Cartoons little kids: 35 Cartoons Kids Will Love and Parents Won’t Hate
Posted onTop 10 Korean Cartoons for Children
With music and movies putting Korean media in the global spotlight, it is no surprise that animation is also one of the primary exports Korea is known for. Korean people’s love of all things cute and adorable has spawned generations of characters and shows, which can be seen in all corners of the globe and the internet. From happy woodland creatures to anamorphic vehicles, Korea has animated shows for children of all ages.
1. Pororo the Little Penguin
Photo Credit: Pororo the Little Penguin Youtube
From the Korean studio Iconix, Pororo the Little Penguin has been spearheading Korean animation for almost two decades, and in doing so, become a global icon. Pororo and his friends live in an arctic, snowy hamlet called Porong Porong Forest. These adorable characters go on adventures everyday, and teach kids all kinds of important moral and life lessons. With all kinds of merchandise, movies, and live-action shows, it’s difficult to go anywhere in Korea and not see Pororo and his friends. He is even the spokesperson for the safety videos that constantly play in the subway. For younger children, this is definitely a must-see out of all Korean animated shows.
2. Tayo the Little Bus
Also from Iconix, Tayo the Little Bus follows four anamorphic buses and their adventures around Seoul. The happy-faced buses can also be seen driving around Seoul, as many real Seoul buses now have stickers of the character’s faces on the front. Similar to Pororo the Little Penguin, the challenges the buses face in every episode are aimed to teach children important life lessons. It is also a great introduction to public transportation for small children who may be scared or confused.
Fun Fact: That guy in the picture is me!
3. Robocar Poli
Photo Credit: Roi Visual Website
Another friendly group of anamorphic vehicles, Robocar Poli follows the rescue team of a small area called Broom Town.
When accidents or disasters happen, the crew comes to save those in trouble, whilst teaching kids about what to do in dangerous situations. Robocar Poli is extremely popular among young children and even contests Pororo for the number 1 spot in Korea. Robocar Poli is available on Youtube and is currently streaming on Netflix in Korea.
4. Canimals
Photo Credit: What’s New On Netflix
Canimals are adorable cylinder-shaped tiny animal creatures that go on big adventures. Due to their small size, the Canimals interact with everyday objects in a fun way, similar to Toy Story. The animals do not speak, and parts of the show are filmed in live-action. Most of the stories are short and focus on slapstick/ situational comedy. Canimals is a joint production between Korean, British, and Spanish teams, and has toys and merchandise available all over the world.
5. Turning Mecard
Photo Credit: fandom.
com
In simple terms, Turning Mecard is the Korean- anime version of Transformers, primarily aimed at pre-teen boys. There is a massive line of toys that spans an entire store aisle.
The story follows a boy named Jason and his tiny alien- robot car who can transform into a giant warrior to do battle (sound familiar?). He meets other kids who also have robot companions, and they battle against each other and the forces of evil. This show can be streamed on Youtube and was released on TV through KBS.
6. Cocomong
Photo Credit: What’s New On Netflix
Cocomong is an animated program about a sausage-shaped monkey and other food/animal hybrid characters. The stories take place in Refrigerator Land, and the stories are often about acceptance and friendship. It largely resembles Pororo in its format and animation style. This loveable show is available on Youtube and Netflix in the US and Korea.
7. Super Wings
Photo Credit: PR Newswire
Super Wings follows anamorphic airplane Jett and his various delivery jobs around the world. While on the job, Jett learns about different geographical locations and cultures, while also encountering problems his friends help him to solve. The show airs in Korea on EBS and can be internationally seen through Netflix.
8. Dooly the Little Dinosaur
Photo Credit: korea.net
Dooly the Little Dinosaur is one of the most commercially successful character franchises in Korean animation history. The animation first aired in 1987 on KBS, yet the characters are still seen around Seoul today. Dooly is a baby dinosaur, abducted by aliens, bestowed magical powers upon, and then frozen, only to thaw into modern-day Seoul (can’t make this stuff up). Dooly was so popular that he was even granted legal citizen status in South Korea.
While this show is quite old, it is still a classic Korean cartoon that kids today will still love.
9. Tobot
Photo Credit: Korea.net
Tobot was a series similar to Transformers that ran from 2010-2015. Tobot however, was aimed at a younger audience than most shows of a similar fashion. After a scientist is abducted, his creations called “Tobots” are activated to fight crime. The show can now be seen on their Youtube channels, both in Korean and English. Tobot is also available on Netflix in Korea. Toys from Tobot are very popular and were named the most popular toy line in 2013.
10. Larva
Photo Credit: allkpop
Larva follows Yellow and Red, two small worms, and their daily misadventures in a larger-than-life world. The characters do not speak, but the story is told through circumstance and mime. The show has received mild criticism for its toilet/slapstick humor and inimitable behaviors for children.
Despite the lack of educational value, Larva is still immensely popular amongst young children, and the characters appear on candy, school supplies, and various other kinds of merchandise. Larva is also available to stream on Youtube and Netflix.
Expat Kids Korea
writing staff: Aaron Meinero
8 ’90s Cartoons You’d Never Let Your Kid Watch Now
Life
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8 ’90s Cartoons You’d Never Let Your Kid Watch (But Probably Will Because Nostalgia)
by Caroline Hogeveen
I look back on my ’90s childhood with great fondness. It was the era of the Tamagotchi, cheek glitter from Bath & Body Works, and the incredibly fashionable, oh-so-timeless bucket hat. As a child of the ’90s I know I’m biased, but I truly believe I had the best possible childhood. If I could give my children an identical one, I’d be thrilled.
.. well, except for one thing. Watching some of my old favorite cartoons now as a 28-year-old, I’m shocked that they were ever considered kid-friendly. These are eight of the ’90s cartoons you’d never let your kid watch now, but totally will one day.
I’m all for show creators sneaking in a few jokes for the parents — after all, that makes a lot of children’s TV watchable — but some of these shows contain plenty of jokes that aren’t fit for anybody. You don’t have to be a helicopter parent to prefer your children digest wholesome, meaningful television content. Whether it’s gross humor, offensive themes, or generally questionable behavior, I’m going to pause — maybe temporarily, maybe permanently — on showing these particular cartoons to my own future kiddos. Instead, I’ll play «As Long As You Love Me» and get hit with a wave of nostalgia.
1
‘The Ren & Stimpy Show’
YouTube
Even as a child who didn’t understand every joke on this show, I got my share of icky feelings whenever Ren & Stimpy came on.
The most disturbing scenes were typically those of extreme — and quite frankly, disgusting — acts of violence. This article from Digital Spy, «13 times Ren & Stimpy was in no way appropriate for children,» highlights many of the most problematic scenes: Ren yanking nerve endings from his bleeding mouth, beating himself with a hammer to the skull, and discussing how he’s going to violently dismember Stimpy.
I won’t even go into all of the graphic and questionable sexual scenes. This is one show that I won’t be introducing my children to ever.
2
‘Rocko’s Modern Life’
YouTube
OK, was I the only one who didn’t notice that Rocko was a phone sex operator? Although technically the sign in his office advertised a «ONE-ON-ONE HOT LINE,» the posted reminders behind him («Be hot, be naughty, be courteous») clear up any confusion you might have. It’s no surprise that the rest of the show is filled with sexual innuendo and outright rated-R jokes.
I mean… his favorite hobby was jack hammering, which he lovingly referred to as simply «jacking,» and he even attends a «Jack-All-U-Want event.»
CollegeHumor created a hilarious compilation of «The 40 Dirtiest Jokes from Rocko’s Modern Life.» Don’t worry – if you have little kids in the room, they won’t understand the innuendo. I certainly didn’t!
3
‘CatDog’
YouTube
I asked a bunch of my friends if there were any creepy shows from the ’90s that, upon further reflection, they probably wouldn’t want their own kids watching, and several said CatDog without missing a beat. A few pointed to obvious reasons, («They have no private parts, so how do they go to the bathroom?» and «Why is their body so stretchy?») while others said it was their behavior that gives them the heebie jeebies.
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen an episode, so I needed to brush up on my CatDog trivia. There’s an episode where they debate the merits of being separated, and the surgical tool is a rusty razor blade powered by someone on a bicycle.
While they don’t go through with the surgery, they still spend the rest of the series being generally awful to each other. Why did I like this show so much?
4
‘Johnny Bravo’
YouTube
This show wouldn’t fly in the era of #MeToo. The entire show centers around a buff, less-than-intelligent womanizer whose main (and seemingly only) goal is to convince women to go out with him. While women do often have the last laugh, I highly doubt a Johnny Bravo pitch meeting would be quite as successful nowadays.
One positive aspect about this show is that Johnny’s misogynistic and shallow behavior doesn’t work out for him. If you do want to share this show with your little ones, it’s worth mentioning to them that emulating Johnny will get them nowhere.
5
‘Courage The Cowardly Dog’
YouTube
This wasn’t a cartoon I personally watched as a child, and after doing a bit of research, I don’t think I missed much. A mix of animation and rough CGI, this cartoon is described as a «dark comedy,» which doesn’t exactly scream kid-friendly.
According to IMDB, the show follows Courage as he protects his human owners against «all kinds of dangers, paranormal events and menaces that appear around their land.» In other words, every episode is nightmare-inducing.
6
‘Rugrats’
YouTube
This was my all-time favorite show as a child, and I was shocked when several friends told me their own parents didn’t let them watch it. It was a show about innocent little babies — what could possibly be inappropriate about that?!
Yet again, some of the problematic aspects of this show went riiight over my head. There are plenty of adult jokes sprinkled through the series — like Chuckie becoming obsessed with staying in his room and «bopping his Boppo» and Grandpa’s various allusions to pornography — but there also several episodes with some very adult moments.
Remember the episode about Angelica’s insane need for cookies? («I just gotta have the cookies! They’re part of who I am! Please tell me where they are, please, please, please! I need them, Tommy! I can’t live without them!») The entire episode doesn’t seem as innocent when I re-watch it after a couple episodes of Intervention.
I mean, she makes herself sick eating the cookies out of a bucket of soapy water… she clearly needs help. Plus, I’d rather my children not pick up any of Angelica’s habits.
7
‘Hey Arnold!’
YouTube
Do you remember the secret shrine to Arnold that Helga had in her closet? Well, hopefully you also remember when she grabbed an object shaped like his football head, and breathlessly announced, «Oh Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble!» Nothing about her obsession was healthy, and I’d rather not teach my future daughter phrases like that.
I’ll go easy on Helga though, since she was living with a mother who was in the grips of alcoholism. Oh, did you miss that part, too? I thought her mom was simply a space cadet, but re-watching a few episodes of this show was very enlightening. She fell asleep in random places, often talked about «needing a smoothie,» and once even mentioned getting her license taken away. Hmmm… OK then.
8
‘Cow And Chicken’
Byron Maxwell on YouTube
This show was never one of my favorites, and it earned a spot on this list for one big reason: «Buffalo Gals.
» This was the name of an episode in season 13, which was so problematic that it only aired on television once. In this episode, a gang of lesbian biker chicks terrorize the town by breaking into homes. How do I know they’re lesbians, you ask? Because their favorite thing to do during home invasions is munch on the carpet. When Dad is understandably frightened by the scene, Mom makes sure to tell him, «They’re not after you.» There are plenty of other innuendos in that episode to get the lesbian theme across, and you can find the original episode online if you’re so inclined.
We’re all aware that cartoons like The Simpsons and South Park aren’t appropriate for children, but these are five cartoons specifically created for children. While I watched most of these regularly — and I think I turned out OK — I’m going to steer my children toward shows with less mature themes, sexual innuendo, and extreme violence.
Cartoons: you can’t turn off watching — September 23, 2013
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Children’s fascination with TV, and cartoons in particular, has become a real problem for modern parents. In Soviet times, there were few of them, they were shown at certain hours, and the children happily ran home from a walk, hearing the musical screensaver of their favorite program. And today, children are simply overfed with cartoons. Children’s TV channels, online cartoons have become available to the child at any time. When he watches cartoons from time to time — selectively, a place with his parents who can comment on situations, discuss something, explain to a little man — this is one thing. And it is completely different when a child daily plunges into the world of cartoons, watches everything indiscriminately, begins to speak the language of cartoons, to live in this painted, invented world. Leaving a little man, whose personality is just being formed, looking for himself, at the TV or computer screen for a long time is not only harmful, but can even be dangerous for his mental and physical health.
There is a lot of variety in modern animation, so much that even an adult is very difficult to navigate and make the right choice. In addition to cartoons filmed in the Soviet era, a huge number of newly minted ones have been added, and a lot of foreign ones have been added to domestic ones. And it is impossible to say unequivocally that those are good, but modern ones are not worth looking at. There are cartoons with a very interesting plot, with bright characters, with pronounced actions, character traits: a child can learn something from such examples. And there are cartoons with a primitive plot, with weak images, and it becomes a pity for the time spent on such cartoons.
What happens when you watch cartoons? In my opinion, the child becomes only an observer of someone else’s life, moreover, invented, created by someone. He does not actively explore the world, he does not create something himself, he does not communicate. In addition, watching cartoons does not have the best effect on health, despite the fact that technology has become a very strong part of our lives and is constantly being improved, becoming safer.
A child, of course, learns something from cartoon characters, adopts something, imitates someone. Watching cartoons together with mom and dad is also a unifying moment: we watch, discuss, and spend interesting time together. But it’s so great to spend time together without resorting to the help of a TV or computer! Walking together in the rain, watching the sunset, petting dogs and cats, feeding horses and riding. Draw, read books, do household chores together. Life with a child can be made full-fledged and very interesting for everyone, and at the same time, you can do without cartoons at all!
Paper equivalent is better
“My son and I watched different cartoons, there are also very good foreign cartoons,” Artur Sirazetdinov, , father of his growing son, tells . They don’t have to be soft and kind. Some cartoons should show both evil and fight, you just need to choose your own cartoon for each age and see how deeply it will be shown. If the plot, the actions of the characters, the characters are shown superficially, then small children can watch it, if in detail, then for older children.
Adults can safely watch bloody action movies, and that’s okay, that’s also a struggle, that’s part of life. But an adult himself can determine what he wants to watch, what is good for him, and why is bad. And parents choose for children, so they are responsible for what they put in their minds. It cannot be said unequivocally that «Masha and the Bear» is a bad cartoon, and «Smeshariki» is a good one. I look at how the images are drawn, what kind of speech they have, what topics are discussed, with what depth all this is shown. Or better yet, read books! Cartoons entertain well, the child relaxes. And books enrich development, form a really thinking person. The child develops imagination. He needs not only to see, but to imagine this picture. No one draws for him — he does it himself.
Indeed, when we read a book with my three-year-old son, how many questions he asks, how many he argues: “Why is he small? he’s big!”, “Why galoshes?”, “Why didn’t he help?”, “Where did the dog come from?”.
While watching a cartoon, he simply does not have time to ask questions, perhaps they do not even have time to arise in his head — everything happens and changes too quickly.
A cartoon like me and you
Without this achievement of modernity is also impossible. We live in a society, and if other children, surrounded by a baby, grow up on cartoons, discuss heroes, then they form their own language of communication, their own circle of interests. And if you block your child from viewing, then there is a risk of making him unacceptable in the children’s community.
“My son and I turn on the Karusel channel and watch everything that is shown on it,” Oksana , the mother of three-year-old Ilya, tells . — I myself try to buy domestic cartoons for him. We have all the series of «Three Heroes», «Fixies», «Naughty Family», «Masha and the Bear», well, our old cartoons — «Funtik», «Moydodyr» and others. Of course, a child needs cartoons, how can one do without them? As a child, I myself waited all week for “Visiting a Fairy Tale”, rejoiced at every cartoon on our two-channel TV, and I don’t want to deprive my child of such pleasure.
Firstly, thanks to cartoons, the child replenishes vocabulary. Secondly, they show the various situations in which the characters find themselves; thinking, logic develops. In good cartoons there are eternal concepts of friendship, morality. And just a beautiful, bright, funny cartoon is just a source of joy for both adults and children. In general, these are bright moments in the life of a child.
“You should watch cartoons,” says Vera Drozhzhina, a psychologist at Children’s Center . — But you need to choose those who sow light, good, eternal. It is better to watch Soviet cartoons — most of them teach kindness, friendship, mutual assistance, and a reverent attitude towards parents. It is very important to watch cartoons together, to suggest something in time, to comment. Before showing a child a new cartoon, a fairy tale, you need to watch it yourself, choose according to your feelings, according to your intuition. Children need vivid impressions, and when watching a cartoon, they get a lot of them.
You need to watch, of course, dosed in time: young children should not spend more than fifteen minutes at the screen. It is necessary to cut off uncontrolled viewing.
Cartoons for children are like movies for adults: if you watch them rarely and selectively, you can learn from the actions of the characters, take an example from someone, better understand yourself through the film, analyze your life, your actions. But if TV breaks into everyday life every day, randomly, without sampling, then all this merges into one series of plots, events. Cartoons cannot be approached unambiguously and assess their significance only in a positive or negative direction. There should be a golden mean in everything: if you want — look, but a little and so that everyone feels good, it is interesting to get positive emotions from viewing, food for thought, so that it is a pleasant, joyful time spent together by the whole family.
I wondered why my kids love weird cartoons? Then I realized: I’m talking about several reasons | Entertainment
Children often enjoy watching cartoons and TV shows, serials, the plot and visual performance of which causes bewilderment and sometimes rejection in adults.
But why are kids so fascinated by frames in which adults cannot understand anything?
The first reason: peculiarities of perception
Few parents think about why children’s programs are so strange. Meanwhile, the vast majority of television studios that produce shows aimed at young viewers collaborate with child psychologists and other specialists who study the perception of the world around them depending on age.
Children see the world differently than their parents. Moreover, in certain age groups, perception also changes.
Stories that are watched with great interest by toddlers 1-2 years old, such as the show «Teletubbies», no longer attract the attention of older children. At the age of five, kids prefer Sesame Street or similar shows. Of course, those who are older will watch other shows.
Programs, animated series and TV shows aimed at young children are created taking into account the peculiarities of their perception, way of thinking.
What adults find primitive does not seem so to a child. And, of course, what adults consider informative and interesting is simply incomprehensible to young children.
Reason two: the visual design
Perhaps the most common parental complaint about children’s TV shows is the design, color palette, set design, and character appearance.
For example, an animated series about the adventures of a sponge named Bob, which is extremely popular among children, is usually simply terrifying to parents.
But according to the studies of specialists, which are regularly carried out for television studios, since the middle of the last century, children’s perception of the color spectrum differs from that of adults.
Toddlers find it difficult to concentrate if they see pictures filled with many colors and shades flashing in front of them. To keep their attention and spur their imagination, you need to use either muted shades or a few simple contrasting colors.
As for the drawings themselves, if we are talking about cartoons, then children are responsive to the graphic performance that they themselves are capable of. That is, the appearance of the characters in the frame should resemble children’s drawings, then the kids will definitely love them.
The third reason: the dynamism of events, the speed of the frame change
Not every children’s show, created in accordance with the peculiarities of perception, becomes popular with young viewers and arouses their interest.
In 2014, the results of a study by Tim Smith, a London-based child development psychologist and lead researcher at Birkbeck Babylab, were published. The work touched on many aspects of the TV show, such as brightness, color palette, sound design, plot content and its dynamism.
The scientist confirmed the results of another, earlier study conducted in the United States, proving that the optimal frame rate for children is 11 seconds.
