In our home, with three little ones running around, I know one of the only times to have more than 5 minutes of quiet time is if I turn on the magical black screen. My kids love to watch Disney+ movies, but at times, mom guilt sneaks in for using screen time as a babysitter and I want them to watch something educational to drown out the guilt. I know, I know…this is a whole topic but that isn’t what I’m here for today.
While screen time is a controversial topic these days, it can be a much-needed break for busy moms. TV doesn’t always have to be so negative. There are a ton of educational Netflix shows. Scrolling through Netflix to find a good educational show to watch took up so much time for our family so I put our current favorite educational kid shows in one place to find easily and so I thought I’d share the list.
LEAPFROG
Leapfrog was on Netflix before and was such a favorite at our house, so we are glad it is currently back. My kids love watching it and the truly learn so much from watching it. Leapfrog is responsible for my three-year-old daughter learning the sounds of the alphabet. The other day she was chanting, “the L says EL EL EL” over and over. When I asked where she’d learned that she said, “from the frog mama!” Remarks like these make me feel not so guilty. That is one of the joys of educational Netflix shows.
There are a few different Leap Frog shows that are currently on Netflix: Letter Factory, Number Land, and Phonics Farm. All three are really great in their own way and are pretty evident from the title what you’ll learn from each show.
ASK THE STORYBOTS
My older two kids are in the “why” phase (quite sure they’ll never outgrow it) so they love this one. The StoryBots are little creatures who live inside a computer and answer kids why questions in a way that makes foundational learning fun and encourage their intellectual curiosity. The show is filled with catchy songs that will get stuck in your head but they each teach a concept.
SID THE SCIENCE KID
Again, like The StoryBots, this show encourages natural curiosity and answers questions of why. This show promotes exploration, discovery, and science readiness. What I love about this show is that it encourages viewers to talk about and record what they’ve learned through their own observations. The show includes awesome little experiments that you can totally do at home too.
ALPHA BLOCKS
This show helps teach viewers to learn to spell. The show is pretty plain when it comes to backgrounds and such- the focal point is animated blocks that represent each letter. The episodes running time is very short, so it is perfect for those viewers with short attention spans. This is the perfect show is you are looking for an easy, fun phonics lesson.
NUMBER BLOCKS
Same producers as the show listed above created Number Blocks which has a similar concept- animated blocks that represent numbers to teach children numeracy. Personally, math is not my strong suit (hate it in fact) so I love when I find ways to make math fun for my kids, so they don’t begin their education hating math. Number Blocks makes math colorful and fun!
By no means do I believe that screen time should ever replace interactive learning, but I do believe it can enhance learning. And while I have days that I worry screen time will rot my children’s brains, I know it is important to take a moment for myself and the kids will be just fine. In fact, it is possible they’ll come out smarter.
While there are many more educational shows on Netflix, these are just a few that my kids love and have truly learned from.
