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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Bob The Builder-Building Bobland Bay

Bob the Builder is always one of those shows that I mean to let my boys watch, but never do. No, it's not because of content, but rather the timing. My kids watch TV at 4 pm each day for 30-40 minutes. It allows them to slowly adjust back from nap/quiet time while I get dinner ready. This means that they generally watch the DVDs that we have on-hand or the occasional show that we remember to Tivo.

I was interested in reviewing Bob the Builder Building Bobland Bay for the Parent Bloggers Network because I was curious as to what Bob the Builder was all about. My 4.5 year old sat down on the staircase overlooking the family room with his plush rabbit ears on his head, and my 20 month old sat down on a kids chair with his baby doll to review a DVD all about building, or so I thought.

The first thing I liked about the DVD was that even though it was tied together by the central theme of Bobland Bay, it was broken down into individual episodes. From a timing perspective, that made it easy to chunk kids TV time into individual episodes. From an attention and continuity perspective, that made it easy to go back to the movie later and pick up where we left off.

My 4.5 year old, after whining that he would rather watch Clifford, was captivated by the movie, and moved from staircase to couch to get a closer look early on during the first segment. He really enjoyed the animation, and he said his favorite part was when they were building things. That appeared to be the part that my 20 month old enjoyed the most too. I was also impressed when they constructed buildings. It was like watching someone put puzzles together. When they put together the houses, you could actually see how the pieces were going to fit together. It was very detailed, and I remember seeing a very realistic latch.

There were lessons learned in each episode. For example, in "Loft the Lifeguard", Lofty was nervous around the camera and kept having mishaps. After being advised to pretend the camera isn't there, he ended up saving the day. In "Bob's Big Idea," Bob built a viewing tower on a house so that he could see all the houses that everyone helped to build. This led to a discussion about the importance of teamwork. My 4.5 year old seemed to pay a lot of attention to those lessons, but honestly my 20 month old played with his toys while they were delivered. However, when they were back to building, both boys paid attention.

There were a few things that I would have liked to see. One is that I wish that they could have announced the titles of the episodes verbally because my kids aren't reading yet. The second (which applies to almost all kids TV) is that I wish that they would list the names of the characters. I went to the website recommended on the cover of the DVD and was able to "meet" the cast of characters, but I sometimes confused names and in the case of two bearded gentlemen, identities. The website was helpful for more than character identification. I also learned about the history of Bob the Builder and found out that the brand message of problem solving, teamwork and having a good attitude run through every show.

My kids enjoyed Building Bobland Bay, and I would recommend it. Of course the show included Benny The Small Digger who is a male and is pink. They got big points from me for that.

posted by Alex Elliot @ 10:55 PM 0 comments

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Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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