Dora the Explorer

I have a 3 year old daughter who loves the show. Not every show is great, they are all repetitive however when it comes to small children that helps them to learn. Thanks to this show my daughter has developed excellent decisive skills and puzzle solving skills. While it is incredibly annoying for an adult to watch as the songs get quite aggravating however, the kids seem to just love it. Throughout the show kids are asked to find things to help them along the way. They keep it simple so that small kids get a feeling of accomplishment when they get it right. There is always a little jingle played when they complete a task which makes the kids smile. When waiting for a response from the viewer they actually wait long enough for small kids to formulate a response, unlike many other children's shows. Keep in mind when watching Dora that it is not intended for older kids nor is it intended for adults. As much as we may hate to watch it, small kids love it and do learn a lot from it.

As I can see, so far every comment came from English speaking audience.

Well, we live in Hungary, and here the series were translated to Hungarian, with some English phrases in it (which were originally the Spanish ones, I guess). I have a 5 and a 2 year-old daughter, and they both enjoy watching Dora very much. I think this is a very good educational movie! The younger learns special Hungarian words, which she would not know otherwise (eg. volcano). She also enjoys the activity Dora asks us to do. And the older one picked up the English words very fast, and even asked me to teach her more English! Thanks to this cartoon now they tell us to fasten our safety belts when we drive, and the little one learned to count to ten at a very early age. We have most of the parts recorded on video, and they often ask for them. By the way, I couldn't find the information on this site: how many parts are there altogether? If somebody knows, please let me know.

I have a 16-months-old girl and she LOVES Dora. Trust me I have tried to get her to like other cartoons or Sesame Street, but no luck. I agree, it gets annoying after a while, but I don't have to watch it. I can do stuff around the house, while Dora is on TV.

If you have ever worked with kids, or have kids, you may have noticed that they like interaction. They don't know that Dora cannot hear them. At this age they have no concept of what TV really is. And they need repetition. How many times have read the same book(s) to your child in one day? I can tell you have a read most of her books plenty of times (I don't have to read them anymore). They learn by repetition...

As for the person who said kids should be learning their ABCs, yes they should, when they are 5, and not at this age. Even though, Dora is supposed to be for "pre-schoolers" I don't think many kids over the age of 4 are interested in Dora anymore. So, lighten up and let kids be kids before you make them learn a whole bunch of stuff before they really need to know it. Your child won't read any better if he/she knows the ABCs by the time he/she is 2.

To sum this up, I think Dora is great for kids from 1 to 3. They will learn some words, maybe remember some of the Spanish, and maybe learn to count. But even if they don't learn anything, it's a good way for them to relax and have some fun. They don't have to learn ALL the time. And best of all, it's NOT violent!!! So for all the complainers, stop watching it!!! It's for your child, NOT you! There are shows for adults on TV, but probably not on Nick...

Dora is one of the few, if any female stars of an animated show. The problem solving, bilingualism and non-violent approach is a breath of fresh air in the blast-em-up world of children's animated shows. How could anyone argue with that?

I kind of think it's funny how many adults there are telling people not to watch this show, hello? It's a kid's show. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and they both love this show, it drives me crazy but I let them watch it because they have learned so many words, colors, shapes, etc. And like it or not they will probably need Spanish as they grow up because America is changing. When my oldest son was just over a year old I found him counting his toys, he could go up to 11 by himself thanks to Dora, now that he's 3 he counts to 20, he know's all his colors and shapes and it's all thanks to Dora. And yea it's not realistic, do you really think any of the show's we watched as kid's were realistic. If I wanted my 1 and 3 year old's to know what would really happen when someone wanted to mug you I would have them watch csi. It's our job as parents to teach them the reality's of this world when there old enough to understand them, so idk about you but I'm going to let my toddlers enjoy telling swiper no swiping without blood and violence. Thanks.

P.S. I only gave it an 8 because it does drive me crazy, but I think it's worth it sense my kid's get to enjoy learning.