The number one Kids channel- (CBeebies)

Member Name: upsykimsy

Product:	CBeebies
Date:	03/01/09 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: bright, colourful, popular with the younsters

Disadvantages: A bit too much at times

Anyone with a child under the age of 7 is bound to know the cbeebies channel quite well.

My first meeting with the overtly bright and cheerful channel was when my son was 8 months old. My partner had put it on, and was talking through In the Night garden with our son.

Don't worry, I'm not going to give an indepth analysis of every show on the channel. I'd be here til Kingdom come typing.

The channel starts at 6 am every morning. Luckily, my little monster hasn't realised such a time exists yet. The logo is, well, infamous among the mother and child groups. It's a blue background, with the cbeebies name written in yellow bubble writing. There's also two little blobs that bounce around the screen during the day.

The presenters all seem to be dramam school graduates. Some are only cheerful, but seem to know how not to grate on a sleep deprived parent. The others? Seem to have been on an acid trip, and are brash, and very excitable. Great for the youngsters. Terrible for your migraine. The channel consists of several shows, some tend to be repeated several times a day, others are on once a day.

Luckily, the majority of programmes seem to have some kind of educational purpose. Balamory, with the infamous Josie Jump, teaches about friendship, helping others and careers (even though PC Plum seems to have it easy compared to the UK police force) Each character has a song, and I must admit, even I find Suzie Sweet ever so slightly scary. With lots of singing and dancing, and ever so bright colours, it seems popular with most toddlers I know.

Lazytown is anything but lazy. Sporticus and Stephanie (again, dressed in ghastly brights just to make sure the kids are watching) encourage excercise and dancing. And then Ziggy, a comical puppet, sets out on missions to learn about something different each day - usually related to healthy living. I've yet to meet a child who doesn't like this show.

In the night garden is one of Cbeebies most famous current shows. Based in a garden, the show starts with a toddler being sung to sleep, then the camera zooms to Igglepiggle, falling asleep in his boat. The show seems plain nonsense, with an obsessive compulsive midget who collects stones, three strange looking creatures called pontipines, a blue character who trails his infamous red blanket every where with him, and the ever annoying, loud, upsy Daisy. So annoying in fact, that I've come to love her, the show, and my sons become a fanatic.

During the day, the programme has themed hours. At midday, the lunch song is sung, telling kids "it's time for lunch". Thank god my son doesn't understand it yet, because otherwise I could imagine hell breaking loose if it wasn't quite ready yet. There's also a discover and do slot, during which programmes such as Mister Maker and Doodle Do are shown. If you wan't to get arty with your kids, nows the time. Just stock up on soap.

In time for the schools to break up, the channel branches into slightly more mature programmes, aimed at the kids who've been in school all day. This is when the all singing, all dancing boogie beebies starts. The moves are relatively simple, so much so my niece joins in every time.

At 6pm, at long last, the show starts to quieten down for bedtime hour. The presenters talk about the sun setting, and the songs become quieter. The ever so mellow (and my personal favourite) ?Charlie and Lola is shown, followed by a short story from Roly Mo, and then in the night garden. Again. The channel winds up with a short story from a guest narrator, usually a d-list celebrity, and then a final bedtime song, before the presenter says goodnight.

All in all, the channel has everything your little one could ever want to watch. It has it's fair share of educational programmes, as well as nonsensical programmes, but the children love it. Whether you can stand the almost hyperactive characters is another matter altogether.

Summary: Worth a watch, but not all day