Olly the Little White Van kindly sent us a copy of his first series dvd to review.
Olly the Little White Van is a 52 part children’s programme on CITV. It airs weekdays at 9:45 am (double bill), and 1 pm. The first series consists of thirteen 5-minute episodes.
Olly’s target audience is preschoolers, with the aim of spreading the message that helping others is good.
We have our own Ollie (aged 3) and his little sister Issy (aged 7 mths). A lot of children’s programmes that suit our Ollie are generally too old for Issy. But it was so lovely to see them both watching and enjoying Olly together. They were busy singing along to all the songs and having a good dance.
Justin Fletcher, a big favourite in our house, provides the voice for Olly. Justin suits the part of Olly perfectly with his fun loving, cheery, helpful nature. Olly, like most white vans, is always running around doing useful work. Its great to see that although Olly doesn’t always get things right, he is always thoughtful and tries his best. As a parent this is a great message and the show portrays it well.
The website (www.ollythelittlewhitevan.co.uk) has great games to play, and is easy enough for my 3 year old to navigate around. We have also had great fun making festive Christmas Cards.
Our only negative comment is that the episodes are a bit too short, and finish just as my two were getting into them. The DVD we were sent also did not have a ‘play all’ function, which would be very useful.
The second series of 13 episodes will be released in January 2012, with toys and games going on sale in Easter 2012.
Olly is great programme with a fantastic message for kids. We can’t wait for the second series in January 2012.
Disclosure: We were given a DVD of the first series to review, and all opinions are honest and my own.