Boowa & Kwala

To get a true kids opinion of the web, it's so handy to have two of my own at home. Harry, an eight year old computer savvy miniature palaeontologist, and Emma, a six year old,in her own words, 'princess' have become my personal taste testers, so to speak.

So this weekend it has been the turn of Boowa and Kwala, an odd combination of gravel voiced, blue dog and yellow koala with a certain degree of oo la la about her. At first glance you might think this kid friendly website might be a little on the young side for my two, but on the contrary, they loved it! The songs were a particular hit with Emma, who is going through that little girl phase of non-stop singing, be it High School Musical or Pixie Lott! The lyrics option meant she could sing along with any song... instant gratification for her... bit of a headache for me! Our personal favourite had to be Hello Mister Squirrel, it's hard not to sing and wiggle along!

My favourite feature is the TV series option, which brings up over sixty short animations, all of which would fit nicely with common early years and key stage 1 topics. Each animation has two interactive games, a song and an activity idea that goes along with it. Handy huh? The Special Occasions button brings up a calendar with animations organised into months. We recently used the 'Festival of Lights' song for our Diwali celebrations at school. Also worth a gander is the First Clicks area, an early ICT programme, a good selection of games organised by skill, ranging from mouse roll over to using the keyboard. A winner all round!