Zack & Quack is the new hit TV show on Nick Jr featuring Zack and his duck friend Quack who, together with the help of their friend Kira, enjoy adventures and solve problems in their pop-up paper world. To celebrate the premiere we were invited by UKMums.tv to host a crafts party to coincide with the showing of the first episodes. Armed with mountains of cardboard boxes, glue, stickers, paper plates, cardboard tubes and lots of imagination, the party guests made their own creations inspired by Zack & Quack!
There were cardboard cameras, paper plate faces, decorated treasure boxes, iced biscuits, origami Belly Up frogs and a brilliant box racing car! Crafting is always so much fun and kids love to get creative.
The Zack & Quack show itself kept a roomful of boys and girls totally engrossed! They all really liked the animation and the humour had them giggling. The stories were fun and the children loved how Zack solved his problems by making things out of paper in his pop up world. It was definitely a big hit.
Look out for Zack & Quack on Nick Jr at 4.30pm on Fridays. You can also check out the Nick Jr website on www.nickjr.co.uk/shows/zack-and-quack where you'll find lots of craft ideas and activities. You can also watch clips from the show and meet the characters.
We are trialing Talk Talk's services over the coming year, to see how their telephone, broadband and TV packages fit in with our family life. We will be posting a series of reviews to share our experience of Talk Talk's products. Our first challenge is to review the Talk Talk YouView Kids' Boost. Boosts are purchased on a month to month basis, adding extra channels to the basic YouView package.
For as little as £5 a month, you can keep your kids entertained with
the Kids Boost. It features 14 great children’s channels, with shows that include Mickey, Spongebob, Ben 10, Jessie and many more kids' favourites, so your
kids will never be short of something to watch.
The channels included in the Kids Boost are:
Disney Channel
Disney Junior
Disney XD
Nickelodeon
Nick Jr
Cartoon Network
Boomerang
Disney Channel On Demand
Disney Junior On Demand
Disney XD On Demand
Nickelodeon On Demand
Nick Jr On Demand
CN On Demand
Boomerang On Demand
Freddy and Kizzy have been enjoying the channels and here they are talking about what they like about the Kids Boost.
From the creative force behind Doctor Who and Torchwood, Russell T. Davies, comes a brand new series, Wizards vs Aliens. The series is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from December 31st 2012 and episodes are available on iTunes now, courtesy of Freemantle Enterprises.
The CBBC's fantasy adventure follows 16 year old Tom, who seems like a normal teenager but is actually a wizard who secretly uses his magic to excel at football (as any modern day wizard would!) . His secret is safe until the alien Nekross arrive on Earth looking to devour magic and keen on causing chaos.
Tom's geeky friend, science super-brain Benny, helps him take on the challenge of stopping the evil alien attackers. Can the two unlikely heroes succeed or will the Nekross consume all the magic of Earth with disastrous results for the planet?
Kizzy, aged 10, has been watching this series as we were sent a copy to review. The show has a young cast who give a great performance in this exciting sci-fi story. They are determined to defeat the marauding Nekross who are set on destroying the wizards to sate their own appetites.
Kizzy says the story is really thrillng and has her on the edge of her seat. There is humour entwined into the drama which she enjoys. The story also contains some sad elements and has some dark parts, but Kizzy said it isn't too scary! The King of the Nekross (voiced by Brian Blessed) is a horrible, mean character who is intent on destruction. Kizzy particularly loves to hate him!
The combination of magic and science is a really refreshing combination giving a young audience a sophisticated series to enjoy with all the creative genius of Doctor Who and Torchwood in a format that they will really enjoy. Kizzy is riveted to the series and loves the characters of Benny and Tom. Wizards vs Aliens will really appeal to fans of the Sarah Jane Adventures which was a Doctor Who spin off for kids. Kizzy loved that series and says that Wizards vs Aliens has a similar feel to it.
The effects and the settings are really good for kids' TV and the characters are great. It's nice to see a well made children's TV series that doesn't patronise kids. It is a very entertaining series with good storytelling and Kizzy gives it a big thumbs up.
The show has a certificate PG and has 12 episodes which gives 360 minutes of great family entertainment.
The RRP of the DVD is £24.99 or £29.99 on Blu-Ray, however Amazon is selling the DVD for £17.99.
Today's 12 Toys of Christmas review is something for toddlers who are fans of the hit kids' TV show Bananas in Pyjamas.
The Talking B1 and B2 Soft Toys say one of five fun phrases when their tummies are squeezed. Wearing their trademark blue and white stripy pyjamas, they have cute embroidered faces and are made from soft and cuddly fabric.
Suitable for babies aged 10 months and over they are will be a much loved banana buddy!
RRP £9.99 each, batteries are included so they are ready to play!
Everything's Rosie is one of the biggest hits on CBeebies attracting over 5 million viewers per episode! On February 6th a DVD is being released called "Everything's Rosie...Greatest Show in the Garden and Other Stories" which contains 13 fun packed episodes.
Rosie lives with her best friend Raggles in a magnificnt playhouse overlooking the park. She has lots of friends including Big Bear, Blue Bird, Holly, Will and Oakley, and together they embark on journeys of fun and discovery while learning important life lessons and values along the way. The overall feel good message of the show is that EVERYTHING'S ROSIE with a little help from your friends!!
The animation is lovely with appealing characters that pre-schoolers will love. The diverse group of friends helps little ones appreciate differences in people. They learn to understand the importance of friendship and realise that it is OK to ask for help. Rosie doesn't know all the answers but she is keen to explore the world that she lives in.
Everything's Rosie
Like most CBeebies offering, Everything's Rosie does not disappoint. It is perfectly pitched to its audience and little ones love sharing the adventures with Rosie and her pals. The theme tune is really sweet and catchy. Freddy enjoys watching it and the DVD will be a great investment in keeping pre-schoolers entertained and engaged.
Our favourite episode isRaggles the Reporter: Raggles wants to start his own newsletter and so becomes a reporter... But he is stuck for exciting stories… hungry for some big scoops, Raggles decides to make some up – which proves to be very upsetting for everyone. Raggles soon discovers that it’s the little stories that count! When he finally reports on the real goings on of everyone’s day, it turns out he had all the exciting news he wanted all along! It would be nice if the British tabloid press could take a leaf out of Raggles's book!
We love the old character of Oakley who is an ancient Oak tree that watches over the park. He tells stories of his youth, sings songs that the wind taught him and gives them bouncy rides on his branches. It is lovely to see a character who is so old and well respected in a children's TV show.
For more information on Everything's Rosie check out the website where children can enjoy activities and clips. You can pre-order the DVD from Amazon for £7.49.
*No compensation was received for this post, but Fred got a sneak peek at the DVD.*
Here comes another chance for us to purge our souls as Kate asks us to list our top 5 most despised children's TV shows or characters. Her inspiration came from being sofa bound with a poorly child, this is something I can totally relate to! Thankfully, Freddy is hugely into Pixar films, so Toy Story at 4 am was not too arduous as a method of comfort and distraction to my poorly boy.
However, sometimes big sister Kizzy takes the helm as controller of the remote which is usually when I start to bristle. Also, a couple of CBeebies offerings overwhelm me with the desire to throw things at the TV (don't tell my husband, he'd actually come out in a cold sweat if he heard me threaten his 47" plasma!)
So here is my list!
1: Sonny with a Chance....arrgghh!!! With it's cheesy "Check it Out" catchphrase and the awful Demi Lovato, this show just makes me want to bury myself alive. It's trying to be a clever parody of children's TV sketch shows, but it just epically fails. It's not clever enough to be satire, so it falls into all the traps of cringe making TV itself, with none of the heart or originality of the Amanda Show (which is the kind of show it's attempting to mock). Although she is nauseatingly annoying, I feel so sorry for poor Demi. Actress, singer, Jack of all trades, master of none, child/woman. She's just left rehab after months coping with "physical and emotional problems". A victim of the too much too young American Teen Dream...and star of an incredibly bad TV show!
2: Gigglebiz...we all love Justin Fletcher on Something Special. His TV show does so much to break down barriers and the children all adore him. Then why oh why did he have to make Gigglebiz. As far as I can tell it merely a self-indulgent vehicle for Justin to crack poor jokes and cross-dress. Just no, Justin!
3: Mister Maker...being a person of a certain age, I was brought up with Vision On and the late, great Tony Hart. He was like a stern uncle who was very good at drawing. Over the years the format of art shows for children has changed, becoming funkier, funnier and more child friendly. Sadly the latest incarnation for creativity for toddlers has totally eroded the genre away to nothing more than a weird, talentless shouty bloke making rubbish out of otherwise useful household objects. When he turned a fiver's worth of Vileda washing up sponges into an abomination which was meant to be a portion of fish fingers and chips, I had to shout out "Why???" We're in a recession. Don't waste useful items and turn them into utterly pointless bin fodder!! I can only imagine the amount of small children raiding the kitchen for things to destroy in the name of Mister Maker!
4: Zingzillas...This could almost be good. Introducing different genres of music as diverse as scat to bhangra, to a young audience. Why or why did they see the need to do this via the medium of actors dressed in giant monkey suits? The costumes are silly, their mouths don't move right and they are just so annoying. With the incredibly catchy ear-worm of a theme tune, this show drives me insane. Children aren't idiots, they don't need OTT characters with grating personalities to deliver an appreciation of music...strip it back and maybe it'll work!
5: Sarah-Jane Honeywell...as sweetly sickly as her name suggests, this perky little bundle of energy is the total antithesis of me! She first came to my attention in Higgledy House in 2005, where she was the cutesy, girly sidekick to Justin Fletcher. Her peppy, childlike persona belies the fact that she is in her late thirties. She now graces our screen in an all in one red superhero outfit in Mighty Mites. It upsets me greatly to think of her as a full grown woman with a full grown woman's needs!! It's sooooo wrong!!!!!!!!! I leave you with her single from 2008...an uplifting ditty to fill you with joy and make you forget the recession, the weather or the state of your post Christmas finances! (In googling this, I just discovered that Sarah Jane plays Panzee the chimp in Zingzillas...that figures!)
Link up at Kate's to find more annoying children's TV stars and programmes that blight our lives!
