Mr Tumble at school?

[orangesky1]

My reception child came home today saying they had been watching Mr Tumble at school - a boring and silly man - in his words!

not heard of this one before - had a Quick Look on YouTube now, and it looks completely inane.

it is otherwise a good school, so I am surprised by this. Am I missing something? Is this actually educational?

we are not anti screen time although I have a general feeling the children don’t get enough exercise in school, but that’s a topic for another day. I do think if they are showing videos, they should have some merit - either educational, informative about the world or properly artistic, entertaining or thought provoking.

Not this lowest common denominator drivel, that seems better suited to a 2 year old.

I don’t want to make a complaint but would just be interested in hearing views from those who have watched more than two minutes as maybe I am being unfair.

I thought Justin Fletcher / Mr Tumble did great work

The TV show was initially shown middle of the night and niche, then upgraded to peak time and mainstream

Yes, you are being unfair by watching 2 mins and making a fool of yourself for declaring it "inane, lowest common denominator drivel". Borderline offensive, OP, given the content.

I think it's unfair to assume a school isn't good because they showed the kids a some Mr Tumble on TV. (You said the school was otherwise good.) I am sure there will be plenty of books, topics, stories and projects your DC will be exposed to at school that they will deem boring! PPs have explained well what Mr Tumble is all about which should put your mind at rest.

Just give the (otherwise good) school the benefit of the doubt and let them crack on with the job.

To be fair, the creepy dress-up and drag Tumble characters that Justin Fletcher does in Mr Tumble are intensely cringey. My DD didn’t even realise they were all him for absolutely years and years, and was gobsmacked when I pointed it out.

We saw Justin Fletcher at an event a couple of summers ago and I think he said it was coming up to 25years of Mr Tumble. Just think how many children it has helped to communicate in that time! DD1 took her time at getting going with some words and we loved learning makaton signs from Mr Tumble together.

Mr Tumble is actually brilliant at highlighting how all children should be inclusive.
My granddaughter used Makaton regularly when she was about 3 .
Am surprised that you have never heard of him.

Here's the thing, YOU don't run the class or the school. Your opinion is irrelevant. If you were to complain about something like this in our school, it would be filtered out by admin staff and not even be passed to the teacher.

It’s pretty funny that you’ve just slated Mr Tumble so comprehensively seeing that the program is all about kindness and a therapeutic approach to education and inclusion. You are literally the antithesis to everything it’s about 🤣

Ok interesting. I had no idea about the disability approach or the sign language- that’s why I posted. I saw a 2 minute clip, and what I saw seemed suited more to toddlers - but I probably judged too fast.

we have never had CBeebies (we don’t have a tv licence- only streaming)

as I said it’s a good school, so that’s why I wanted to gauge replies.

I wouldn’t say we are intellectually superior- my kids watch Bluey and octonauts etc.

the clip I watched wasn’t to my taste - and maybe not my sons either and that’s fine if he has an opinion and prefers other things - we just hadn’t come across it before which was why I posted. Appreciate the helpful thoughts.

My eldest liked Something Special when he was a toddler. It is inclusive and the Makaton section has received a lot of praise.

I would agree that it is too young for typically developing Reception age DC and that there are other more age-appropriate cBeebies programmes to show at school (particularly the more overtly educational ones such as Numberblocks, which IMO is a work of genius)

Your kids will get screen time at school, so I would probably aim to get over that one

ETA Xpost with op

My kids used to watch cbeebies numberjacks at school, and they were both terrified of the number taker they had a point but it was quite educational
They are teens now and still remember Mr Tumble and would probably still watch octonauts! 🤣

Do you not watch iPlayer?

No you need a tv licence for I player

You're meant to have a licence for that now

Also just to add there's a high chance that if it was shown at school it was during a wet play/lunch. In my school KS2 classes are in their own classes during wet play with older buddies and staff who supervise (flitting between two classrooms). Obviously you can't do that with younger children so they're often all together in the hall during wet play and the only way to entertain 90 odd kids at once for a period of time is watch a film or TV show

@Fizbosshoes the numbertaker was indeed terrifying 😂

When I briefly taught Reception I occasionally put something on the screen for wet play at lunch - it would always be Cbeebies and was hastily chosen so I could leave the room and actually have 25 minutes to myself to have a drink and some lunch. I didn't put masses of thought into what I chose, it just needed to be something that most children would enjoy for a short period of time. As the children would say nowadays - it's not that deep. My own children have incredibly limited screentime but sometimes in schools it just has to be what will do in that moment. Not every part of every single day is going to be a fabulous individual learning experience.

@Fizbosshoes it's a long running joke in my house that I'm afraid of the number taker. Him and spiders. I'm not joking, he really scared me, i was late 30s!!

I would think Mr Tumbles is for younger children, 2 to 4. That said I work with kids that age and I don't think any of them are into him anymore. It's all streaming stuff which may be fantastic quality or absolute rubbish, that's the problem. Anything broadcast on Cbeebies at least has gone through a process (I don't know what that process is I confess). Most kids I work with know the Cocmelon version of songs, the vast majority say 'dollars' when we play shop, they seem to only watch US shows.

I more shocked at how you’ve got a reception age child without having ever watched Mr Tumble!

Oh thats so sad. I agree cbeebies has loads of educational kids shows - much better than a lot of what anything on streaming has to offer. Numberblocks, alphablocks, octanauts, go jetters. I've learnt loads about different types of fish since having DD1 (nearly 4yo) 😅

I used to have to search for episodes with Spooky Spoon in it, because DD found the Numbertaker and Problem Blob too scary!

Ahh something special is brilliant, my older 2 (teenagers) loved Mr Tumble when they were little and one of them put it on for the baby recently and she’s hooked too. I get why Justin Fletcher might piss some people off but he seems to be a huge hit with small children.

It’s a shame your child didn’t find it interesting but you know, he’s approximately 5 years old. He’s got many years ahead of him of far more boring stuff to get through at school. He’ll look back wistfully at when his reception teacher made him watch Something Special.

CYLINDER!!

I’m a TA and our EYFS and lower KS1 teachers often pop CBeebies on during a wet play / dinnertime or just before home time.

Maybe get a TV licence and start watching some cbeebies and cbbc then. Quality stuff.
Most kids streaming is shite.