Review: CBeebies Play Time DVD

At home, our TV channel of choice is CBeebies. It’s packed with all of his favourites and he loves to wind down after a hard day at school with a snack. We were sent the CBeebies Play Time DVD to watch and the small boy didn’t take long to decide that it was already one of his favourites.

The 2 hour long CBeebies Play Time DVD from Abbey Home Media features all of his CBeebies favourites and for over 2 hours of fun-filled entertainment. With 12 episodes in the collection; including Teletubbies;Twirlywoos; In The Night Garden; Peter Rabbit; Topsy & Tim; Mike the Knight; The Furchester Hotel; Octonauts; Q Pootle 5; Ruff–Ruff; Tweet and Dave; Chuggington and Cloudbabies.

CBeebies Play Time DVD

The CBeebies Play Time DVD is a great way of entertaining young children with its familiar, well-loved characters and diverse range of fun and engaging shows.

Although we didn’t sit down and watch the whole DVD in one sitting, he did enjoy the variety of programmes on this DVD. He even liked watching the shows more suited to younger children. I think maybe he’s watching them from a slightly different perspective and getting something new out of them.

Naturally he had some favourites –

Peter Rabbit – The One That Got Away. When Peter and his friends encounter the legendary “Jack Sharp”, a large trout that even Peter’s father failed to catch; they try to reel the fish in once and for all. But catching a fish is a lot harder than it looks.

Topsy and Tim – In New Pet Topsy and Tim love caring for their new pet rabbit but struggle to agree on his name. When they notice how wiggly his nose is, they know just what to call him.

Mike the Knight – In Hidden Garden Games. When Mike, Evie and the Queen have a competition in the Hidden Garden, Mike learns that it’s good to let everyone have a turn to play. But it’s even better when everyone plays together.

Octonauts – In Mimic Octopus Peso is gathering red algae to cure the sick vegimals but needs the help of a Mimic Octopus to scare off a Moray eel. The eel uses its striped tentacles to pretend to be a group of poisonous sea snakes.

Chuggington – In Koko’s Puppy Training Koko Koko finds a lost puppy and wants to keep it. Koko soon realises a little girl is looking for the puppy and decides that she needs to take him home.

The CBeebies Play Time DVD is another great collection of CBeebies classics and ideal for keeping the little ones entertained this summer!

Order your copy of the CBeebies Play Time DVD today!

CBeebies Play Time DVD

Five Quite Interesting Advent Calendar Ideas

Christmas is the time for spreading a little bit of magic and cheer. What better way to do that than by doing something each day during Advent. In the olden days, when I was a little girl (in the 80’s), my advent calendar was a cards with windows which you’d open and there would be a picture behind it. It was all very lovely, but times have changed and kids and grown-ups expect more.

I’ve picked out five quite interesting advent calendar ideas for you, which if you’re quick, you can get cracking with before 1st December!

Traditional Chocolate Advent Calendar

There’s something simple and cheery about traditional chocolate advent calendars, they’re great for children and adults too. They come in a pretty huge range of different themes and characters; but this colourful Teletubbies Advent Calendar is a winner. Behind every window in this kids’ advent calendar there’s a delicious milk chocolate treat to help you count down the days until Christmas.

The Teletubbies Advent Calendar can be found in a wide range of retailers, but I’ve spotted it in B&M for just 89p – a bargain!

Elf & Seek Festive Countdown

Little Treats Bakery have recently launched a fun, festive countdown activity in the form of freshly baked festive treats. Known as Elf & Seek, you get a box of 24 individually wrapped and decorated gingerbread elves to hide around the house each day of December.

Elf & Seek is an interactive, exciting and tasty way to keep the magic of Christmas alive. Simply hide one of the little elves around your home each day of December and the kids have to hunt it down as they countdown to Christmas. It’s the perfect advent calendar if you’re a bit tired of the same old kind of calendars each year.

The fun doesn’t stop there. Take a selfie of your biscuit elf, uncovered from its hiding place; share it on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ElfieSelfie – the winner will win an extra special, tasty treat; a hamper of biscuits tailored to a theme of their choice!

Elf & Seek Festive Countdown is available to order from Amazon for £10.

Playmobil 1.2.3 Advent Calendar

For little ones (18 months+) this Christmas they can enjoy an outdoor Christmas with Santa and his forest friends. The 1.2.3 Advent Calendar “Christmas in the Forest” contains twenty-four surprise items for each day of Advent. With a bright and colorful design and large, rounded pieces, this Playmobil 1.2.3 set is ideal for toddlers.

This adorable advent calendar includes Santa, elf, angel, reindeer, sleigh, gifts, dog, bunnies, fox, forest animals, and other accessories to help complete this woodland Christmas scene.

Costing just £21.99 the Playmobil 1.2.3 advent calendar is the perfect way for little ones to count down to Christmas!

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

Star Wars fans young and old will love this year’s LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar. Open a door of this advent calendar each day in the run up to Christmas to discover a LEGO Star Wars themed minifigure, starship, vehicle or other collectible. There’s even a foldout playmat featuring images from Jakku, Starkiller Base and deep space for epic Star Wars encounters.

The LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar is recommended for ages 6 years+ and is brilliant (we had one last year)!

Reverse Advent

The old saying goes – it’s better to give than to receive. At Christmas I find this to be especially true. Last Christmas we put together a reverse advent calendar for our local foodbank. I would very much encourage you to think about doing the same.

No only did it make us feel warm and fuzzy; it fed a family or two for a few days. It also taught my son a few lessons about empathy, caring for others and made us all think a little less about what we wanted and more about what other people needed just to get by. Never bad things to be reminded of.

You can read my blog post about our reverse advent calendar and read about what you need to put one together too.

What kind of advent calendars will you be choosing this year?

Charity: Children in Need Pudsey and Friends DVD

This year Children in Need is on 18th November. Our favourite fundraising bear Pudsey has teamed up with Cbeebies and Abbey Home Media to put together a very special Pudsey and Friends DVD compilation, featuring 15 episodes from some of CBeebies’ best loved shows.

Pudsey and Friends DVD

The Pudsey and Friends DVD has over 3 hours of pre-school fun and includes the following episodes –

Twirlywoos – Turning
Peter Rabbit – The Tale of Old Rusty
Something Special – Circus
Bing – Hearts
Teletubbies – Conga
In The Night Garden – Upsy Daisy only wants to Sing
Mike the Knight – The Snoring Dragon
Charlie & Lola – I Can Train Your Dog
Timmy Time – Timmy’s Picnic
Sarah and Duck – Sarah, Duck and The Penguins
Chuggington – Trainee Camp
The Furchester Hotel – Peckity Woodpecker
Octonauts – Porcupine Puffer
Cloudbabies – Rainbows Orchestra
Q Pootle 5 – Pootle’s New Spaceship

The Children in Need Pudsey and Friends DVD is a great way to raise money to help disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK. A minimum of £2 from the sale of every DVD will go towards helping children and young people across the UK have a safe, happy and secure childhood and the chance to reach their full potential.

Pudsey and Friends DVD

Compilation DVDs are always very popular with us, and the Pudsey and Friends DVD is no exception. I think we both appreciate a DVD with a variety of things to watch on it, and this DVD is jam packed with Cbeebies fun. It’s great value too, it’s currently just £5 on Amazon (with £2 going to Children in Need).

The Pudsey and Friends DVD is a very special compilation and a great way of entertaining young children. The DVD is full of familiar, well-loved characters from a whole range of Cbeebies favourites, all brought together to help raise funds for a fantastic cause.

The Pudsey and Friends DVD is rated U, it runs for 180 minutes and is widely available online and in the shops now.

Disclosure: We received a Pudsey and Friends DVD for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.