Angelina Ballerina: Hearts on Ice product reviews

I have two girls (5 and nearly 4 years old) so it is safe to say that a cartoon series about dancing starring a mouse that wears a tutu is very popular in our house. Angelina Ballerina: Hearts on Ice is the first one we have owned but we have seen all the ones in the video store and the public libraries several times. The girls were delighted to see that we now had one to keep thanks to Roadshow and KIWIreviews and featuring episodes we hadn't seen before too.

Although the DVD is called Hearts on Ice and the cover features the mice figure skating only one of the five episodes is about ice skating. Each episode is 13 minutes long so is the perfect for the attention span of a preschooler as well as the "Yay, you are ready for school early" reward. Having said that both my girls happily sit through the whole DVD if I let them.

For my girls their favourite episode is when Angelina has the hiccups. They were doing lots of laughing while watching it and they could really relate to it. For me the favourite had to be when A.J. is wearing new jeans that are so tight and stiff he can't move in them. Now that was one that I could relate to.

At the Camembert Academy they study lots of different forms of dance from the traditional ballet to the more contemporary robot walk (which is apparently good for stiff jeans). They also touch on other forms of fitness like ice hockey and yoga. This gives the children a great appreciation for the different forms so as well as entertaining it is educational. There is also the social skills of supporting others, giving things a try, perseverance and working as a team.

After watching the DVD my girls will often incorporate aspects of the episodes into their play either with dancing or acting it out with their toys. (We had a hiccup epidemic for a while.) I know when my girls are watching Angelina that they are both going to enjoy it and be up-skilled. We have only had the DVD a week and we have watched it several times. It is safe to say it is a hit in our house and I'm sure every other Angelina Ballerina fan will too.