Cbeebies

Before we saw that sky was offering the rest of the children’s channels for only an extra £1 per month, we only had Cbeebies and one other children’s channel and it wouldn’t have been fair to write a review of over a year of only this channel as after a while of the same programmes I was becoming very bored, though my daughter seemed to still enjoy it. Now we have the other channels I can not only review properly by comparing to other channels, but I have also found a new like to the channel now that we can mix it with a wide range of channels.

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CBEEBIES
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Cbeebies is a channel produced by the BBC for preschool children. It is quite a new channel, opening its doors so to speak in February 2002 on both sky and freeview with a short appearance in the afternoons and mornings on BBC1 and BBC2.

The channel itself has been nominated and also won many awards which before even viewing the channel, gives the parent some high hopes. It offers a wide range of programmes both educational and otherwise to appeal to the younger preschool age children. Programmes come and go every so often though many stay for very long lengths of time giving children time to relate to the characters and stories. You will see a list of some of these programmes below.

In between each programme on this channel there are fun fill in’s with the presenters such as Big Fun Time and the Bedtime Hour which has stories read by guest appearances which I usually recognize from other adult programmes, songs and other fun things that get the child to interact with the television.

Cbeebies has now gone worldwide and I assume it is pretty much the same as we have here in the UK as it is still run by the BBC worldwide corporation, though for reference of this review, I am only able to discuss what I see in the UK.

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PROGRAMMES
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There are so many changeable programmes to mention them all though I will mention a few to give you an idea of what you can expect to find and the variety of programmes there are to see if they are to your liking. As I said above, after a while the programmes started to annoy me as each programme can be repeated so many times a day and on this channel they are the same episode which although this doesn’t bother my daughter, it really started to annoy me even though my daughter doesn’t watch it noon to night, you still heard and saw repeated episodes up to four or five times a day.

THE GOOD

One of my daughters all time favourites, and also mine, is the TWEENIES. Here you watch a twenty minute episode following four Tweenies through their day at nursery. These Tweenies are life sized colourful characters who, combined with two adult characters and two dogs, bring a whole range of exciting and aducational fun from craft to dressing up, songs and stories, learning and creating. My daughter loved this so much that we brought her a few DVD’s and also the CD of their music which she often dances to. The only annoyance with this programme is that CBeebies only show it once a day at seven in the morning.

Another great programme and, although not as much as the Tweenies, very educational one is CHARLIE AND LOLA. This is a very short animated programme which again is only shown once a day (the best of the programmes seem to play less on CBeebies which is weird). Here you have a fun loving little girl and her sensible big brother going through daily occurances with laughter and questions which children themselves may bring up. It is really quite something to watch this programme and have even watched it long after my daughter has fallen asleep (I shall now hide in shame!).

SHOW ME SHOW ME is a newer programme to CBeebies and has Chris and Poy (two presenters of the channel) presenting it. This programme teaches numbers as well as looking at specific things in the world. It has real life excerpts combined with fun in studio songs and acting from the two presenters and the toys of the ‘shop’ It has a regular routine though the ‘show me’s’ are different every day – so far I have not actually seen a repeat of this one which is great.

A fantastic educational programme, SOMETHING SPECIAL, is hosted by the presenter, Justin Fletchly who appears in many CBeebies programmes and is well known by my daughter as Mr Tumble. This programme not only appeals to children of many ages though also works closely with children with certain disabilities and teaches basic sign language in a fun filled way.

There are two main cooking programmes, BIG COOK LITTLE COOK and I CAN COOK, the later being a new one to appear on this channel and took my daughters attention straight away though I didn’t see that much which I felt was great. Unlike Big Cook, I can cook is set in a studio kitchen with a woman cook and four children and you watch how they make a specific dish, yet with Big Cook, magic, fun, animation and real life learning is all intertwined making it the better of the two.

IN THE NIGHT GARDEN and WAYBULOO are two other favourites of my daughters, the first being the first programme she ever liked. In the Night Garden is purely animated though with no real educational value, simply as an aid to help a child relax to go to sleep and it actually did that when my daughter was younger. Personally I don’t think it was the greatest of programs, reminding me slightly of Teletubbies which I hate, though my daughter loved it. It features a variety of characters such as Upsy Daisy and Iggle Piggle in a colourful garden setting. It has some relaxing music and my daughter was delited every time she watched this. Waybuloo on the other hand is similar though does have more speech and eductational value and I do love this one. It is full of sweet music and lovely funny characters teaching children about sharing and animals.

If your child loves music them POPSHOP is one for them with Carrie and David creating catchy tunes on request in their music shop with great dancing and singing and a wide varietys of music genre. BOOGIE BEEBIES is another great programme which teaches children dance. The music in this is not so great though the repetitive dance movements help the children with co-ordination whilst they have fun and also stay active when its pouring down with rain outside.

There are a range of creative programmes which my daughter thoroughly enjoys too. MR MAKER is presented by one person and shows children how to make simple things which us parents can easily do with them after or during the programme with bits found around the house such as toilet rolls etc. DOODLEDOO is another really fun one to watch with one presenter and hand puppets making a mess whilst teaching children to make and do – this one also has catchy tunes and phrases to keep the children further entertained.

THE BAD

Of course every programme likes and dislikes depend on what you or your child likes. Although after seeing the same episodes over and over again which is the downside to this channel, I can safely say that there are not many I feel are really bad. Many are more fun than educational though nearly all do have even a small amount of educational value which makes me feel better if my daughter sits and watches the television whilst I get on with the housework.

One extremely annoying one in my mind which I mentioned above and which at the moment seems to have been cancelled (though it may come back unfortunately) is TELETUBBIES. This nonsense programme had four life sized characters doing not a lot, their speech more confusing than entertaining and certainly not educational. Of course many people out there (and you may be one of them) do like this programme though I personally think it was a waste of time and have avoided my daughter ever watching it.

Other than this, I don’t really feel that any others need a mention in the bad section of CBeebies. Yes there are some which are a little tiresome, though most are pretty good.

Of course there are so many more programmes on this channel which I haven’t mentioned though if I did you would be reading forever! To see the uptodate list take a look at the CBeebies website (link below).

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SONGS
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There are a huge array of singing and dancing on CBeebies both in the actual programmes and also in the between parts with the different presenters. All of the songs are repeated so many times that children start to recognize them (and you start absent mindedly singing along to them whilst walking down the street – now that’s embarrassing!).

There are different daily songs which are played at various set times of the day such as Get Set Go (The wake up morning song), Birthday song, Goodbye Sun, Hello Moon (the goodnight song sung in the bedtime hour), and Big Fun Time among many others. These are all very upbeat and see my daughter dancing along to every single one of them. When she hears the lunchtime song she often comes running out demanding something to eat!

A lot of the songs help the children with daily evens such as breakfast, getting dressed, brushing their teeth etc. My daughter, who is just coming up to two, mimes all of the actions through these songs and often, like the lunchtime one, wants to do the actual thing they are singing about straight after each song.

There are also songs which are played in each season with an array of presenters and children helping children know what season it is. These songs are probably my favourite songs on CBeebies.

CBeebies ofer a special radio full of CBeebies songs which can be found on their website or on BBC7. We have caught this station a couple of times and the songs are instantly recognized by my daughter. You can also listen to stories on this channel as well.

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PRESENTERS
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The main presenters change every so often and they always seem to work in pairs. Most of them are already known by the children as they have appeared in one or more Cbeebies programmes prior to presenting. The most well known (to me anyway) is Justin who not only appears in many of the programmes, his latest being all about him, ‘Gigglebiz’, though also does many voice overs such as Jack and Doodles on the Tweenies. Of course children generally don’t notice the voice being the same until they are a lot older and by this time probably wont want to watch Cbeebies.

Most presenters seem very relaxed and are actually fun to watch even from the adult point of view. Of course there are the few that do not seem to fit in the world created for children, though these are few and far between. All the presenters are so full of energy which makes me feel even more tired at 6.00 in the morning! They are very warm and inviting and the links between the programmes are done exceptionally well such as big fun time, bedtime hour, make and do etc. There is also a part where they present birthday time and show cards sent in for children where they seem to always have something lovely to say to each child, and take their time doing so even though they have many cards to get through. The only downside to birthday time is that there is no guarantee that if you send in a card it will be shown and cards are not sent back to you which is disappointing to your child.

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WEBSITE
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The CBeebies website offer additional fun and games for your children and my daughter thoroughly enjoys looking at it with me, though to me it seems to be aimed at slightly older children than CBeebies channel aims at. It covers all of the programmes currently showing and games and excerpts which my daughter loves though isn’t able to do the games herself yet.

The website can be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

The website is very easy to navigate and all links work well. It is brightly coloured and instantly recognizable as CBeebies. There are also many links for adults such as newsletters, craft and cooking ideas and even a grown up chat which I have never been on. This section is very helpful in many ways such as healthy eating and pregnancy and is actually quite enjoyable and informative for me to flick through.

The rest of the site is focused on the children (being a children’s channel!!) and is very entertaining for them. There is different pages for all the different shows and craft pages with may ideas and things to download. There is a whole section of songs to listen to and watch and plenty of games and fun for children to play online.

As an addition to the channel, I feel that this is probably one of the better children’s websites and have no worries about my daughter going on it. It is easy for me to navigate (and will be for my daughter when she is a little older) and has a lot of useful information for me as well as endless fun for my daughter and both of us to work together.

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FINAL WORD
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Apart from the strong repetition in episodes which can get quite annoying for the adult, there is not really much to complain about with this channel especially if looking at it from a young childs perspective. I think that although they say it is aimed at up to six years of age, younger children will find it more interesting in general than the older children in this age range. My daughter thoroughly enjoys watching this channel, though obviously some programmes don’t take her fancy, and I can rest with the knowledge that most, not all but most, of the programmes have some degree of educational value. The presenters are interesting and full of life and the songs and dances are fantastic. The other great aspect of CBeebies is that because it is run by the BBC there are no adverts!!

In addition to the channel, CBeebies offer a wide range of products from toys and games for their programmes to magazines, the great website and radio station.

So yes, if you have a young child then I fully recommend this channel though I am glad we do have other channels too as it can get too much for me sometimes, though my daughter cant get enough of it!