Fimbles - Smelly Jelly! (DVD)

Fimbles – Smelly Jelly

I have to admit that Fimbles are not one of my favourite children’s programmes though my daughter loves it so we decided to go and get her a DVD so when we wanted to watch something on the television, she could watch it happily on the laptop – which she enjoys doing as its mummy’s laptop and she isn’t meant to touch it!

The Fimbles are Fimbo, Florrie and Baby Pom, who all live in a lovely, colourful ...
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The three fimbles have a special sense they call their ‘Fimbling Feeling’ which tells them that there is something special lying around for them to find, from a ray of sunlight to something very everyday such as a stone. Whatever they find becomes the catalyst for the whole episode. Yes one random object defines a whole object – doesn’t sound very interesting does it, though young children really seem hooked on it.

Roly Mo ... more

Fimbles – Smelly Jelly

I have to admit that Fimbles are not one of my favourite children’s programmes though my daughter loves it so we decided to go and get her a DVD so when we wanted to watch something on the television, she could watch it happily on the laptop – which she enjoys doing as its mummy’s laptop and she isn’t meant to touch it!

The Fimbles are Fimbo, Florrie and Baby Pom, who all live in a lovely, colourful place called Fimble Valley. The Fimbles are cuddly hippo like creatures each with lovely colourful ‘skins’. Other characters in this programme include a blue tree frog called Rockit and a mole called Roly Mo, a pink bird called Bessie and her chick Ribble. Most of the other characters are essentially large puppets except the chick who is just a great ball of fluff with eyes stuck on it, unmoving in the main.

The three fimbles have a special sense they call their ‘Fimbling Feeling’ which tells them that there is something special lying around for them to find, from a ray of sunlight to something very everyday such as a stone. Whatever they find becomes the catalyst for the whole episode. Yes one random object defines a whole object – doesn’t sound very interesting does it, though young children really seem hooked on it.

Roly Mo is a character within himself and is like the teacher of Fimble Valley with a vast array of books to read to the audience which is again summarized by one of the other fimbles at the end of each episode. Storytime with Roly Mo also has a spin off series of its own, which my daughter doesn’t seem to like overly.

SMELLY JELLY

Smelly Jelly’s main host apart from the Fimbles themselves is Rockit who teaches the children how to bounce (his favourite pastime it seems) before going off to become a post frog and deliver letters to the other Fimbles.

Its not long before the usual singing and dancing of Rockit comes into play as they sing ‘If you could jump’ and then a random moment of Rockit becoming Pom’s baby which is all fun until Pom wants to give him a bath which is actually quite a funny moment!

The DVD also has fun and games with a game of hide and seek though really not much else.

Unlike many children’s DVD’s, this one doesn’t have many episodes on one, though only one longer version episode lasting approximately one hour. My daughter does love the fimbles though with this DVD she tails of and starts doing other things instead of watching it as she seems to get bored with the same episode for one hour. Myself, as mentioned before, I don’t think the Fimbles are the greatest television programme, though that could be because Ive seen it too many times now. The DVD itself I thought was rather slow and after watching it once, it just didn’t appeal any more. My daughter has yet to watch the whole DVD from beginning to end.

EXTRAS

The one good thing with this DVD is that it has a number of extras which can be accessed easily from the main menu on the DVD. The extras include the following;

Rockits Smelly Jelly Quiz
This simple quiz is well thought out and for older children is great and easy to understand and answer the questions. My daughter is a little young to do this quiz at the moment though if she is still into the Fimbles when shes a little older I am sure she would love this extra.

Rockits Post Frog Game
Help Rockit deliver the letters to the other Fimbles. Another small yet good game that children would love.

Roly’s storytime
Listen to Roly tell the story of ‘The kings tea party’.
This is quite a sweet part of the Fimbles though my daughter does not seem to take to the storytime on here which is unusual as she loves stories.

R-O-C-K-I-T Song
Sing a long to Rockits songs
A lovely extra which my daughter loves dancing too and trying to sing the words.

As well as the DVD extras there are full interactive menus which are easy to navigate for adults and children alike and also a website address which is easy to find online which provides more Fimbles games.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE

I don’t think I can really say that this DVD is that educational. It does the usual sing and copy songs though it doesn’t really teach much else except from what they are watching, for example – the colour of Fimbo’s fur. It isn’t one of those really bad programmes like Teletubbies, though, they do all speak well and through this it does help the child learn new words. There are some unusual words though this ism minimal.

LANGUAGE

As mentioned above, the language in the Fimbles is of good quality to help your child learn new words, though the youngest Fimble does speak more baby talk. The language is easy and simple for children of all ages without being patronizing.

QUALITY

The quality of the DVD as a whole is really good, with great colours and filming with easy to understand interactive menus. It is just the same quality as watching an episode on the television.

PRICE
We picked this DVD up for £2.00 so really for that price it is a good deal.

FINAL WORD
From the childs point of view – this DVD is really good though not great as once watched it gets a little boring. Yes there are a few extras though they are simple and once finished children may not feel they wish to do it again. As it is an all in one episode lasting approximately one hour, it can get a little too long for some childrens attention spans.
From my point of view I don’t particularly like the Fimbles although if my daughter is happy then I am. The episode itself is quite repetitive and slow though the extras are quite good.
For the price, though, it is worth it if your child likes the Fimbles.

ADDITIONAL INFO

• Product Ref: bbcdvd1420
• Duration: 60 mins
 

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