The oven is 'hot, hot, hot'! (Big Cook Little Cook)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Big Cook Little Cook
Date:	27/11/08 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: So much to learn

Disadvantages: You will find yourself singing along to all the songs!

Whenever I make the tea I always put a bit of TV on for my son. We don't have a TV license so I use the BBC Iplayer. Recently we came across this programme and my son is absolutely 'sold out' on it. Whenever I ask him what he wants to watch he always says 'cook' in a high pitched screech. Any of you who have children or are in contact with children will know how very annoying some children's programmes can be. Take 'In the night garden' for instance, I can't stand it. It's full of weird creatures with silly names who talk a load of tripe but the kids love it so therefore us adults have to sit through episode upon episode of it and end up humming the tunes, learning the phrases and knowing all the dance moves. Well I can tell you that although I know every single phrase and dance along with my son to the songs in 'Big cook little cook', it isn't one of those annoying programmes. It's actually quite fun!

The programme consists of 2 cooks, big cook Ben and little cook small. Ben is human sized and Small is the size of your hand (I've never seen a person that small before and I've been alive 26 years!). The whole programme is set in their brightly coloured kitchen and the clothes Ben and Small wear match the décor. Each episode they have a visitor to their café who they end up cooking for.

Children like familiarity and the programme has plenty of this. They have the same songs to sing along to and each song has a dance to it which I'm proud to say I've mastered down to a t!
They also have a part of the programme where Small goes off on his 'Spoon mobile' (a wooden spoon) to find out where a specific food comes from or how something is made.
Small will usually read a little story from his book 'Little cooks adventure in the big world (which he says in a really cakey voice).
The cooks will always ponder what to cook for their guests the get 'Big cooks, cook book' out of the cupboard.
The cooks always look in their cupboards for the ingredients that they will use.
They always make a big thing about tidying and cleaing up once the meal is done.
At the end of the programme when the food is presented to their guest, the plate is always returned with a gift for them.
Obviously the story Little cook reads changes every episode and the theme will always change but the programme is pretty consistent with the above.

The food they cook is very imaginative and always very easy. It never takes very long and It always makes me think 'Oh I'd like to have a go at that'. It's very appealing to the children for example one episode they made a fruit smoothie and rather than just pouring it in a cup they put a head and tail on it to make it look like an animal. The ingredients are all everyday things that are easy to find in the shops.

Over all I would recommend this programme to you if you have children (or even if you are part of a dance group and want to bust a few moves!). It teaches your child so much not only about cooking but about culture, food and many other things. So get on down and you'll be singing the theme tune before you know it (It's very catchy!)

Summary: A great educational programme for kids of all ages:) including me.