So many readers piped in to share their children’s favorite French cartoons- we got suggestions from both native French speakers, and parents hoping to expose their kids to French! As I was searching for clips, my kids enjoyed checking out the videos- all are suitable for kids, though I frequently use children’s cartoons to teach teenage language learners. (They usually love it, especially if I would show them in class:). Here is a list of 12 favorite French cartoons (new and old, originating in France or Canada). They are more or less in order from younger children to older children, with a preview of each on youtube:
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Petit Ours Brun (Little Brown Bear), sweet French cartoons from the 1970’s, which are still popular today. There are several episodes on youtube, and you can also order as DVDs from amazon
Trotro (the donkey!), cute French cartoons recommended by 3 different families. It is also available on amazon
Caillou is a beloved educational Canadian children’s television series about a little boy and his adventures with his friends and family. Although the original series aired in French, the DVDs sold in the US are not available with a French audio option (!?). If you search on the Canadian amazon though, you can find many Caillou DVD options labelled “bilingual.”
Babar is a character from a 1931 French children’s book Histoire de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff. Canada has produced a TV series of the famous elephant and there are many episodes of these French cartoons on-line. Babar – The Classic Series Season One is available on DVD (with English and French audio options).
T’choupi et Doudou (Charley and Mimmo in English), Canadian French cartoons from Quebec about a penguin family. It is available to watch on youtube, or to watch on DVD.
Sam Sam is a 6-year-old good superhero “in training” living with his family and playing with his friends. The sweet stories demonstrate loyalty, friendship and courage. These French cartoons are available on DVD
Petit Potam, French cartoons of a sweet little hippopotamus who drives the river ferry and also tells lovely stories. The movie was selected at the Cannes Film Festival Junior in 2001. You can see episodes on youtube, or watch the Petit Potam film on DVD
Oui-Oui was recommended by a friend who says their children used to watch these French cartoons every day after school. You can see many clips on youtube:
A friend- and mom to 3- who grew up in France recommended the next two educational French cartoons. First, the French animated television series Il Était une Fois… L’homme (Once Upon a Time… Man) and then Il Était une Fois… la Vie (Once Upon a Time… Life)– French cartoons which teach kids world history and then how the human body (its organs and systems) works. Though over 30 years old, they remind me a little of Magic School Bus.
I really like the animation and the multicultural characters of the French-Korean show Linus et Boom (exported as “My Giant Friend”). Kids are protecting lost aliens from an evil agency, with a giant red alien named Boom. You can get Saison 1 (épisodes 1 à 13)
Les Mystérieuses Cités D’or (known in English as The Mysterious Cities of Gold) is an adventure story about three children who travel across the Americas in search of the Mysterious Cities of Gold- not for the gold, but to find their missing fathers. In the US, these “French cartoons” are also difficult to find in French- try Canadian amazon instead or check out some episodes on youtube:
Code Lyoko is a French animated television series that looks like Japanese anime. It’s a classic good vs evil show, with kids battling an artificial intelligence unit. This show is well-liked by kids, who should have an intermediate command of French to understand the plot. This episode on youtube has French subtitles, which is a great aid for language learners! Code Lyoko
Monde de Petits is a French web site for kids filled with songs and activities. Though created for native speakers, there is a plethora of videos and French cartoons whose bright colors and cheerful tunes will captivate young language learners. Even my kids- who know not a word of French!- asked to play another and another and another. As an added bonus there are coloring pages, games, and even a couple of recipes.
Surely I’ve missed some of your favorites? Which are your favorite French cartoons? Share them in the comments so we can check them out!
I used to watch a bunch but most weren’t cartoons, in the cartoons I would say Astérix, le Gaulois (with Obélix), also Tintin, oh and Marsupilami!
Here is a series of 23 French videos and they have subtitles in French too which helps beginners https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRknayjuoVc&list=PL11CBE1CF06754974
What a fun way to teach kids French! I need this for Chinese and Spanish!!!
These are great thanks for sharing! Although we live in France we don’t actually have French TV. I’ll be looking up these programmes though as we could watch them as a family and it would help us to all learn French!
Oh great round up too! I LOOOOVE “Il était une fois…”, so educational even for adults, thinking of getting the DVDs for Nico. I also loved and watched “Les mystérieuse cités d’or” and “Babar”. Thanks for the memories Becky! 🙂
My son loves to watch cartoon in foreign languages on YouTube.
Thank you as always! My children like to play here http://www.poissonrouge.com/index_fr.php
and have learned some songs in french
Excellent!!!! Thank you so much!!!
Good article and mentions of other titles in the comments. Bob Moran was another show I really liked.
Hi, I’m french and my 2 years old son and his 6 years old cousin love Trotro! It’s a cartoon with simple stories and simple animations, so I think it’s perfect to begin to discover french. The other cartoons, even Oui-oui or T’choupi wich are also for the little ones, are more difficult for a first approch, in my opinion.
What american cartoons would you suggest for my little boy? He already watches Maisy mouse (he loves her!) but I don’t know what else to show him for a first approch of english…
Have a nice day
(and please excuse my english)
Laure
Nothing to excuse Laure, your English is awesome:). Go to youtube, and put in the name of the show and “full episode” if you want a longer show. These are the favorite American cartoons when my children were 2:
*Dora* (they were obsessed)
Wonder Pets (love the singing!)
Elmo- although the voice seems like it would be a little hard to understand, my 2 year old niece from Mexico is learning English and she loves him!
Sesame Street (very educational!!! Kids love it!)
Daniel Tiger (new)
Blue’s Clues
For a tiny bit older? Or now?:
Dinosaur Train (maybe for a little older?)
Mickey Mouse Playhouse
Curious George
Go, Diego, Go!
it was greatttt i started to learn french it great it is my wishes to can speak like english could it be effective?
Hello. I see that you are interested in french cartoons and stories for kids. Let me present a new web site that I just created with inovated stories, and with animated videos or just stories to lister.
http://www.raconte-nous-une-histoire.com/
The video I would like to share are here
http://youtu.be/U_exZRhqahY (there are subtitles as well on this one)
http://youtu.be/U_exZRhqahY
I hope you enjoy !!!
French speaking cartoons (and I include Belgium and Quebec) are rather good and numerous. Don’t forget Mouk and the Little Prince (see my post: http://lacitedesvents.blogspot.com/2014/09/5-series-tv-pour-enfants-ne-pas-manquer.html), and also for older kids Iron Man Armored Adventures, Wakfu, Angelo la débrouille, the Daltons (spin off from Lucky Luke), a Kind of Magic…
Did I say I love cartoons? ;-P
Why are there no captions for Caillou?
My daughter just finished her first ‘Intro to French’ class so these would be perfect. Great post!
I love learning French through movies and cartoons! My favourite one is definitely Babar. C’est trop cool!
I used to watch a couple of cartoons I loved about kids studying for future jobs- Vas-y Julie (I’m actually not sure how this is spelled) who I think was a mechanic, one about a little girl who did some sort of gymnastics, a girl who wanted to be an actress, and a boy who liked to do soccer (football). They may have been from other countries but I watched them in french. I remember liking them very much. I think it was around 1989.
And I know it’s not a cartoon but a movie..Kirikou et la sorceresse or Kirikou et les betes sauvages are too amazingly beautiful french movies. Some of the scenes with the sorceress can be a bit scary for little ones but they are also very philosophical and have a beautiful resolution, even for the bad sorceress! Definitely incontournable!!
Nobody mentioned “les Mondes engloutis” for slightly older kids 6 or more…
I am currently learning French and I love cartoons. I like “Le Petit Nicolas” but I love the English version of “Babar” too and was glad to see a French version on this list. Thank you for sharing this great list of cartoons!
Yay, thanks! 🙂
Thanks for the list! Love the readers’ suggestions as well. However I would caution with Asterix and Tintin- I grew up with both these books, but realized as I got older that there are episodes that are quite racist (especially the depiction on black people- atrocious!) and xenophobic (Tintin’s depiction of Muslim people is very stereotyped). Even though these shows can be educational and entertaining, i wouldn’t let my children watch them- it wouldn’t be healthy for their self esteem.
Thank you SO MUCH!!!! Most of these suggestions were from French readers, and the videos were pegged as “must-see.” Racist depictions are NOT must-sees for me!
There is also Peppa Pig en francais and Franklin en francais…and our class’ favourite: LE PETIT NICOLAS 🙂 (I teach gr. 1/2 French immersion in Canada)
My French immersion elementary students love to watch Heidi. As a child I used to watch these shape changing blobs… maybe called Barbapapa? It’s a play on words for the french word for cotton candy. 🙂 As a Canadian kid, I also watched a weekly show called Bagatelle. Thanks for walking us down memory lane!