Get ready to have your head filled with songs about baby lunar baboons playing bassoons and badgers. So many badgers. A new online channel for kids is launching. It’s called Jellybug and the videos are both psychedelic and insanely catchy. Badgers, badgers, badgers.
(Before anyone gets all smart-ass on me and tells me that the badger video is a copy of one by MrWeebl…well, it’s the same people behind both channels. So there. Try playing both versions at the same fun, for extra funz.)
We were lucky enough to go to the launch this morning, at the Rainforest Cafe. That’s one of those places I’ve been past a million times but never been into, for fear of having to buy my children All The Toys. But this morning we had so much fun to look forward to that I could usher them past the cuddly anacondas without spending anything. We only stopped to pose on the comedy animal barstools:
And then we went to the lower floor, where all manner of Jellybug-related treats awaited. There was colouring:
and balloon hats:
and, of course, food. Breakfast, which included some tasty, tasty bacon.
Then it was time to view the cartoons. Of course, you can see them yourself at the youtube channel but to give you an idea, it was brightly-coloured, Japanese-style animation accompanied by super-hyped versions of children’s favourites, along with some originals. They reminded me a bit of the animations on those Wii Play games, where you have to speed-eat noodles and things like that. All huge eyes and sparkles. Reuben’s favourite was “Pop Goes the Weasel” because he liked the bit where the treacle-covered man exploded (“pop go the people”). Nathan enjoyed “Shrimp Glockenspiel“, a surreal look at musical marine biology. Eva was totally freaked out by this gorilla:
She just did a little shudder just looking at the picture of him. We retreated to the loos for a minute so that I could reassure her that the gorilla couldn’t hurt her and she agreed to be in the same room as it again. She liked the videos and keeps demanding to watch them (if this post has a stop-and-start feel, that’s why) but she never quite reconciled herself to that gorilla.
Then, Reuben decided to get his face painted like Iron Man….because it’s all about superheroes now. Dinos are out. Obviously. The nice lady on the face painting stall didn’t have an Iron Man design, but she improvised something based on his t-shirt:
See? The Iron Man row is just by his hand. The hand is holding a dinosaur but it’s a superhero dinosaur. Again, obviously.
After that, he was thrilled to be part of the magic show, alongside the girl was who the daughter of JellyBug’s Sarah and Jonti and the “voice of JellyBug”. Here they are, shrinking the magician’s socks:
In case you’re wondering, Jonti (Picking) is also Mr Weebl, of youtube fame, and his partner is Sarah Darling of XFM fame. They’re the team behind the channel and enthusiastic about high-energy, high quality kids’ entertainment. Talking of which, there was just time to dance to “Let it Go” before we had to go and that brought a smile to Queen Eva’s face. She even forgot about the gorilla for a minute.
So, a grand morning out and a launch that we’re very excited to be a part of. Go and have a look at JellyBug now and tell me what you think!
