Easter with Nick Jr

I love surprises, don't you?

This morning our chirpy postie delivered a lovely surprise parcel from our friends at Nick Jr...

Included was a DVD preview of brand new episodes of Dora the Explorer - Dora's Easter Adventure and the Little Man's favourite Nick Jr show, Team Umizoomi - The Umi City Egg Hunt plus two episodes of a brand new show, Tickety Toc, coming to Nick Jr in April. A cute CGI animation featuring twins Tommy and Tallulah Tockety and their friends who live 'on the other side' of the Tickety Toc Clock. Fast-paced and funny and appealing to both boys and girls I can see this show becoming a firm favourite in this house!

Wanna see what was in the beautiful box?

Of course you do....

The day we met The Bopps...

You gotta love Twitter - I have made some lovely acquaintances, and a few good friends; kept up with some old friends and hob-nobbed with the stars, whilst in my pj's! Recently I found @KeithBopp, one half of NickJr musical duo The Bopps and, being the friendly sort of chap he is, we chatted about random stuff (mainly cake) for a bit before working out that we acually only live a few miles apart! And that Bopp Towers - The Bopps HQ was literally only a half hour bus ride away...

And then Keith invited me and the Little Man along to visit. Well it would have been rude not to!

It was easy enough to locate - it's across the road from the old building where I worked at my first proper job (between bands!) as a solicitors receptionist. An unassuming building, with no clue to the silliness that goes on within!
Keith let us in with a big beaming smile and I could see the Little Man was a little bit confused - where were the pink braces? The stripey t-shirt? It was KB but not as he knew him... Then he heard Stan's voice from the office down the corridor and giggled. We were in Bopp Towers!!

After a bit of chat and some cake (my lemon curd cake was, after all, the main reason I was invited ;-) ) the lads very kindly 'Bopped up', reappearing in full Bopp costume much to the Little Man's delight!!

be afraid....

high five!

it's a geeeeetar!

Honorary Bopp for a moment...

"I like that song...and that one...and..."

Then we got a tour of Bopp Towers including the studios where the Little Man got excited over the computers while I drooled over the mixing desk...

 This is where a lot of voice over work for various childrens TV shows is done. We also visited the post -production room and the most important room of the building - the table football room.

And I saw the squirrel suit. That's right, THE squirrel suit. I had to resist the urge to try it on.

Original models from the 'Little Red Tractor' series created for CBeebies

While Keith told me a little about the post production work they do here, the Little Man got up to mischief with Stan, giving him a crash course in the 'create' section of Nick Jr website - there was a lot of giggling going on...

Too soon it was time for us to go so Stan and Keith could get on with planning their live show (like the hard working couple of chaps they are ;-) )


Thank you to Keith and Stan Bopp for making us feel so welcome and for entertaining the Little Man and really making his day special. He has been enthusiastically telling everyone who would listen all about the fun he had at Bopp Towers!

He has also been enthsiastically listening to The Bopps cd. Over and over again. I now know ALL the words...

The Bopps are on NickJr at 7:35am every morning and hope to be appearing live at a venue near you very soon too!! You can follow KeithBopp on Twitter or join TheBopps on Facebook for news and general silliness. The Bopps also have their own website

 

Olive the Ostrich

A new show with a difference premiered on Nick Jr this week.

Olive is a lovable little ostrich who lives with her mum and dad in the outback.. Whenever Olive buries her head in the sand she goes on a fantastical adventure. Who knows where she will pop up this time! On the moon? On a theatre stage? In a science lab? Wherever she ends up, she just loves to help!

The episodes are short and sweet (perfect for a three year old attention span!) and each one sees Olive use her friendly enthusiasm to solve problems and help out in her own, unique way.
The series is narrated by Rolf Harris and the theme tune has his distinctive 'wobble board' sound. I don't know about you but I love Rolf (I met him once and sat on his knee - but that's another story...) and grew up looking forward to Rolf's cartoon time on Bank Holiday weekends! I am so pleased that now my Little Man can enjoy his warm voice and enthusiastic story telling too! 

Olive the Ostrich was created in partnership with The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, through a series of workshops, hosted by selected schools across the country, aiming to inspire creativity and develop story telling skills and give pupils an insight into the animation and film making process. The result is a wonderful, quirky set of five minute episodes that burst with life and colour with backgrounds, props and characters drawn by the children themselves. It makes Olive just a little bit different and we love it :)

Olive the Ostrich is shown at 8.15am and 6.30pm weekdays on Nick Jr
Watch a clip or get creative with Olive on the NickJr website

We were not paid for this review. NickJr sent us a DVD containing 2 episodes to watch (although we had already been watching them on TV ) and a poster for the Little Man to put up in his room. All opinions are our own :)

Win a Nick Jr Goody Bag!

This giveaway is now closed.

Congratulations to 

Lorraine Cooper

hope your little one enjoys her special prize :)

Helena Dowling talks about the NickJr 'Help Dora Help' Campaign'

If you have kids of a certain age you may be familiar with the Help Dora Help campaign that has been running on Nick Jr for the past month or so.
Nick Jr have teamed up with The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts to offer a special £20,000 award to one lucky pre-school, nursery or playgroup to enable them to improve their facilities and give their kids the best possible start.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with Helena Dowling - presenter of Nick Jr's 'Wake up World' slot every morning and the face of the 'Help Dora Help' campaign - and she told me a little about the initiative.

"Dora is a fantastic role model for kids... We have worked with educational specialists to create a great educational pack that encourages creative learning through exploration and developing their sense of adventure."

She is really excited about the campaign and the opportunity it provide for the winners to do something really special for the children in their care.

"The first prize is £20,000 which could provide a great outdoor play area or an amazing trip out. There are fabulous prize packages for the runners up too!"

Helena has visited some pre-school groups to see the the activity packs in use and said the kids really enjoyed working with characters they are familiar with.

Helena, who has taught kids dance classes for years absolutely loves her job as the 'face' of Nick Jr

"I get to go into work and play with soft toys and be silly all day. Of course I enjoy it!"

You can also see her in some episodes of the new series of 'The Bopps' singing and dancing with Keith and Stan Bopp, which she enjoyed immensely.

"Keith and Stan a couple of great guys to work with. We had a lot of fun filming the show."

 Thanks so much to Helena for talking to us - it really made the Little Man's day and he couldn't wait to tell Daddy later that he had spoken to 'He-ena' on mummy's phone!

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I am little late with this post and the closing date for entries for the 'Help Dora Help' competition has now passed. However you can still download the activity pack which contains six curriculum linked session plans based around different themes such as pirates, nature and space. Why not have a look? You may be inspired to begin a project to keep the whole family occupied during the summer holidays.

Still looking for something to occupy the littlies during the summer break? Nick Jr have kindly sent me a fabulous activity pack to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. Giveaway post to follow in the next couple of days...

Hello Poppy Cat!

Nick Jr are very excited about their latest offering for pre-schoolers, a fabulous animated adaptation of the award-winning 'Poppy Cat' series of books by Lara Jones. Voiced by the extremely talented Gavin and Stacey star, Joanna Page, Poppy Cat is a brand new TV star in the making! Joanna says she really enjoyed the challenge of playing the character of Poppy Cat

"...because she’s strong, she’s determined, she’s not scared of anything, she’s very brave, she’s lovely and kind, she’s not selfish, she looks after her friends and she doesn’t back down from anything..."

Poppy Cat and her friends, Alma, ZuZu, Owl, Mo and Egbert solve problems, over come fears and learn about the value of friendships whilst having all sorts of fantastical adventures in magical places. Poppy Cat is the natural team leader and with a wave of her patchwork bandana provides whatever transportation the friends need to get going - car, boat, submarine, plane, rocket or hot air balloon. The characters are each well rounded with their own quirks, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. Most children will find themselves identifying with the characters instantly and relating to their experiences with ease. Each episode is 10 minutes long - perfect for a pre-schoolers attention span -

and absolutely captivated my Little Man. Within the first couple of episodes he was hooked and has watched several episodes I have saved on sky+ for him over and over again!

To celebrate Poppy Cat's TV debut, Nick Jr sent us a lovely pop-up book 'Poppy Cat's Dream' and now the Little Man has got to know the characters so well he really enjoyed the book too, as you can see here...

'Poppy Cat' is currently showing on Nick Jr at 10am on weekdays