)
- Rate Shows & View Recommendations. Netflix offers recommendations based on your viewing activity and your ratings. Take note of what shows are offered when you rate shows you’ve recently watched.
- Scan Additional Titles. At the bottom of each show’s page, there is a list of additional titles. Browse through to see if any titles fit into the mission of your search.
- Search By Category. Each show is filed into at least one category and these are listed on the right side of each show’s page. Choose a category to find similar titles.
- Read Member Reviews. Members often leave titles of comparable shows in their comments. Take a minute to scan the reviews for title recommendations by members.
As a real food blogger, it’s easy for me to be purposeful in the kitchen – but all areas of my life should have purpose. I hope you find this list of resources and search tips to be a blessing when creating more wholesome and purposeful entertainment!
Do you ever use Netflix for educational purposes? What are your favorite ways to make your children’s entertainment meaningful?
Tiffany is a frugal foodie, balancing the desire to feed her family healthy food while being a good steward of her finances. She realized it was possible to eat nourishing, traditional food on a budget if she made baby-sized changes in the kitchen. She continues to work hard at mastering real foods without going broke and shares her journey at Don’t Waste the Crumbs.
Mike the Gardener
I love my Netflix account. There are so many great educational programs I can load up for the kids such as the ones you mentioned.
Sarah
To add to the list: My kids (2 and 3) love Busytown Mysteries, based on the Richard Scarry books. The stories are really engaging and my kids love to turn our everyday tasks into mysteries to solve. They are not overtly ‘educational’ in a rote way, but they are well done and have fostered my kids sense of adventure and creativity.
Tiffany @ DontWastetheCrumbs
Yes Sarah! My kids love that one too! It’s great for making their brains think outside the box, about problem solving and everyday “mysteries.” 🙂
Nikki
Great post! I don’t allow my daughter to watch much TV at all, but sometimes I let her watch Sesame Street on my iPad while I get some cleaning done around the house. I wrote all these suggestions down so she can watch something different next time! ( :
Tiffany @ DontWastetheCrumbs
Thanks Nikki!
Jennifer Tippett
I would also like to add Super Why to the list. Young child genre with a lot of emphasis on spelling as well as rhyming and phonics with a general lesson in the episode (like sharing, love, patience, etc).
Tiffany @ DontWastetheCrumbs
Another good one Jennifer! I don’t know how I missed it – we watch that one often too!
Angela
I love our Netflix. My DD4 has been enjoying many of those titles and also Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I like that one a lot. Its sounds are soft and soothing and there is not a whole lot going on with the animation,it is a lot like the book!
Kathryn
Sigh…I clicked this link hoping to find something decent for a 60-year-old to watch on Netflix! So much unspeakable stuff. I have shared this with a friend who’s recently taken up homeschooling, so it wasn’t entirely in vain.
I wish there was a blog post of “Decent Instant Movies On Netflix For Adults Who Don’t Like To Watch People Hurt Each Other”.
Tracey M
Try going to commonsensemedia.org and browsing through some of their “family-friendly” movie recommendations. Also, you can put any movie title into the search bar and it will break down the amount of violence, language, educational themes, language, etc. It has helped our family navigate the mess of bad movies out there!!
Victoria @ Creative Home Keeper
Such a great list! We have been debating whether or not to cut cable but I don’t think the hubs is going to go for it! My kids aren’t quite old enough to watch TV, but I have already been thinking about researching some great options for the occasional TV time when they are ready. I’ll be pinning this for future reference! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Tonya
You might also want to check into buying a Roku box it’s streaming internet TV and has dozens of Christian channels as well as kids programming and other educational channels most channels are free, while there are some monthly subscription channels there is no monthly subscription for the Roku itself and the box costs under $100.oo at Walmart.
Lenora
We were without cable for 6 years we now h ave it to get internet and don’t ever watch it we watch the stuff through the internet instead! We also invested in Amazon Prime Membership it is only $70.00 a YEAR and it has many educational tv series that Netflix doesn’t!
Wendy
Love this post because we have been doing the same thing for years. I have two shows to add to your list:
– Mighty Machines… Great live action show explaining how construction sites work. They just now took it off Netflix again but hope it comes back soon!
– Animal Atlas
– Animal Odd Couples (a great nature show. While it doesn’t promote a Christian view of animal science, you can be sure there will be no gross scenes or bloody safari stuff. Good for younger viewers. My boys have watched this too many times to count!)
Georgi Marquisee
Tiffany, thank you for the great list. We produce a series of videos for children showing how kids in other countries live and will be looking into posting it on Netflix.
Jessica
Hi Georgi,
I’ve been searching Netflix for exactly that! Do you have any updates on when the videos might be available on Netflix?
Thank you!
Ashley
I love to learn from netflix. It shows the interesting topics phonics and interesting shows. Kids are really fond of watching the shows.
Ashley
I love to learn from the Netflix, the shows are really interesting. Regardless of the age the children and as well as the parent’s watch the shows. It is useful for the children and teaches how to learn and it is useful for the parents of a homeschool child, how to teach and make him interested in education. It is giving the different innovative and attractive ways of learning.
Sarah
My daughter’s favorite right now is based classic literature not listed: Heidi.
good wholesome cartoon that even my son likes, thanks to Peter and other male characters 🙂
Erin
Our daughters love Heidi right now too!!