Tubbytastic! (teletubbies.com)

Member Name: ihatebroccoli

Product:	teletubbies.com
Date:	20/10/00 (568 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bright, colourful, interactive site for young children (supervised), excellent links pages for parents

Disadvantages: None

http://www.teletubbies.com

Regardless of what you might think of the Teletubbies in general, this is an excellent site to keep the little people amused. One of the most colourful websites I have seen, and a great interactive site for young children. You can hear twittering birds and music playing throughout. On the main page, your mouse pointer is followed around by a string of blue dots.

This site is great for young children to use, supervised. It is easy to navigate, with clear section choices down the left hand side of the page. It is colourful, and contains loads of activities for children, some of which are downloadable (so they can be played/ done offline). You can sign up for teletubbies.com email, and there is a discussion forum

The sections are:
Games, Email, Chat, Freebies, Competition, Puzzles, Colour In, Recipes, Stories, Bulletin Board, Shop, Education, Health, and you can subscribe to an email newsletter, as well as sending a Teletubbies e-card.

Games:
The highlights of the games: “The Counting Piano”, “Guess the Word”, “Colour In”, “Breakout” (for slightly older children), “The Alphabet Game”. As you may have realised, I spent ages trying these games out, spending the most amount of time on Breakout, and if I can spend this long on them, as an adult, then children will love them.

“Tubby Piano” lets you play a tune of teletubby and other sounds when you click on a piano key. “Fireworks” lets you click on a rocket, and watch an animated firework display and “Fireworks 2” allows you to download the feature, so that you can watch the fireworks offline. “Throw the ball” allows you to throw the ball between LaLa and Po, by clicking on them in turn.

“The Colour Game” teaches you the relationship between the names of colours, and their actual meaning, i.e. The word “
red” is accompanied by a red splodge of colour, and so on. “The Alphabet Game” lets you run through the alphabet learning the order of the letters, and shows some pictorial representations of the words, which begin with that letter – such as and Apple for A, and a Desk for D etc…

”Match the Shape” does just that! You click on a shape from a choice at the bottom of the screen, and drag it to the bigger shapes at the top, and drop it on to whichever match it (are the same as it) – you can only do it once though, as you have to click refresh in your browser to start again, and even then, it’s with the same shapes.

”The Tubby Race” is quite a clever one – it’s a set of 5 discs, which move across the screen, “racing” each other, you have to pick which one you think is going to win. You can restart this game. “Inventonator” (has to be downloaded) You have to add parts to the machine which makes sweets, and an “Oompa Loompa” tastes the sweets you make – watch his reaction change as the sweets do.

“Checkers” - a bit more advanced this one – more suitable for slightly older children than the teletubby market age range, and an entertaining game for adults. You can easily start the game over. “Breakout” – another difficult one, perhaps for older children (or else have the ball speed set really slow). This game really tests your hand to eye coordination. Very additive though, and a classic game.

“Follicle Follies” (another game that has to be downloaded) Not particularly good either. You click on the hairdryer, which lifts up and reveals a new thing/ hairstyle each time. “The Clown” You click on the clown’s nose to see a parade of different animals. “Tubby Towers” A very awkward game – you can only put the pieces in certain places, not reall
y suitable for very young children. I gave up in the end, it was so frustrating.

“Colour In” This is a good game, even if you make a mistake, you just click over the mistaken coloured area, with the colour you wanted. You can even “Start Over” to clear the colours and start afresh. There is a choice of three images to colour in – a funny man, a flower in the window, and mountains and a polar bear. You get a choice of colours from the palette at the top. Colouring in games are always fun, and a good way to occupy children.

“Frogs” When you click on the frogs, each one makes a different sound. Not all that interesting. I liked the flying piano though. “Guess the Word” This is an identifying game (or word-association game). A word is announced, and you have to choose from the objects given, the correct one, e.g. “Pig”, “Elephant” or “Blue”. One of the best games. “The Counting Piano” Another good one – you have to add up the numbers, and press the correct key on the piano for the answer, e.g. for 2+2, you click on key number 4, and so on. You can also hear the sounds of the teletubbies as you play.

The games are probably the best feature – you can learn about colour – how the word red goes with the colour etc… on “The Colour Game”. You can learn you alphabet on “The Alphabet Game” which has colourful pictures to illustrate the letters, such as an Apple for the letter “A”.

Email
To sign up for email, all you have to do is “click LaLa” to get a free email address (@teletubbies.com) and password.

In the “Freebies” section, there are numerous things both useful, and plain old fun that you can do. For example, you can “knit your own Po”, there are some screensavers, some teletubby sounds to download, and a useful drawing program,
which, again has to be downloaded by an adult. The most useful item in this section, is probably the “Useful Parent’s Directory” – which is *very* useful indeed! It contains links to Baby sites, and sites about education and health for your children.

In the “Competition” section, you can try and win a set of talking teletubbies by answering some simple questions.

“Colour In” is the same as the one in the Games section, and good fun. “Recipes” includes some great recipes like “Tubby Pizza”, and the interestingly named “Protein Marbles”! They are brilliant, not only to look at and follow the instructions with your child, but to make with them too. I’m going to have a go at “Angel Berry Cake” – sounds yum!

The “Stories” section, is a quick and easy way to access well known children’s stories, although I don’t think this is any substitute for a real live book by any stretch of the imagination. You can also submit your own story for the page. The Bulletin board allows you to post your comments either on the teletubbies, or on life and children in general.

Beware of getting sucked into the Teletubbies Shop, there are other products there, such as Pokémon, and Beanies, and all of them “want, want, want!”

Finally, the Education and Health sections contain some useful articles on just these subjects.


This site is worth a look for both parents and children. The games are excellent, and a good learning tool. The Recipes can be made together with your child, and the article and links sections are invaluably for parents seeking further information on issues to do with health, education, or very young children. It’s the most colourful and interesting site I have seen in a long time, and it’s great fun too! Apologies for going on about the games so much, I just think th
ey are really entertaining (and educational!)

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