Lets go ? 6 great adventures

Other characters you will meet at Babblebrook are Walter and Nicola, who run the local garage and are able to fix just about anything. Stumpy the old farmer and his wife who live just down the road and of course the machines themselves. Harvey the harvester, Nipper the 4 wheel bike, Sparky the pick up truck, and Big Blue Mr Jones? new tractor. Just like an English soap opera, there are rich and colourful characters in this series, and the characters all work together to help each other if there is any trouble.

There are 6 stories on this disc and each is a fantastic attention holder for little kids ? lasting approx 10 mins each they are simple and effective stories, full of fun and colour.

In ?Big Bang? - we see Mr Jones using the latest invention to scare away birds but ends up scaring most of the neighbourhood. Just as well Stan knows and old-fashioned way to quietly get the job done. And in ?Tiger Tiger? - Stumpy is terrified when he awakes from a sleep and hears the radio announcer warning of a Tiger on the loose. If only he has been listening carefully he would know that the news report was actually a bulletin to ask people to keep an eye out for a lost kitten named Tiger. The adventures are all along these lines, and it?s the simplicity of the stories that is so appealing. My four year old daughter is besotted with the Tractor she loved the DVD and has played it mercilessly for this whole week. (And yes running rampant in my head is the these song - ?little red tractor he?s king of the field??.?)

The picture quality is what we have all come to expect from the ABC, the aspect ratio is the standard 4:3 and this high quality animation brings to life a whole new world of characters for kids to fall in love with. Crisp clear sound blasted out of the stereo when the little red tractor was on, my kids have learnt that things just sound better when the stereo surround sound is on too, and the DVD is a great example of why it is worth the effort of setting up surround sound in your home (even for kids movies……)

This is a fabulous new series and well worth buying - DVD’s have really become affordable and having a variety of kids DVD’s is a great way to break up long days for anyone with a small child at home. The format of the little red tractor - 6 short episodes broken up with the theme song in between make is a great 10 or 20 minute “fill in” and kids can watch 1 2 or all 6 episodes depending on the time available.

THE EXTRAS

Episode selection and two games:

Fix the machines - kids use their remote control to select a part that is missing from each machine

Count the animals - kids use the remote to select the amount of animals they can count of the screen

The two games were ok but because they had written instructions on the screen I had to read them out to my kids each time and my four year old struggled to play - She grasped the concept of the game quickly but found navigating the remote control a bit difficult and when she finally mastered it - the challenge was completely gone because by then knew all the answers. Still it was a good feature when her cousin came to play she was able to teach him how to play the game on her own.

CONCLUSION

Welcome to The Little Red Tractor - Meet Stan, his friends, and their machinery. These guys live in the small (but very English) village of Babblebrook. Stan and his kids live on Gosling farm just on the outskirts of the village and each day brings new adventures for Stan and his kids. Little Red Tractor is an old but fully restored (and very reliable) tractor. Mr Jones who lives next door has a big new Blue Tractor and he always tells Stan that his Tractor is better because it?s new and shiny, but Stan knows that the best machines are the reliable ones. Mr Jones likes new things and always likes to try out new machines and inventions on his farm.