29/09/201529/09/2015 by jo

Miffy’s Adventures Come to Tiny Pop!

This Friday, Miffy is going to be on Tiny Pop – a new programme Miffy’s Adventures – Big and Small starts! We’ve got some information about it plus a lovely giveaway for you.

Miffy’s Adventures – Big and Small comes to Tiny Pop on the 2nd October 2015 at 7pm which consists of fifty two episodes, all of them seven minutes long. This series is an animated sequel to Miffy and Friends which was on tv from 2003 onwards.

Tiny Pop is a digital channel, which has a fine selection of kids programmes. We’ve spent many afternoons watching Meg and Mog on there – and now Miffy is the latest to join the channel.

Miffy’s Adventures – Big and Small features Miffy (of course) as well as her friends Snuffy, Grunty and Melanie who all feature in Dick Bruna’s books. This new series also marks the first time Miffy has been seen in CGI.

Miffy’s Adventures – Big and Small features simple dialogue, and consists of stories about the world around her, designed to keep even the smallest children engaged.

The episodes keep the bright primary colours that Dick Bruna uses in the books, bringing the characters to life and bringing a new generation of youngsters into the world of Miffy.

Quite frankly, I think the more children that grow up loving Miffy, the better!

Miffy’s Adventures – Big and Small will become a key part of Tiny Pop’s evening block, Cuddle Time, which features gentle programming allowing kids, mums and dads to enjoy calmer, quieter time around bedtime. Tiny Pop has the strongest evening viewing figures in the kids’ category, from 7pm-midnight and will broadcast Mike the Knight, My Little Pony and Miffy from October as part of their autumn schedule.

We’ve seen some preview episodes, and they’re lovely – and very much in keeping with the spirit of Dick Bruna’s books. They’re definitely set to be a favourite for children!

As well as this, we’ve got a giveaway! How do you fancy winning a Sensory Miffy Toy? Suitable for children aged 6 months and up, this toy has several areas which it can identify on the body, and is a great fun toy for little ones. We’ve got one to give away, and all I need you to do is answer a simple question. Who is your favourite Miffy character?

Terms & conditions – UK entrants only please. This giveaway finishes on the 9th October 2015. The prize will be sent direct from Miffy’s PR company in the UK. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

18/11/201323/06/2015 by jo

Christmas Gift Ideas – Dick Bruna’s Christmas Book

Dick Bruna’s Christmas book has been republished as a golden anniversary edition by Simon and Schuster. We received a copy to review and love it – read on for more!

Dick Bruna’s Christmas book was first published in 1963 and is a classic Bruna book – he being the creator of Miffy, having his distinctive style of drawing.

Right now the book is perfect for us – H is learning about the nativity at school, and this book tells the story in an uncomplicated way. As she isn’t reading properly yet I read it to her, and she now understands a little better what it’s all about. They’re doing a school Christmas service soon and she’s quite enjoyed knowing what happened when Jesus was born. I’d say this book is ideal for youngsters in explaining the story and why Christmas exists.

A cute little addition is a bookmark in the shape of an angel – as unlike other Bruna books this is a long one so may need bookmarking. It’s also worth noting, this is the first edition by Simon & Schuster who announced they’d be re-translating the Miffy books for a big relaunch next year – the text in here is the english translation from 1995.

I asked H what she liked the best about the book – she says the best thing was finding out Jesus’ mummy and daddy’s name, aw! For me, we’ve sat and really gone into the story, and I’m still not able to answer her why Jesus was given myrrh! It’s nice to sit and read the story together, we’re not religious and haven’t really done much along these lines, so it’s helping me too.

Dick Bruna’s Christmas book is available now with a rrp of £10. It’s currently £5.75 at Amazon, so worth getting while it’s at that price!

We were sent a copy of the book for review, all opinions are our own. This post contains an affiliate link.

13/08/201323/06/2015 by jo

Dick Bruna Books Reprinted at The Tate Bookstore

There are some Dick Bruna books being reprinted and made available at the Tate Bookstore right now. We placed an order and they arrived today – you can never have too many Dick Bruna books in your collection!

We love all the Dick Bruna books, he’s been one of my favourite authors since I was a little girl and is now one of H’s. She also has a far better Dick Bruna collection than I ever had.

If you head online to the Tate Bookshop you’ll find some editions of the books which haven’t been available in a long time – there’s a book ‘The Apple’ which was the first Dick Bruna book, originally produced in 1959, translated in 1995 and pretty much unavailable since then.

The Tate is doing a 3 for 2 deal so I picked up two other books we didn’t have – ‘The School’ and ‘On My Scooter’.

They’re all such gorgeous books, if you know the Miffy books it’s more of the same – from a time when things felt much more innocent and simple. I’m loving ‘The School’ for the rhymes about a day at school and what they do (and the teacher telling them to ‘listen to what I say!’). ‘On My Scooter’ has a child getting some veg for Pete the Donkey – this only dates back to 2010, but is a 2013 reprint. ‘The School’ is 1964. You can tell which books are older based on the font used as their title.

‘The Apple’ is a short story about an apple that wishes it had legs. The rooster shows concern, and ends up taking the apple for a fly around instead, which cheers up the apple immensely.

For me, these books are likely to be some of the first ones H will read properly as she’s taught at school. She knows a few words now and I love the simplicity of these books with the gorgeous illustrations. If you like Miffy books, head over to the Tate online too. Suitable for all ages, we love Dick Bruna books – from H at almost four to me at 43!

20/01/2013 by jo

App Time – Miffy in the Snow

It’s no secret I love Miffy – I grew up with the books in the seventies (how I wish we’d kept them) and given Miffy is still going strong I knew it’d be something I’d bring H up to love too. The books never seem to date at all – the colours are simple and the messages are always positive ones (Miffy is Naughty, the most current book being the exception).

We’ve missed a few of the iPad apps so far, but today spotted that Miffy in the Snow has recently been released and what with the weather being the way it is outside, I figured what better an app to buy?

Miffy in the Snow

It’s great too! There’s enough on there that’s good fun – you have the story read to you, complete with interactive sections – as well as this three people can record the story so you can have it read to you in different voices (I love this option for these kinds of apps), and finally there’s a games section – matching pairs and knock the hat off the snowman, plus a chance to make a card (though no obvious save option – I took a screengrab instead). As the games progress they get a little bit more difficult – I liked that with the snowman game you need a good hand-eye co-ordination for it to knock the hat off, which made H concentrate a little harder. The matching pairs was also interesting – she’d work on each colour to clear them rather than individual items. Mid-way through the story she skipped a couple of pages, and you’re able to go back a page by viewing the menu at the top (press the flower).

Miffy in the Snow - interactive part

The app is available in English or Dutch and costs £2.99 from the App Store which isn’t cheap, but I think there’s enough on there for H to do as she starts to learn to read more words, and don’t object to paying it. If you’re a Miffy fan too, you’ll probably find there’s enough in there to keep a young one entertained!

H’s Miffy in the Snow Card

Buy miffy in the snow at the App Store.

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Tag / Dick Bruna