Toddler TV: Thoughts on Dora and Bubble Guppies

We’re grateful for receiving Nickelodeon DVDs to review.

My daughter is lucky. She gets to watch her favorite shows without commercials, without getting up early on Saturday mornings (wait – that one makes me lucky), and without waiting a week in between episodes. On the one hand, it’s nice to have so many choices via streaming and DVDs. We can have a Dora marathon while I try to get work done or if we’re just feeling snuggly.

On the other hand… we’re usually several seasons behind what’s currently airing on TV. For toddlers and preschoolers this is usually okay. They aren’t tweeting or Facebooking about the latest adventure or where they last saw Swiper. What does happen is mommy notices a major upgrade in animation and the intro when watching the Dora the Explorer Butterfly Ball DVD (Amazon link).

Dora’s got moves like Jagger… jaguar… she’s more fluid now. Even her hair moves in the breeze. The colors really pop now and it’s not so… flat… graphics-wise. The plot lines are still rather predictable and repetitive, but that’s what toddlers thrive on for learning (so I’ll let it slide…for now).

Rissa really enjoyed the Butterfly Ball DVD and the butterfly episode. She’s asked to watch it several times. Plus, it came with butterfly stickers! That made it ultra-cool.

STICKERS!!

Once upon a time, before having kids, I was not a fan of Dora. As Rissa continues to watch it, I can see she’s learning from it. She responds to the show and is often correct. She enjoys the “We did it!” celebratory dance. Best of all? She incorporates the characters, places, and stories into her pretend play. Oh! and she is showing an interest in learning Spanish – actually asking to watch our language DVDs and for me to count in Spanish with her.

Awesome!

Another show she enjoys, but is a rarer treat since we cannot access it via streaming, is Bubble Guppies. Their catchy songs lodge themselves in my brain so we sing them for weeks after watching one episode.

The latest one is all about jobs. Rissa seems to favor the one about the dentist (probably because she hasn’t been to one yet). But hey, anything that makes getting a job and working seem fun to her is a good thing… even if she currently wants to be a clown when she grows up. Overall the Bubble Guppies On the Job DVD (Amazon affiliate link) is an entertaining one while teaching a thing or two.

I know she’s paying attention because these professions come up in her imaginative play!

What are your thoughts on these shows? Do your kids watch them?

Disclosure: We received the above mentioned DVDs to review and linked to them on Amazon with our affiliate link.