Wiki The Kiwi product reviews

I was quite keen on Wiki the Kiwi as I have a bird mad daughter. I sat down to watch this last night before showing the girls just to get a feel for it. This is a DVD filled with episodes of Wiki the Kiwi. The episodes are short, maybe 5 minutes long. The show has a definite local taste and feel to it.

Wiki and his friends are all made of fabric. They are like patchwork New Zealand and Australian animals that are living together in a patchwork world. I found the setting really clever, right down to the glow in the dark stars on the sky ceiling. The insects, mice and other little creatures that occupy the space are really cleverly down as well.

I set the girls up to watch this in the morning. My littlest was very taken with Wiki and Brian. She immediately stood right in front of the TV screen and took in every second of the episode I put on. She danced to the closing music as well. My eldest was not as impressed and didn't want anything to do with it.

Later when she was upstairs I put Wiki back on for my toddler. She was loving it. Then I noticed that my eldest was sitting on the stairs watching too. So I think she felt that the patch work thing was a bit baby-ish for her (she is 6 and a half) but she still actually enjoyed it fine.

If I was recommending this to parents I would say any pre-schooler will like this. The episodes are nice and short so you can control how much TV they are watching if need be. Also if it becomes a favourite, that is fine because you have then on DVD. It's a win win. I liked that it's got a real local feel to it. The names - Kev, Trev, Gaz, Bev, Brian and Wiki for example. I laughed whenever the narrator told them not to panic and that's exactly what they do. That made my toddler run around too.