See them smile with Cbeebies! (CBeebies BBC Weekly)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	CBeebies BBC Weekly
Date:	29/02/08 (1169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The free gift!

Disadvantages: A little pricey.

I was more than surprised to discover that this product had not been reviewed before. Due to the popularity of the channel and most of the characters that have been aired there, I just assumed there would be at least ten, very grateful reviews on this item!!

The product I will now review is the "Cbeebies BBC weekly", magazine, one of a couple of my tried and tested forms of bribery towards my children!!

The magazine in itself is rather a formidable item being one of the largest in size on display, it is however only the outside cover that is bigger, and the rest of the "inside" magazine is back to normal size!


~~~~~~ CONTENTS ~~~~~~

I will start with the front cover, due to the sheer volume of content the front cover is extremely busy. On the right hand side there is a list of the days of the week and a Cbeebies character under each day, for this reviews purpose I am reviewing 23-29 Februarys edition, so will therefore describe the characters and puzzles in this one.
The main characters on the cover of this edition are "the numberjacks", wonderful talking numbers that promote numeracy, "Mama Mirabelle", (I like this due to the fact Floella Benjamin voices Mama!), which is in effect a children's nature programme and "The koala brothers", which are Australian!! These don't promote anything but do keep my kids entertained....BONUS!

The reason that the outside cover is so much bigger than the rest of the magazine is because it is actually a reward chart for the child, each day is printed with a Cbeebies character, with a space for the mum or dad to write a daily challenge and a space for the reward sticker, which is also provided in the centre of the magazine.

I will not describe each and every page as they are either colouring, sticking, puzzles or all three, just with different characters involved!!

For example, this edition is all "jungle", orientated so each page features a task to do with that, ie there is a page bordered with jungle animals with a large blank space in the centre for the child reader to add to the jungle scene, whether it be with drawings or the stickers provided.

On each double page, on the right hand side, there is a day of the week, and very cleverly whatever character is the subject of that page, it gives a time that the child reader can watch it on that day on Cbeebies!! Very sneaky, one nil to the kids!!

On the upside there are lots of helpful little tips for parents on games they can play with their children and how to encourage learning through play, haha, one all I'd say!!

Once everything has been completed on that double page, there is also a selection of stickers, saying "I'm clever" and " that was fun", that can be put at the bottom of the page.

In the centre of this magazine, there is a double page which is literally dedicated to getting the child to watch the Cbeebies channel and buy the Cbeebies merchandise, there is a full weeks listing of programmes for the afore mentioned channel and on the other side in this edition is a page full of "in the night garden" merchandise. (These are like the Teletubbies, but more mind numbing...... AVOID, AVOID!!)

There is also, (as mentioned before), a sheet of fifty stickers, which include reward stickers for the chart, completion stickers for the magazine pages, animal stickers for the jungle scene and various others to complete the different games featured in this issue.


Towards the end of the magazine, there is a page dedicated to the children who wish to send in pictures, with the prize of having your picture printed being a Cbeebies music album. (I know, you have to watch it all day, now you have to listen to it in the bloody car, well at least it makes a change from High School Musical, but that's a different review!!)

There is also a section on birthdays that you can send in, and a whole section on how you can subscribe to the magazine, (I will leave details momentarily!), the cbeebies website and the address for the picture competition.

Right at the end, is a lovely "bedtime hour" story, this one features "the koala brothers", which my son insists I read over, and over, and over.......... In fairness I can read it word for word by the time the next issue comes out!!

Finally, (I've saved the best for last!), THE FREE GIFT!! This is usually the clincher on what magazine gets bought, this editions gift is a funky monkey pencil, that when you push a button flips the monkey over on its bar, also included where more stickers, because fifty is obviously not enough!!! I'm still peeling the last editions stickers off the furniture!!

~~~~~~ PRICE AND AVAILABILITY ~~~~~~

The price is £1.99, which I do think is a little on the steep side, but my children do get a lot of pleasure out of it, and many hours entertainment.
These are readily available, I almost always purchase ours from either Tesco or Asda.


~~~~~~ CONCLUSION ~~~~~~

I think these are great!!! Hours of fun, plenty of stickers ,colouring, drawing, stories and a freebie with every edition................ PERFECT!!!


I will now list the all important addresses -
The official website - www.cbeebies.com
For more info on the magazine - www.cbeebiesmagazine.co.uk
To subscribe - phone - 0844 826 7319 or visit

www.subscribeonline.co.uk/cbeebiesweekly

To view any of the afore mentioned characters and many more they can be found on ,
Freeview - 71
Sky - 614
Virgin media - 702.


Just a final word if this sounds like your cup of tea, the next edition of the magazine, which should be available to buy from the 29th of February, is the 100th edition, so will feature many more freebies than usual, my kids have already put their orders in........ to me!!


Thanks for reading!

Summary: The perect bribe!