Ticket Ballot for the CBeebies Panto 2013

Join CBeebies presenters in Sheffield as they celebrate the excitement and anticipation of Christmas with plenty of music, dancing and a few CBeebies surprises!

Families in Sheffield have the chance to see their favourite CBeebies stars on stage in a brand new musical version of A Christmas Carol.

Many of the channel’s favourite faces will be appearing including Justin Fletcher (Gigglebiz / Justin's House / Something Special), Phil Gallagher (Mister Maker), Ben Faulks (Mr Bloom), Gemma Hunt (Swashbuckle) and Rebecca Keatley (Let's Play). They will also be joined on stage by some very special, top-secret guests.

The classic novel by Charles Dickens has been specially adapted for the CBeebies audience with the mean and miserly Ebenezer Scrooge needing a bit of CBeebies magic to help him learn to care for those around him and share in the joy of Christmas!

The performances will be filmed and the resulting programme will be broadcast as the centrepiece of this year’s CBeebies Christmas schedule.

Free tickets for A CBeebies Christmas Carol are released today (4^th October 2013) through www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours and will be allocated via a ballot which is open for one week. Performances will take place on Friday 8^th November and Saturday 9^th November 2013 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Outside The Crucible, Tudor Square will be transformed into a winter wonderland for families to enjoy. There will be a host of different activities, all created by BBC Learning to excite and inspire young audiences. No tickets are required for the events in Tudor Square and the activities will run daily from 10am.

CBeebies Controller Kay Benbow says: “We're delighted to bring so many of CBeebies favourite stars to Sheffield. We hope audiences in The Crucible will be caught up in the magic of the story. There are also fun-packed activities taking place in Tudor Square and we look forward to all the family coming along to take part.”

Justin Fletcher 'Hands Up...The Album'

Who doesn't love Justin Fletcher? Well, there was that one incident when my three year old burst into tears when he first saw Justin's House... but that just was a blip. My boys love Justin's House now. They also love Mr Tumble on Something Special. Justin is Mr CBeebies and he has an album out next week.

The title track, 'Hands Up' is a catchy piece of disco and brilliant to dance to. The other tracks are mostly jazzed up versions of children's classics. We all enjoyed doing the actions to 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes', 'Nellie the Elephant', 'The Music Man' and 'The Hokey Cokey', before chilling out with lovely versions of 'Frere Jacques' and 'The Sailor's Lament'. I loved 'Justin's Lullaby' too.

This CD gets the thumbs up from us. It gives mum a workout and the little ones can burn off some energy too.

Hands Up is released on 5th March 2012 and is available on Amazon to pre-order for £8.99.

You can also follow Justin on Twitter and Facebook.

CBeebies Song Time CD

Finally, 50 CBeebies theme tunes on one CD!

If your little one watches CBeebies they will be familiar with a lot of these songs. 

Our favourites theme tunes are Zingzillas, In the Night Garden, Green Balloon Club, Numberjacks, Bob the Builder and Mister Maker.

There were some we didn't know and some slightly unusual versions, but overall this went down well in the Calico household. I had to dance to each one - thanks, boys! I know you can't please everyone, but I would have liked the seasons songs on there too.

At £8.93 (the current price on Amazon), this CD is great value for money. It hasn't replaced the Zingzillas CD in the car yet (I'm not sure anything ever will), but it has been nice to listen to around the house. 

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Numberjacks: Mission to Learn - Exclusive!

If your children like the Numberjacks, then I have an exclusive for you. There is now an online game called Numberjacks: Mission to Learn.

The premise of the game is that you are an agent, assisting the Numberjacks. You can wear a disguise if you like! You play games to build up your brain gain. Once you have built up enough brain gain you go on a mission and earn stars and other rewards that you display in your room in the Numberjacks' sofa.

Three year old Presley and I have been playing the game all week and he has sat and concentrated for an hour at a time. each time. He already liked the Numberjacks television programme on CBeebies and he has also shown an interest in numbers, so I expected he would like the game. He asks to play it all the time.

I have control of the laptop, but he answers the Numberjacks' questions. Older children could operate the controls themselves, although it is nice to be able to sit with your child and solve puzzles.

I liked that the games and missions are educational and fun at the same time.

Numberjacks: Mission to Learn is brand new and as such there maybe a couple of bugs, but the technical team are there ready to resolve them straightaway.

You need to pay a subscription (either individual or family) to play, but readers of Sandy Calico Reviews can use the following discount code for a reduction of 30%, valid until 31st January 2011: SANDYREVIEWS30 

Presley and I give Numberjacks: Mission to Learn a big thumbs up. If you're still not convinced you could just join for a month for £4.99, less 30% discount, so that would be £3.50. See how you get on. £3.50 for an hour's peace every day for a month? Bargain!

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Zingzillas - The Album

We don't watch that much television, but we have seen the CBeebies world music programme, ZingZillas, so we were happy to review the CD: ZingZillas - The Album.

As soon as it arrived I popped it into the laptop and when the boys heard the 'ZingZillas Theme' they came running. They were disappointed that it wasn't a DVD, but listened anyway. I was impressed by the production quality and surprised at how catchy the songs are.

We soon moved the CD to the car and now when I start the engine I get an excited chorus of 'ZingZillas!' from the back seat.

This is how entertaining this CD is, I had driven two thirds of the way from Preston to Ormskirk - on my own - before I realised I was listening to AND ENJOYING a children's CD! My favourite tracks *ahem* are 'Welcome to the Island' and 'Drift Away' (the one with the harp).

So it's a huge thumbs up from us!

ZingZillas - The Album is released tomorrow, 4th October 2010, and is available from all good music shops.