What would you say if I told you that there are thousands of hours of entertaining and sometimes educational television and movies on Netflix right now that your kids will love?
To research this project I chose to forgo asking my kids what they were watching and went straight to the source: their Netflix profiles!
Some people might have issues with the idea that someone is tracking what you are watching, but in this case it lets me know what my kids are entertaining themselves with. Both kids profiles are set to kids levels. At 10 and 8 they are old enough to watch some more mature shows but I prefer to have them watch them with me instead of on their own, so they’ve been told only to watch the programs that come up on their profiles.
The list that I found on my 10 year old girl’s list is as follows:
The Babysitters Club
This series is based on the book series that was popular when I was a kid. I can almost tell you word for word what the entire first episode was about. I read that #1 novel so many times! If you aren’t familiar with the series it’s about a bunch of tween-age girls who start a babysitting service in their neighborhood. It encourages kids to be entrepreneurs and problem solvers as well as shows the friendships of the girls and kids and their families as you get to know them.
Henry Danger
Superhero shows never go out of style. This one is about a superhero and his side,kick and all the trouble they get into. Of course he has a secret identity and some best friends that offer comedic relief along the way. I’ve seen more than my fair share of episodes and my daughter seems to watch this show even when she’s already seen it so that speaks highly for the entertaining factor on this one.
Victorious
If you’ve never heard of Ariana Grande you might be living under a rock. This show ran from 2010-2013 on Nickelodeon. This is the show that made Ariana famous. I haven’t watched too many episodes myself, but it’s music themed. The description r1eads:
Life is about to change in a big way for 16 year old Tori Vega. After years of living in her older sister’s shadow, Tori has been invited to attend Hollywood Arts, a high school with a focus on the performing arts. While the invitation came as a surprise — she’s never thought of herself as particularly talentented — and she still has to deal with being the new kid on campus, Hollywood Arts may just give Tori her chance to shine.
If your little one is looking to be famous herself or loves to sing along during the episodes, I’m sure she’ll love this one!
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir
It strikes me as interesting that my tween daughter would love this one so much! I keep thinking she’ll grow out of cartoon shows, but every time I think she’s given them up she’ll come and tell me something about this show!
This show has it all. A fashion loving teenager who lives a double life as a superhero in Paris. She’s also got a boy sidekick who has an altar ego who is her secret crush! They keep Paris safe from villains during the show and I’m sure dive into all things mushy when it comes to teenage shy “he looked at me today in class” style love.
The Haunted Hathaways
While this is another Nickelodeon show, it reminds me a lot of The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. When we took the kids to Disneyland a few years ago my daughter loved the Haunted Mansion. It was a strange trip to go to the park that year so only she and I went on an adventure to go to that ride. We had a blast on it so I’m not surprised that she liked this show that is set in New Orleans, has some ghosts in it. The description of the show says that the “ghost family” and the human family live in the same house together. I’m sure there are a lot of adventures and the fact that she’s watched most of the two seasons is a good enough endorsement for me!
Liv & Maddie
Follows Liv, a popular television star whose show has just finished its run, and Maddie, an outstanding student and school basketball star whose popularity is on the rise, until Liv makes a return to their high school.
The storyline of this show is a little corny but great for tweens. This show reminds me of the movie The Parent Trap where one actress plays two characters. My daughter loved both that movie and this show.
My 8 year old son’s list looked like this:
Surf’s Up
My son is a fan of all board sports. He’s almost mastered skateboarding and has boogie-boarded and surfed before and on his to do list is snowboarding so I’m not that surprised that this one is a movie he’s watched multiple times. That and the fact that my parents live in Hawaii give him the excuse to love surfing movies. He also loves the Penguin movies from the Madagascar world so I guess this is a similar one he can find on Netflix.
The Deep
My son has watched the first 13 episodes of this show and seems to enjoy it. It’s based on a comic book about a family of underwater explorers. They seek Lumuria, a lost city that they are trying to reclaim. This one was started in 2015 and won the AACTA Award for Best Children’s Program. I can imagine the amount of underwater facts your kids will come to you with after watching this show!
BobbleHeads
Interesting choice ‘ with this one but it looks like it’ll be entertaining if your kids watch it.
A team of bobbleheads band together to defend their collector’s home when uninvited relatives barge in looking to steal from his prized possession.
The image that came up when I looked for more information on this choice was a Cher bobble head on stage with a baseball bobble head, a cat bobble head and another doll with purple hair that kind of reminds me of BuzzLightyear from Disney.
I haven’t watched this one myself, but it looks from from the preview! Do you remember The Littles? The little people that live in the house without being discovered by their average sized family? That seems to be a similar theme in this one.
Ask The StoryBots
This is the most educational choice of my son’s. With episodes that read: How does night happen? How do Airplanes fly? Why do I have to brush my teeth?
Considering that my son ususally shys away from educational tv due to the onslaught of online education right now through distance learning and online tutoring, this is a pleasant surprise. I may have to do a post on all of these episodes sometime soon and see how much education we can get out of Netflix!
With 3 seasons listed it’d be easy to “trick” those little ones into learning something new during an entertaining episode or two.
Fast & Furious (Cartoon Series)
My son is a stereotypical boy when it comes to his vehicles. If it’s got two wheels or four wheels it will perk his interest. Luckily he’s gotten into the cartoon version of this series which I took a glance at a few weeks ago. It’s a tamer more kid friendly version of the series. There are still car chases and all of that, but from what I can tell the people aren’t supporting the idea that kids should want to be internat ional criminals.
Cats & Dogs
Cats and Dogs as superheroes? Sure why not? In this day and age when kids are growing up too fast it’s nice to know that a good super hero show is catching their attention. This description reads:
Cats and dogs must set aside their differences and merge animal instincts when Kitty Galore decides to claw her way to global domination.
Sounds like a great adventure with tame, kid appropriate crimes to solve.
Be sure to leave me your thoughts on my kids picks! I’d love to hear: Are your kids watching any of these shows or movies? Are you watching any of these shows or movies?
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