Review: Curious George Swings Into Spring

With a George in the family I couldn't really refuse an offer to review a DVD of Curious George Swings Into Spring and I'm so glad that I didn't as he's already become a very firm favourite of Little Miss C's.

If you're not in the know (and I wasn't a week ago) George is a monkey who seems to hang around with a man who dresses in a strange yellow hat that rather makes him look like a banana (and he's perfectly named The Man in The Yellow Hat). The characters originally came from the Curious George books that were written by Margret and H. A. Rey and the TV series is now shown all around the world. We'd not come across George before, but he really is rather adorable.

In this DVD the man in the yellow hat decides that George must have spring fever when he finds him dancing on the balcony at sunrise so he takes him to the park so that he can experience all that spring has to offer. Along with his friend, dog Hundley, George goes on an adventure that takes him to the countryside and involves dancing dogs, flowers, baby animals, a canoe trip and a journey in a hot air balloon.

When I first put this DVD on for Little Miss C she sat on the sofa and didn't move or speak for the first 30 minutes. This was so unusual for her that I honestly thought she was ill at first, but no she was just completely mesmerised by it all! Since that first viewing she keeps asking to watch it again and again and also talks about it all the time. It seems George has had quite an influence on her.

The mix of story and song makes it really appeal to pre-schoolers and having now watched it all the way through myself I've realised just how much educational stuff is in there and I can see Little Miss C learning from it too. When we were out in the garden the other day she was talking about blossom on the trees and new flowers coming out in the garden and comparing it to what she had seen on Curious George and that was lovely to see.

I'm delighted that we've discovered Curious George and I'm pretty sure we'll be watching him again soon.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Curious George Swings into Spring for the purposes of this review.