:: youtube treasures for little people - english et en français ::

Allowing the girls to watch videos is something I do somewhat hesitantly. I know that putting them in front of a screen isn't necessarily the best thing for them, but at the same time it exposes them to a whole variety of songs, language learning and creativity, which I'm sure is a benefit! So I try not to make it a regular habit, and show them clips from time to time, making the most of those moments when they're tired and hungry and I need to prepare dinner, or sometimes even as a distraction so they will eat rather than throw their food on the floor...which has wonder powers! Youtube is a treasure trove. I find I'm often only limited by my memory of childrens' stories and songs because, once I think of one, I can find it more often than not.

Here are some of our current favourites:

Super Simple Songs - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
We discovered Super Simple Songs a few months ago, and the girls really enjoy them. There are lots of favourites, like BINGO, Row Row Row Your Boat and ABCs. But the girls' favourite is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I would hazard a guess that it's very popular in many homes around the world, considering that it had around 60-something million views when we found it, and now has 112, 275, 964...and we haven't watched it that many times to bump up the numbers :o)





P.S. You can turn the captions on or off, by clicking on the CC/Speech bubble button along the bottom. 


Super Simple Songs - Little Snowflake
This is a new one that has been out for just over a month and is already very popular, as you might notice! It also features the star, moon and owl from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...the girls are always keen to spot them :o)







T'choupi et Doudou - en français
These are our newest discovery...following the girls' love of their T'choupi stories, which I mentioned here, I decided to look on Youtube and found an almost endless supply of T'choupi et Doudou adventures. Each one is only 5 minutes long and addresses lots of relevant experiences for little people - going to the sea, the zoo, the supermarket, the farm, being sick, adjusting to a new baby in the family...and so on. And I'm more than excited to balance up the English with some great French videos for them! Even if you don't understand French, they're worth a watch :o)


 



Didou, dessine moi... en français
Another golden find that the girls enjoy (me too!) and will probably get more out of in the next year or more, are the Didou Dessine Moi (Didou, draw me...) videos. They are around 7 minutes long and in each one Didou and his friend Yoko, the ladybug, explain how to draw a different animal or object that fits into their story. Super cute and simple for young children to learn how to draw. As with T'choupi there is a treasure trove of different clips to enjoy. Here's Didou dessine moi un cheval (horse)...


 



We're Going On A Bear Hunt
This was my first discovery and has been a firm favourite of the girls', alongside the book. They enjoy joining in with the sound effects and the anticipation of finding the bear. It's a great animated version of the original story.



 



The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
These, as well as many other of Beatrix Potter's stories, are a great introduction to young ones of her wonderful world of animals. The girls also have this book, so they enjoy watching it from time to time. 







The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Both girls like their Winnie the Pooh stories, particularly Amélie. Lately it has been her story of choice :o) They each have their favourite characters, and it's handy too because the stories happen to include many of the words they know - like bee, ball, balloon and tree. This movie is divided into eight parts and also includes many of the stories they have in their books. 







Baby Einstein - Baby Noah
We have the DVD of Baby Doolittle that I found here in a second-hand store. Both girls have always enjoyed that. Baby Noah introduces them to animals around the world - from the savannah to the outback, the ocean, Antarctic and jungles. With it's funny combination of music, puppets, toys, animations and real images, it seems to have hit the mark as far as capturing little peoples' attention...