Play Library

Same Toys, Different Continents #3: CBeebies Website

by Kerri Aldrich on July 18th, 2006

Hi! And welcome to our third installment of “Same Toys, Different Continents.” The post where Hsien and I each chat about a toy, game, or other such kid thing that we both have (or have access to), and share how that kid thing is enjoyed, destroyed, or ignored in our home. (For some reason, when I read that, I hear John Cleese’s voice reading it as if he’s in a game show skit. Not sure why, because I’m not John Cleese, or English, or a game show host. Odd.)

This week’s episode is about the BBC’s children’s site, CBeebies. (Please don’t ask me how many times I wondered what CBeebies meant before I realized that it was BBCs backwards. Because I’m not telling!) CBeebies is a site that features games, crafts, stories and more based on children’s TV (telly?) shows.

Duh. I didn’t even think about where the name CBeebies came from. I figured the C stood for children and Beebies sound like babies. :D

Clifford’s Climb was one game that the 2 and 5 year old could play together. It was very much like a game of Chutes & Ladders (Snakes and Ladders, Hsien?), and the only computer skill required was the ability to click the mouse. However, for a game that is usually touted as an aide in learning to count, it was not so much here. The “spinner” chooses from 1, 2, or 3 places and the piece automatically moves. The two kids were able to enjoy it together, though, and that goes a long way for me!

They also both enjoyed a couple of the Teletubbies games, including My Teletubbyland, where the kids can design their own Teletubby world. My two year old kept saying, “More rabbits, and more flowers, and more Tubbytubbies!!!!” He enjoyed it, even if he’s still not quite sure of their name. They also both enjoyed the opportunity to “paint” their own Teletubbies at the Painting Game. Their delight and cooperation while playing these games made listening to the sounds of the Teletubbies bearable.

While the two year old was resting, the 5 year old was able to jump back on the computer and play a few more games geared at her age/ability level. One of her favorites was the Rubbadubbers Game. The object is to keep a little pink frog on his surfboard while objects/animals pop up in his path. She was bummed to only keep him on for 9 seconds at the start, but very excited to keep him up there for almost a minute by the end. (Mostly excited because Mom only kept him up there for 42 seconds, and she beat me.)

Other favorites of hers were the Charlie and Lola’s Dressing Up game, and the Bits and Bobs game. She had fun with both, and I got to hear some English accents while making dinner. And, the more she played the Bits and Bobs game, the better her imitation of an English accent became as she spoke the words with them. :)

There’s really too much at CBeebies to do more than scratch the surface, but a great site to visit with your little ones. Enjoy!

Hsien:

I didn’t find myself with much to say during Kerri’s review of the CBeebies website because my almost-four-year-old son play with totally different games when he’s there. There are his favorites:

• Razzledazzle
• Bob the Builder - he particularly likes the Relay Race
• Koala Brothers
• Lunar Jim

As a parent, I think the Cbeebies website is exceptional because of the wide variety of games for all skill levels. And, it’s not just the online games which are so much fun, there’s plenty of arts and crafts ideas and coloring pages too for offline times. It’s a wealth of resources for family fun including grown-ups.

I’ll be sharing more websites for children as we come across them. Where do your kids like to go on the Web?

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POSTED IN: Internet for Kids, Same Toys Different Continents