Last summer we went to the screening of Kazoops and POD loved the episodes we saw that day. She continued to watch Kazoops on CBeebies daily from then on and thoroughly enjoyed it. She’s delighted this heartwarming animation is back on CBeebies daily from Easter Monday. If you’ve not seen the programme yet, it tells the story of Monty Kazoops – a six year old boy with a vivid imagination whose best friend is a pig called Jimmy Jones. He lives with his parents (Stan and Violet), sister Jeanie and his Gran.
Created for 4-9 year old boys and girls, the appeal of Kazoops is that Monty has a great imagination and uses it to look at the world around him in a different way. In each episode Monty likes to challenge the grown-up world by embarking on an adventure with Jimmy to find a fresh perspective. He believes things can always be different if you “Just Imagine…”
Monday’s episode “Daydreamer Monty” is all about problem solving and how the Kazoops are going to get a piano up to Jeanie’s bedroom. Monty initially suggests they launch it up the stairs like a rocket or tie two hundred balloons to it. Jeannie thought his suggestion of carrying it up on their backs was entertaining although did highlight how Monty is always dreaming! While Mum Violet was trying to think of a solution, Monty mentioned he loved the idea of a wizard making the piano disappear then magically reappear again. He suggested an “alien shrinking ray” to his father Stan which could make the piano tiny so he could carry it upstairs in his pocket.
When it was mooted daydreaming doesn’t help with real-life problems, Monty and Jimmy Jones imagined transporting themselves to a magical place. There they met the Daydream Dragon who daydreams solutions to make problems disappear while living in his daydream bubble. Once they returned home, Monty suggested a dragon could fly the piano up the outside of the house. Before long, the whole family was helping to winch the piano up while congratulating Monty that his daydreaming had given them the idea.
Much like previous episodes, Kazoops is beautifully animated and has a feel good factor about it. Perhaps it’s the combination of the bright colours and the upbeat tracks at the start of the episode and in the “Just Imagine” segment. Both POD and her Daddy were humming away while Kazoops was on. We especially like that each episode tells a heartwarming story and there’s something new to think about. Monty and Jimmy Jones are a great team too.
In Tuesday’s programme, Monty and Jimmy Jones think Jeanie’s new stick insect isn’t very interesting and she should have a lion instead. Of course Jeanie tells them you can’t keep wild animals in the house but Monty and Jimmy question why that’s not possible. On Wednesday Gran wants Monty and Jimmy Jones to win a painting competition, even though it’s not painting what Monty wants to. This gets him thinking about winning and whether it’s really that important. Thursday’s episode sees the Kazoops vote on which ice-cream flavour to get. When Monty doesn’t want the same as his Gran he questions whether you can be friends with people if they like different things. The last episode of the week sees Monty’s father Stan too scared to fetch a toy for him from under the house. This gets him thinking that adults can be afraid too and leads him to a medieval realm where he meets a knight who is scared of heights.
Kazoops is back from today (Monday 17th April) at 4.20pm on the CBeebies channel. It’s on every day at the same time so make sure the kids are tuned in to watch more adventures with Monty and Jimmy Jones #JustImagine
