Moomins (the Film Polski version)

This gently soulful, stop-motion animated version of Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll stories, made by Film Polski in the late 70s, and adapted into English in the early 80s, is our new favourite. The music and scenery are lovely, and the storytelling is enchanting. The story lines stick very close to Jansson’s books, and Jansson herself was involved with the production. Highly recommended for the whole family!

Age: 4+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 10/10
Running time: 5-minute episodes
Available: many of the episodes are on youtube

The Repair Shop

Our new favourite to watch as a family is The Repair Shop, which is as slow and gentle as can be. The premise is simple: people bring in old, broken items, typically family heirlooms, and experts painstakingly fix them. It’s a bit like the making-things segments in Mister Rogers, but with heartwarming family stories as well. The kids are entranced. And I’m getting inspired to try to fix more broken things rather than replacing them!

Age: 0+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 9/10
Running time: 30, 45, or 60 minutes per episode
Available: BBC iPlayer. I’m not sure where to find it outside of the UK.

Sarah and Duck

I was a skeptic at first (I guess just because I’m skeptical of any recent animation — so much of it is so high speed and low quality), but this show has really grown on me. Sarah and her side-kick Duck are lovely title characters — gentle, kind, and adventurous — and the storylines are endlessly inventive and quirkily humorous. The music (by Tanera Dawkins) is really good too. Both my 3.5 year old and my 6.5 year old love it.

Age: 1+ (The storylines are really aimed at 3+, but I don’t think there is anything too scary or fast-paced for a baby).
Child rating: 10/10
Parent rating: 9/10
Running time: 7 minutes
Where to find it: In the UK it’s on CBeebies. I’m not sure where to find it in other countries!

Great British Bake Off

We’ve been having such a good time watching Great British Bake Off with the kids. Our 3 year old is scared even by most kids shows these days, so it’s been really nice to find something that is genuinely enjoyable for all four of us, and doesn’t give anyone nightmares. I think it’s great for the kids (and us) to see adults, from all kinds of different backgrounds, caring about and working hard on creative projects, celebrating successes and working through failures, supporting each other, and having a good time! I think we’ve all been inspired to do more cooking and baking too! (So far we’ve watched the 2018 and 2017 seasons, so I can’t vouch for any of the seasons before that. One episode was flagged by Channel 4 as not suitable for kids, so we haven’t watched that!)

Age: 0+
Child rating: 10/10
Parent rating: 10/10
Running time: 1 hour
Where to find it: In the UK you can watch it on Channel 4, and in Canada on CBC.

Fingerbobs

This is the 70s-est TV show ever (dating from 1972, the same year I was born) – at once wholesome, creative, and… were the creators smoking pot? In this show by British author-illustrators Joanne and Michael Cole, “Yoffy” (Canadian mime artist Rick Jones in real life) animates a variety of homemade finger-puppets, including Fingermouse, Scampi, Gulliver the Seagull, and Flash the Tortoise in a series of gently enchanting stories and do-it-at-home craft projects. My 2 year old and 5 year old both love it.

Age: 0+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 9/10
Running time: 15 minutes
Several episodes are available free on YouTube

Apple Tree House

Apple Tree House is geared towards kids in the 4 to 8-ish age range, though fine for younger kids too, and centres around the gently humorous daily adventures of three primary school kids on an urban council estate. The cast is diverse in terms of ethnicity and age, and the kids are (usually) refreshingly free of gender stereotypes. Both of our kids (ages 2 and 5) love it, and I love the way the characters non-didactically model kindness, cooperation, and caring for friends, family, and community. (Update: this show is not the best if your kids like to watch the same episode 25 times in a row!)

Age: The stories are geared towards 4+, but it’s fine for younger kids too
Child rating: 8/10
Adult rating: 6/10
Running time: 15 minutes
Available: on the CBeebies website

Mr. Dressup

Mr. Dressup is a beloved Canadian kids show, which ran from 1967 to 1996. It has some similarities to Mister Rogers, and indeed, Fred Rogers was a friend and mentor to Ernie Coombs (Mr. Dressup) in the early 60s. Mr. Dressup, together with his puppet friends Casey and Finnegan, tell stories, sing songs, and lead young kids through a variety of craft and creative play ideas.

Age: 1+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 7/10 (not really directed towards adults — but it will bring back fond memories if you are Canadian!)
Running time: 30 minutes
Available: there are a couple of episodes on YouTube, and a 3-DVD set from CBC

Pingwings

If you’re in the mood for penguins, but find Pingu a bit too boisterous and March of the Penguins a bit too dramatic, then Pingwings might be just what you’re looking for. It’s a sweet, gentle, and gently humorous show, which tells of the adventures of a family of hand-knit penguin-like creatures living on a farm, with mixed stop motion animation and live action. It’s one of the earlier shows by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin’s company Smallfilms (best known for Bagpuss and the Clangers). The original Pingwings were knit by Peter’s wife Joan. You can knit your own following this pattern from The Dragons’ Friendly Society.

Age: 0+
Child rating: 8
Adult rating: 8
Running time: 10 minute episodes
Available: a few episodes are available on Youtube, or you can order the whole series from The Dragons’ Friendly Society

Vinni Pukh (Winnie-the-Pooh)

This is a fascinating Russian version of Winnie-the-Pooh, with beautiful illustrations and animation by Fyodor Khitruk and a colourful orchestral score by Mieczysław Weinberg. The characters are more animal-like, the scenery more wild, the pacing a bit slower, and the dialogue more enigmatic – interesting to adults as well as kids – than in the Disney animated version most of us are probably familiar with. Khitruk left Christopher Robin out of his telling of these tales so the animals would all be on equal footing as the central characters. There are three 10-minute episodes, available in Russian with English subtitles. I can usually get the kids to just watch without me having to read them out loud!

Age: 3+
Child rating: 8/10
Adult rating: 10/10
Running time: 10 minute per episode
Available: for free on Youtube

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends

This is a series of nine beautifully animated versions of stories by Beatrix Potter, first shown on the BBC in the 90s. Each begins with a short live action vignette of Beatrix Potter at her home, followed by the story itself. Each episode sticks closely to the original, both in illustrations and in wording, though some episodes intertwine two books. Anytime I’ve noticed a detail that is not in the published version of books, it turns out to be something from an earlier, unpublished version. The music is well-composed (by Colin Towns) and well-performed.

So far M. has watched three of the episodes, many times each. We have not grown tired of any of them, and we’ve enjoyed watching the creative play that has grown out of M.’s engagement with the characters. I’ve included The Tailor of Gloucester episode as a separate entry on this blog, since it’s great as a Christmas movie.

Age: 3+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 10/10
Running time: 26 minutes per episode