Review: Peter Rabbit: Tales of the Start of Spring DVD

As a child I had a Peter Rabbit cuddly toy who used to come and stay with me in hospital. I loved the Beatrix Potter stories and have kept the books to pass onto my son when he’s a bit older, especially now the small boy and I enjoy snuggling up together and watching Peter Rabbit on Cbeebies, Peter is a little feistier than I remember from my childhood but still very fun to watch.

We were sent the Peter Rabbit: Tales of the Start of Spring DVD to review.

My own Benjamin was really excited to be given this Peter Rabbit DVD, naturally his favourite character is Benjamin Bunny, but he loves Peter Rabbit and Lily Bobtail too. We put the DVD on and watched it together, he was gripped throughout. It’s fair to say he loves his Peter Rabbit DVD and we’ll be watching it an awful lot over the next few weeks.

This lovely DVD collection features a free Hop Outside insert with outdoor activities for little ones and over one hundred minutes of Peter Rabbit’s adventures to enjoy including the special 22 minute episode ‘The Tale of The Start of Spring’. The DVD also features The Tale of the Radish Robbers, The Tale of the Secret Treehouse, The Tale of the Dash in the Dark, The Tale of the Broken Bed, The Tale of Benjamin’s New Map, The Tale of the Terrible Trap, and the Tale of the Peekboo Rabbits.

For more information about the Peter Rabbit: Tales of the Start of Spring DVD visit the Peter Rabbit Facebook page. The Peter Rabbit: Tales of the Start of Spring DVD is available from a wide range of stockists including Amazon, it has a U certificate and it would make for a lovely Easter present for any Peter Rabbit fan.

Review: Milkshake Stars DVD Collection

Packing for my birthday weekend away, I shoved the small boy’s portable DVD player in the car along with his brand new Milkshake Stars DVD, hoping that around 2 hours of DVD fun would keep him entertained on the journey up to Whinfell. The Milkshake Stars DVD features well loved favourites including Thomas & Friends, Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Little Princess and Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom. It’s fair to say it was a really good thing to take with us.

The small boy loves Milkshake. He races downstairs every morning to catch up on the latest goings on with Peppa Pig and Thomas & Friends. He loves Fireman Sam too, he doesn’t have gender bias either, he’s equally as fond of them as he is of Angelina Ballerina and Little Princess, so this DVD is almost tailor made for him.

Review: Milkshake Stars DVD Collection

Did it pass the weekend away entertainment test? Yes, absolutely. It kept him occupied, interested and engaged for the entire two hour journey. He liked the variety of programmes to watch. He enjoyed watching his old favourites, Peppa Pig, Thomas & Friends and Angelina Ballerina, as much as he enjoyed discovering new favourites such as Pip Ahoy!, Toby’s Travelling Circus and Jelly Jamm.

From a parental perspective, there are few things more annoying than putting a series DVD on and hearing the same theme tune every ten minutes, with this DVD there’s a variety of programmes, so it’s considerably less full-on. Plus it’s nice to see him enjoy the programmes. We chatted about the content of some of the shows, and explored themes around what he’d seen.

The Milkshake Stars DVD is released on Monday 8th September 2014. It is a brilliant blend of action, comedy and fun. We were sent a preview copy for review, but the DVD is widely available in the shops and online. It’s definitely going to be one of the most popular DVDs in his collection.

Note: We were sent the Milkshake Stars DVD free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map DVD

In our house we consider it a massive treat to have a pyjama day. We snuggle in bed, nibbling a leisurely breakfast, reading stories and sometimes watching a family DVD. Yesterday was a cold, rainy day with nothing on the agenda, so we got ourselves comfortable and put on our latest DVD, Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map.

This brand new Scooby-Doo adventure isn’t the standard cartoon we all remember and love from our childhood, it’s a puppet movie, inspired by the muppet show. The puppets are true to the original cartoon whilst still being muppetly-familiar.

Scooby and Shaggy start the adventure by sharing a triple extra-large Scooby snack pizza, their normal day soon becomes a crazy dash to find the fiendish Phantom Parrot with a map to pirate Gnarlybeard’s hidden treasure. The actual adventure is around 30 minutes long with the usual selection of DVD extras.

We watched the DVD three times over and over, Splodge was engrossed and clearly excited by the adventure. Giggling and pointing at the screen at all the right moments. His stand-out favourite bits were the groovy songs, he liked to jig along. Luckily one of the DVD extras was a compilation of the tunes so we had a couple of goes on that too.

It was short, sweet and spooky rainy day entertainment. It was just the right length for my little one, the plot wasn’t too complex for him and there was much to keep him entertained. I particularly liked the muppet-style puppets and the look of rapt enjoyment on my sons face.

Now winter is creeping up on us, we like to have DVDs at hand to watch with him at those times when only a hot chocolate and a snuggle under a blanket will do. I’m pretty sure our Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map DVD will be top of the pile. It’s great that he’ll love Scooby-Doo too.

Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (Original Puppet Movie) [DVD]
was released in the UK on DVD on 21st October 2013.