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| Evie the Cow from Poetry Pie |
There is a single word that causes me to grimace. It is capable of creating a similar reaction to the one that results when Shaun opens a bottle of beer with his teeth.
Closed eyes. Tense and shrugged shoulders. A sharp inhale of breath.
My two-year-old nephew hunts for the TV remote while chanting, "Beebies, Lala. Beebies, Lala. Beebies, Lala." I feel myself wanting to curl into foetal position at the mere mention of the children's TV channel, and on the rare occasion when I've given into Josh's demands, I've decided that colliding with a brick wall would probably cause less pain.
However, a few weeks ago the insanity-inducing channel redeemed itself (slightly)... And surprisingly, CBeebies' saving grace was poetry.
Yes, initially I was worried, concerned, fearful and panicky. But then I noted a name that soothed like a Radox bubble bath, Roger McGough.
"Poetry Pie vividly brings to life the incredible poems of well-known contemporary poets specially written for CBeebies, with an animated cast of creatures who act, dance and sing the words of the poems." (Source, BBC.)
Each episode of poetry pie is kept short (about 3 minutes) which allows young children to remain focused and entertained. The bright colours, music and fun characters work well with the nonsensical verses. But, quite importantly, it doesn't make me want to rip out my hair or prise my fingernails off with a pair of pliers. However, the best thing about Poetry Pie is that it shows that language can be fun. It introduces children to English in an exciting and creative way, and confidently says, "Poetry is not outdated".
Thank you for reading,
Lar
3 comments:
I would have more hair if there had been shows like this when Junior was growing up, rather than crap like the Teletubbies and Pokemon.
Ash
I'm going to add sitting through a day of Cbeebies to the list of things women should do if they start to feel broody. I've got walking round the maternity ward and taking a teenager shoe shopping on there. I might set myself up in business.
Thanks for introducing us to this Lara - I'll pass it on to all the babies I know. (3)
I have missed this somehow, I have no idea how as I have Cbeebies on constantly as background noise at the moment. I think after 3 kids I must tune it all out. I will be tuning in with Ikey though, it was quite funny. I might take a stab at writing some children's poetry now :)
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