Archives for November 2012

We’re dusting off the tinsel in the CBeebies office! Christmas is fast approaching and the CBeebies House is a flurry of festive activity with everyone rushing around getting all the Christmas specials ready.

This year we have a bumper crop of brand new seasonal episodes, kicking off with ‘Show Me Show Me Winter Special’ and ‘Baby Jake Loves Christmas’ on 17th December, then ‘Mr Bloom's Nursery – Hoe Hoe Hoe’ on the 18th and ‘Mike the Knight and the Sneezing Reindeer’ and ’64 Zoo Lane – The Story of the Merry Jinglewhizz’ on 20th December.

We also have a couple of beautiful one-off Christmas animations; 'The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas', a unique re-telling of the nativity story through the eyes of a cow called Marjorie, who lives in a stable in Bethlehem (I think you can see where that's going…) and 'Peter Rabbit's Christmas Tale'. (This is actually a taste of things to come as we're very excited to be welcoming a full series of animated tales based on Beatrix Potter's classics to CBeebies in the new year!)

The highlight of the Christmas schedule for many of us, of course will be the CBeebies Pantomime. This year Sid is starring as Jack in a special CBeebies adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk which you can watch on December 21st (and then repeatedly on your HD recorder/iplayer another couple of hundred times if the kids have their way!)

This year the cast recorded the Panto songs with the BBC Philharmonic in advance so that little ones can learn them beforehand and have fun singing along when the Panto comes on TV. Andy and Mr Bloom will be introducing a new one every week on the CBeebies website.



Your little Christmas angels will also be able to make their very own shoebox theatre to recreate scenes from the pantomime (printouts and instructions will be downloadable from the website). We’ll also have some special Pantomime behind the scenes videos and extras just for you grown-ups so keep an eye on our Grownups pages and social media for those.

The CBeebies website will be building up the excitement to Christmas Day with another fantastic interactive Advent Calendar, little ones will be able to open a new window every day to reveal a unique Christmassy surprise from one of their favourite CBeebies characters or presenters. CBeebies online will also be crammed full of festive things to make and do including Christmas bunting, paper chains and for the first time, Christmas cards featuring favourite CBeebies shows and characters.

For those long car journeys during the holidays don’t forget all the lovely CBeebies Radio shows. As well all the great regular programmess like ‘Tree Fu Tom Spell School’ and ‘Nina Goes Inventing’, this Christmas, highlights include a Christmas Special presented by Chris from Show Me Show Me, a radio version of the Pantomime and a special episode of our new series about birds ‘Feathered Friends’. There are also specials called 'The Ministry of Stories' featuring Radio 4 Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray and 'Robin' a Christmas tale from the garden presented by Philippa Forrester. All of them can be listened to online or downloaded as podcasts to listen to whenever you like.

In the CBeebies House, the presenters will be getting festive showing little ones lots of fantastic things to make and do and will be bringing you a some early Christmas presents: new number raps from 10-15! You can catch all the number raps from 1-15 on the corresponding dates from 1st December.

To round up each day in true CBeebies style we’ll have an extra-special bedtime story. This December we’ve got a selection of magical wintry tales read by some fantastic new readers (including Simon Pegg, Floella Benjamin and Bernard Cribbins!) as well as old favourites like Simon Callow reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ and Derek Jacobi reading ‘Stickman’.

Believe it or not this is only a small selection of the festive fun going on across CBeebies during December so don’t forget to keep an eye on CBeebies Facebook, Twitter and the Grown-ups pages for all the latest.

You play as Tom, on a journey across Treetopolis , avoiding the ‘slime-weeds’ and ‘grumbleberry bushes’ to help his friends collect Magic Sap and save the day! 

There are four areas of the magical world in which to play; the Caverns, the Pond, the Ranch and the Treetops. 

Many of us have happy memories of playing games like Donkey Kong and Sonic The Hedgehog as children and we wanted to recreate that excitement for our audience by making a platform game that can be enjoyed by even the littlest Tree Fu fan.

In Magic Dash, little ones must jump, move and create magic through movement and spells in each area to open up new opportunities and rewards.

The gameplay is designed for young children and those with SEN and is controlled with just one button (mouse, spacebar or switcher). 

Older Tree Fu fans can also take advantage of the extra bonus elements like the ‘Super Shield’ for protection against the weeds, and the Mega Magnetiser to attract more of the magic. 

The game can help children improve their processing ability by allowing them to practice visual tracking and perceptual awareness. 

The mouse and keyboard manipulation acquired by playing this game can help develop fine motor skills i.e. the ability to use fingers and thumbs in a precise and controlled manner. This is especially important for developing the skills needed to hold and manipulate objects such as pencils. 

Go to the Magic Dash game

We caught up with Adam Idelson, one of the Octonauts Producers, to hear all about what we should expect from series 2 and what it's like to work aboard the Octopod...

Hi Adam – what do you do on the Octonauts?

A: I'm the Supervising Producer, which means working directly with all the talented people who make Octonauts, from the artists who design the characters, to the writers and actors who make them speak, to the animators who put it all into motion.

How does it feel having watched the Octonauts come to life from the pages of a book, all the way through to a second series?

A: It’s been amazing! Executive Producer Kurt Mueller discovered the books by Meomi a while back and worked with our head writer, Stephanie Simpson, to adapt it to TV. And I was lucky enough to join the team shortly after that.

At first it seemed to go slowly, as if we had forever to decide little things like should Captain Barnacles have a belt? What colour should the Gup–D be? Then about 3 years ago, we officially began production on series 1, and it’s been like trying to catch a runaway train ever since!

What can we expect from series 2?

A: More of everything you like! Our mantra this season was to go BIG. So bigger with the action, creatures and comedy. And from what we've seen so far, we're delivering. I have to give a shout out to the sleepless souls at our animation studio, Brown Bag Films, who somehow manage to pack a feature film's worth of action-packed adventure into every 10 minute episode.

Any favourite episodes?

A: Well, that's a bit like choosing your favourite child! Speaking of which, there's a very funny episode coming up about a Jawfish father who carries his eggs around in his mouth and the Octonauts have to help him to keep track of them all. Being a dad, I can relate. But my favourite show so far this season is the premiere, where the Octopod tangles with a Colossal Squid!

What’s your favourite thing about working on the Octonauts?

A: Honestly, it’s hard to pick one thing. Some days I'm looking at designs for an upcoming character or rough animation for a new episode, other days I'm brainstorming new ideas with our writing team, or recording voices, or doing it all at one time! It’s exhausting but exhilarating. I work with wonderful people and we all work 24/7 making a show we love.

What’s next for the Octonauts?

A: There's a fantastic double-length special coming up for Christmas that all of us involved in the show think will be the best thing we've ever done. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but let's just say Kwazii goes in search of an underwater city his long-lost grandfather, Calico Jack could never find, and gets more than he bargained for.

Go to Octonauts webpage

Now Something Special fans can play on the Tumble Tapp with ‘Tumble Tapp Snap’ – available on the CBeebies website

Mr Tumble’s hi-tech gadget, The Tumble Tapp, was introduced to Something Special audiences last month – inspiring mixed reactions, ranging from “an ‘i-Tumble’?...really?!” to “about time! is there an app we can download?”

So this week, as we launch its companion mobile game Tumble Tapp Snap, we thought it’d be good to write a blog explaining some of the background behind it…

So the big question is, what does Mr Tumble need a tablet for?

Whereas most of us have succumbed to relying on our mobiles throughout or daily lives, from waking us up in the morning to urgently tweeting about this week’s Strictly costumes, it’s understandable that we might expect a bit more restraint from a CBeebies legend such as Mr Tumble. Up until now, he didn’t need hi-tech gadgets in his life, so what’s changed? The answer to this lies in his audience…

Something Special appeals to a wide CBeebies audience, but especially to children with special educational needs (SEN). This audience is at the core of the show, and making changes to their beloved programme has to be a well-considered decision. While the Tumble Tapp is a bright, fun and modern prop for each episode, Mr Tumble’s new gadget also parallels the increasing relevance of touch devices in children with SEN’s lives…

The value of touch devices for Special Needs Users

Sometimes getting children with SEN to want to play can be a challenge, and if anyone can do this, we think Mr Tumble can!

While bright, noisy computer programs can provide great stimulation for children with SEN, for some children a mouse may require too much motor skill, and switch devices may be too indirect. The introduction of touch monitors has helped enable more users with SEN to interact with technology, but until recently, these were not readily portable, available or affordable. The development of tablet devices has changed this, and they are becoming increasingly relevant to children with SEN’s day-to-day lives and classroom environments.

Now everyone can play on the Tumble Tapp…

Once Mr Tumble got his tablet, it seemed natural to make an online game that would allow children to play on their own Tumble Tapp – either on their desktop computer, or on a mobile device.

As an accompaniment to the brilliant, fully accessible Something Special: Out and About games, a Tumble Tapp game has a lot to live up to. (The development of Tumble Tapp Snap has involved lots of user testing with children with SEN, and consultation with special needs experts,) to produce an uncluttered, accessible matching game that can be tailored to suit the user…

Personalising the settings to suit your child…

So what about if one of the kids playing the game likes to match non-identical images, but another feels more comfortable matching identical images? Both of these are very important skills for building understanding and problem-solving but occur at different stages of cognitive development, so we’ve built a settings panel for adults, that lets them decide which type of matching game would best suit the child’s needs and abilities. A similar function was used in the Something Special: Out and About games as a great way of empowering all children to play the same game, in their own way.

For Tumble Tapp Snap, we’ve expanded this to enable adults to change the way touch devices such as mobiles and tablets are handled - for instance, if the child doesn’t possess the physical skills to swipe their hand across the tablet screen, they can switch to a version that only requires them to tap it.

For more information on the Settings panel, read all about it on our Grown-ups Tumble Tapp page, or check the game out for yourself on our mobile site.

A step in the right direction…

Our goal with this Tumble Tapp game has been to expand the ways in which all Something Special fans can engage with a much-loved character. By choosing to build the game in the new coding language called HTML5, we’re able to make the game freely available on mobile devices via the CBeebies site, without players having to download or buy anything. This is no mean feat, and it’s a continuing challenge to make the game work for everybody’s mobile devices and fixing any little glitches – but as technology develops we plan for our games to develop too - in the meantime we hope that Tumble Tapp Snap is a good step forward…

Let us know what you think…

Building mobile games in HTML5 can be a tricky business – there’s a lot of different handset types out there, all with different versions and operating systems. For this reason, when some people try this game for the first time they may encounter a few glitches. But fear not! We have some great HTML5 experts trying to do their best to fix any issues.

For this reason, we at CBeebies HQ are asking for anyone who experiences any problems to email us with the details so we can investigate.

Please include details on your handset, and any other information you might be able to provide such as screengrabs, and details of your operating system if you know it.

We’d be incredibly grateful for your feedback, as it will help us to build a great game that can be used by all!

Email us at [email protected], with the subject title: Tumble Tapp

Play Tumble Tapp Snap

Sid's got some big news he wants to share with you, read on...

I cannot believe that it is nearly 11 years ago since I first joined the good ship CBeebies and what a truly amazing journey it has been.

There have been so many highlights, far too many to mention, but the ones that are at the forefront of my mind are playing keepy uppy with the legend that is John Barnes for a CBeebies Christmas shoot; travelling to Kenya and filming in the Masai Mara for CBeebies Africa; and, more recently, meeting Her Majesty the Queen earlier this year and remembering to say “Ma’am” as in jam rather than “Ma’am” as in farm!

The last eleven years have given me the space to grow and develop as a performer and a presenter and I never dreamt I’d end up staying so long! But I feel that the time has now come to step outside the CBeebies house and explore new opportunities. 

So, from April next year, I will no longer be one of the regular presenters in the CBeebies house. This doesn’t mean that you won’t see me on the channel, far from it! I have a new series called “Let’s Play” starting on CBeebies next week which I am very excited about. “Let’s Play” is presented by myself and Rebecca Keatley and the show will inspire pre-schoolers to explore the magic of play through dressing up, role play and pretending to be…well just about anybody.

It was a fantastic opportunity to play around with outfits, make up, wigs and voices as we dressed up as different characters from cowboys to racing drivers! I hope you enjoy our adventures as much as we did. Which was my favourite character? I will let you decide - there are plenty to choose from!

And I can let you into a secret that I am about to star as Jack in this year’s CBeebies Pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The Panto features all your favourite CBeebies friends and was recorded in front of a live audience in Manchester.

The CBeebies Panto is always great fun as when all of us presenters get together, there’s lots of banter backstage! It will be like a dress rehearsal for me as I will also be appearing as Jack in a live theatre version of “Jack and the Beanstalk” later this year. 

Back on CBeebies, I have just recorded some new Number Raps for the channel with Andy, this time looking at the numbers 11-15. You can catch these going out from Tuesday 11th December – an ideal date and perfect for the older CBeebies audience who can count beyond 10.

I am also thrilled to be embarking on a theatre tour with my own show which is something very different for me. And I have just recorded an episode of “Celebrity Mastermind” – wow, it was so nerve-racking sitting in that infamous black chair! I can’t tell you how I did but be sure to tune in when it goes out on BBC One over Christmas.

So, it’s not really goodbye as I will still be popping up on CBeebies in your living rooms but I’ll also be enjoying the opportunity to pursue some new challenges. See you soon.

Check out the Let's Play page on the CBeebies Website for songs, clips and other activities.