Handy Manny: Tooling around (review)

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Hola! We were lucky enough to try out the new Playhouse Disney dvd recently, called Handy Manny: Tooling around. Missy 9 was at school when it arrived, and Mr 3 and Missy 1 were very excited, and wanted to watch it, pronto.Handy Manny is a character who does repairs for his friends and neighbours, with his helpful team of tools. The episodes are bright, cheerful and colourful, and peppered with Spanish words and phrases, which is a great way to teach children about other cultures.

As you can see above, the dvd has the option of subtitles, which I love. I always use them with my children where possible, as it’s a fantastic introduction to reading. Mr 3, who loves to help to use a screwdriver was riveted. The shows talks about the goings-on in day to day life, which is where much of a preschooler’s learning stems from. He enjoyed watching the team solve problems and telling me all about it.

Missy 1 was just glued to the TV, engrossed in the bright colours and happy sounds. It really held both childrens’ attention. I enjoyed that Manny talked about how to do tasks safely and explained why certain things can be dangerous. In fact, he explained how the tools worked, what he was doing, everything! Fascinating for the under fives.

Handy Manny is a positive show with a great message about the importance of friendship, where they deal with issues such as jealousy, taking turns, co-operating with one another and disagreements. I particularly loved how it talked about how important it is to work together, about teamwork and what it means to be a good citizen. It demonstrates the importance of being part of a community and having pride in where you live. Handy Manny inspires kids to be helpful, and to feel confident enough to try a new challenge. It also features the idea that there are times where it’s ok, necessary even, to accept help sometimes. Manny’s neighbour, Mr Lopart demonstrates this in every episode, when he declines Manny’s good-natured offers of help with a problem, which always ends in disaster for poor Mr Lopart! An hilarious way to demonstrate cause and effect to young children!

But the dvd wasn’t just a bunch of great episodes. It also had a fun interactive game which held Mr 3’s attention for a long time. He got to use the remote of our dvd player and guess which tool was needed for each stage of building a doghouse. Then, he got to search through a picture for the hidden tools, which meant he had to try to remember where each tool was hiding. After all that hard work, he was rewarded with a ‘prize’; he was told he could have fun playing with ‘Fix –It’ the dog and control him! My son’s favourite command was to make him bark.

If all this wasn’t enough for one humble dvd, my kids and I were thrilled to also find a bonus episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Handy Helpers, with all their favourite characters! I know this dvd will be regularly watched in this family, as the kids really love it. My verdict? Perfecto!
Adios!