I’m always looking for different things to entertain Monkey and help him chill out after school. We were recently asked to take a look at the eSpectacularKids online children’s shows to see what we thought.
So what is eSpectacularKids? Well it’s an online video library subscription service featuring story telling and magic shows which is new to the UK.
There are performances in English and Spanish; aimed at children from 2-12 years of age. There are a couple of free video’s which give you a taste of what eSpectacularKids is all about as well as a large number of options for the subscription service itself.
At the moment subscriptions are only available in Euros and USD, but I personally think it would be beneficial for UK families to offer a GBP option too.
We have been trialling the one month subscription package which gives us access to the full catalogue of 24 English and 21 Spanish videos. More videos are added monthly and this could be a great way of introducing a second language to children from an early age. I think we would find a few subtitles useful as an optional extra with the Spanish versions so Monkey could practice and learn key words before we visit family in Spain this summer.
If I’m honest, he did struggle with the Spanish videos, but he really did enjoy the English magic shows. You can filter the video selection by type (magic show, story telling etc), length of video, age range and even artist. The site really is very easy to navigate.
He giggled in all the right places and using the eSpectacularKids videos gave monkey his first experience of Magic Shows. He recently received a magic set from one of my friends so it was great for him to see magic being performed by a real Magician too.
The story telling videos weren’t such a big hit here, even though they were quite interactive. But we’d definitely try them again in the future.
The Theatre style videos went down much better as Monkey could watch the children join in on stage and there was more action for him to enjoy.
If you’re looking for something a little different to entertain your children then I think the package subscription prices are quite reasonable. It’s just the currency that needs modifying.
disclaimer: we were given free access to this service in exchange for an honest review.
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Now if you fancy trying out eSpectacularKids video library for yourself, then I have some good news. I can offer one reader a one month subscription to the service. Just complete the Gleam form below for your chance to win. Good luck!
Terms and conditions:
(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).
Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.
This giveaway is for UK residents only.
Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 2nd March 2015 at midnight.
Hi Mary,
I just wanted to say thanks again for your honest review! We really appreciate it. I have already passed on your feedback to the rest of our team. Unfortunately at the moment offering payment in GBP is proving difficult with our current platform, however hopefully it’s something that we could look at offering in the future.
Your point about adding optional subtitles is definitely a good one particularly for kids viewing content in a second language. We have certainly taken this feedback on board and it’s something that we are now looking in to!
We hope that Monkey continues to enjoy our shows 🙂
the 3 little pigs – its their favourite story!
My little boy has just started Spanish classes – this would be fab – he loves trains so maybe the Little Engine that could! 😀
My children love the Gingerbread Man x
fairy story..many
our grand-daughter is obsessed with Frozen so that would be good
little red riding hood
Hi Claire! We actually have recently added a video of Little Red Riding Hood (with a twist) in English here: http://espectacularkids.com/en/videos/158-video-story-little-red-riding-hood.html
Peter Pan – my little boys obsessed about it at the moment
I would like to see the hungry caterpillar
my godson loves fireman sam
anything superhero based!!
the 3 little pigs
little red riding hood
Hi Rosalind! One of our new videos is of Little Red Riding Hood (with a twist) in English here: http://espectacularkids.com/en/videos/158-video-story-little-red-riding-hood.html
the 3 billy goats gruff, because they fin the troll really funny
The little boy who cried wolf because she says they could make a nice dance when the villagers find out.
I think the Billy Goats Gruff would be good as it’s always a favourite with my son.