Spider [DVD]

THE MUSIC
Highly melodic and folksy. Comforting, humorous and catchy and is appealing to children very young children(18 months + onwards).

* Accoustic guitar,
* trumpets (reminiscent of brass bands and Dvorak's New World Symphony),
* electric guitars,
* the gentle vocals of the male singer
and
* the additional vocals provided by his children
all contribute to a wonderful soundtrack worth buying in itself.

THE LYRICS
Display humour, pathos and delight. They make good children's poetry in their own right. A child's eye perspective is maintained throughout.

THE CARTOONS
These appear to be designed specifically for the songs. Simple ink and watercolour. Easy for young children to follow and enjoy.

ARACHNOPHOBIA
My daughter has been afraid of spiders. But "Spider in the Bath" was never frightening. She loved spider - the title character (but was still scared of real spiders). [She is now 12 and the video "Eight Legged Freaks" has helped her with her arachnophobia - huge scary man eating spiders that could be cute was a revelation for her}.

ADULTS VIEWPOINT
Good music. The scenes from school appeal to the older parent and grandparents. Many schools have changed(who wears caps these days?).

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The lyrics are repetititive as are parts of the cartoon. Every one of the 13 episodes are visual poems. Children are can easily understand what is going one, anticipate, the next refrain and benefit from the clearly structure way in which every episode is organised.

FAVOURITE EPISODES
1, 2, 11 and 13.... Yet all are of a very high quality indeed.

SPIDER IN THE BATH TRIVIA
In East Enders in the 1990s you could hear "Spider in the bath" repeatedly in the background as Walford pre-school progeny were in dumped in front of the TV Read more ›