Introducing my children to Spot! (+ giveaway)

One of the earliest memories I have is my dad reading me my Spot books at bedtime. They were my favourites and I asked for them every night.
Eric Hill created Spot way back in 1980 in a lift-the-flap book. His toddler-like behaviour introduces children to new experiences through friendship and play. The adorable little puppy has been loved internationally since and the books have been published in 50 languages including sign language and Braille and over 60 million books have been sold.

20+ years since reading the books myself, I was thrilled to receive a little Spot themed pack for the kids. We received a copy of Spot's Hide and Seek book, a DVD of Spot Goes to the Farm, a cute Spot hand puppet and tote bag.

The kids absolutely love reading so we had to give the book a go first. The book is called Hide and Seek and on every double page spread you are in a different setting such as the beach, farm or kitchen. To the right of the pages there is a list of things to find across those two pages with images of the items to help. C (almost 4 years of age) was better at this than E (who is almost 2). She tended to point at the helping images whereas C really tried to search. Some things he'd find right away and others he needed a bit of help with. It was a really fun activity to do with the kids and I loved combining fun with learning.

At the back of the book you are also given some bonus items to find. These were a little harder for C as he had to remember the image then flick back to the right page to search. He did quite well though! I was impressed. 

There is also a great new website Fun with Spot which we took a look at too. You can find out more about the books, Spot news and there are even some games to play and activity sheets to download. C had fun with the dress up game! There is a new app coming out on August 16th which I will be reviewing here on the blog so do keep an eye out for that.

I put the Spot Goes to the Farm DVD one early evening whilst we were waiting for Chris to get home from work. Both kids snuggled up in a blanket and couldn't wait to watch. 

The DVD contains 11 episodes:

• Spot Goes to the Farm
• Spot's Horse
• Spot's Breakfast
• Spot in the Woods
• Spot Goes to the Circus
• Spot's Umbrella
• Spot Goes Splash!
• Spot Stays Overnight
• Spot Goes to the Fair
• Spot Goes to the Park
• Spot Help Grandma

C and E were totally engrossed in the DVD whilst it was playing. C kept telling me about different things that Spot was doing, the characters he was meeting and how he thought Spot felt. It was really nice to see that he was taking such an interest in it. I loved watching too. The animation just seems like pages of those original Spot books that I read years ago were coming to life. I think the kids really like Spot because he does things that they do and likes the things that they are interested in. After the first episode at the farm, I asked him where he thought Spot should go next and he replied, "the park" so he liked that there was actually an episode about the park. The episodes are quite short (the entire run time is 55 minutes) so every time an episode went over, E would point and shout, "oh no!" She didn't want it to be over!

I've also been offered a second copy of Spot Goes to the Farm to give away to one of my readers! All you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter widget below. 

 T&C's:

• The giveaway will run from August 15th until August 28th
• One winner will win one copy of Spot Goes to the Farm on DVD
• The prize will be sent to the prize winner from the PR
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK and ROI residents only
• No automated entries
• One entry per person

  Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

(We received these items for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)