Find out what MNers have to say about Banjo Robinsons’ personalised letters to 4-7 year olds - Non-tester? Get 15% off your subscription

[EllieMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnet users who tested the personalised pen pal experience from Banjo Robinson the travelling cat, who helps boost creativity, reading and writing skills for their child/children.

Non-Tester? 90% of Mumsnet Tester's children wrote Banjo a reply and Banjo Robinson has now officially launched! They are offering 15% off full subscription charges with the code BanjoLovesMumsnet. This code is valid until 31/10/18.

Here’s what testers received:

• An initial introduction pack which includes: a personalised letter introducing Banjo and his travels, a world map, stickers to track Banjo’s progress, personalised stickers to use creatively, a doodle sheet to colour, a reply page to draw and write their response, a reply envelope with postage stamp stickers.
• A follow up letter from Banjo Robinson detailing his next stop in his travels including more goodies.

Here’s what Tree Climber Publishing have to say: “Banjo Robinson the cat is in India at the moment, checking out the Taj Mahal. He was at the pyramids last Tuesday, and next week he's off to the Great Wall of China. And while he’s away on his amazing travels, Banjo sends real, personalised letters to your child full of exciting tales all year round. Your child will get a world map and stickers to track Banjo’s progress and two personalised letters asking them to reply with pictures and messages.

Letters from Banjo Robinson encourage them to craft a reply, improving their writing skills and creativity. Parents can spend quality time with their children, away from tablets and TV, reading Banjo's letters, widening the child’s vocabulary, learning about different countries, and building communication skills."

Testers please answer the following questions:

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
• What did you like most about the letters?
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

All testers who leave the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I thought it was a great idea! The letters arrived beautifully presented & it was exciting watching my little boy open them & have all the little stickers & writing paper & envelope fall out :)

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My son (5) really liked the idea - he enjoyed reading the letters together more than he liked writing his own response, but he still had a go!

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the personalised sections particularly, that's when my little boys eyes really lit up! To hearv our own cat mentioned was really special for him!

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

I think it's a great idea. A really interesting way to get kids involved in reading, writing & geography.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Absolutely, I really like the idea. I think it's a fair price for what it is as the quality is excellent.

My daughter liked recieving the letter but was more interested in the activities.

We enjoyed writing the letter back and talking about the things included.

As a parent if i was to subscribe i would want to know what the child recieved once all the letters were collected. As the price of subscription can be high. I personally wouldnt pay to recieve the letters and perhaps an online printable resource would allow more parents to access.

Having said that i liked the colours and topuc of the letters

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

It was cute and nice, satisfied.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

Jamie was happy at the beginning but he didn't get it, and he didn't write any letters

• What did you like most about the letters?

They are nice wrote and nice design, but a bit too long, my 5 years old were a bit bored unfortunately.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Maybe more stickers, more colors.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

No, because my son didn't get the idea, maybe he is too young

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I think it is a bit too much, but it is just my opinion because of my eperience.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

My daughter is 5 and was excited about receiving a letter addressed to her, she thought it was great.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

She was excited when opening and liked the stickers and activities. She got a little bored with the reading and did write back.

• What did you like most about the letters?

They were quite fun and also personalised.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Perhaps personalised a little more to the age of the child.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Perhaps as a one off but I don't know that the children are that interested in doing it every month. My daughter loves her fairies and unicorns so if it was from a fairy she would perhaps be more interested.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I think probably more around the £5 mark. If the product was more personalised, ie you could pick a character, such as a fairy or an elf or even a dog etc. Then it may be worth more, if the letters were a bit better tailored to the age of the child again it may be worth the £7.90.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Really pleased. There are a few things I would tweak (see below) but overall it's a lovely concept.

What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
Both my DC (5 and 7) loved them. I'd signed my 5 year old up so the letters were adddressed to her and she was very excited to get post addressed to her and was totally on board with the whole idea. She was able to read the letters herself as they were too advanced for her, but her elder sibling read them to her. Both DC wrote back a letter each and were thrilled when they were "collected" by cat mail from under the sofa! I was pleased that she was so keen to write letters back as she's only just beginning to want to write independantly so anything that encourages her gets a big thumbs up from me.

What did you like most about the letters?
The personalisation went down well! The letters were funny and informative and DC loved looking at the map to see where the countries were and putting the stickers on.

Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
I'd signed DC 5 up to the trial and hadn't realised DC 7 would also be so into the idea. Is there an option to have letters to siblings too? Luckily the second letter accidentally had two reply sheets so we were able to say "oh look, Banjo must've realised you wanted to reply too" :-)
I do think depending on the age of the child the letters were a bit long/complicated. She loved us reading them to her and was able to write her own reply, but it would be good if the letters had some shorter/easier bits for early readers to have a go at.

Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
Yes I would, the combination of post, personalisation and encouraging reading/writing was a hit for us.

A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?
Yes I think the new lower price is okay, but agree the higher price would have put me off.

Thank you for the trial :-)

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service? I thought it was a lovely idea. The only thing we struggled with was the longer gap between letters, but I understand this won’t be the case going forward.

What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back? DD1 loved it! She enjoyed speculating about where Banjo might visit next and talked about her favourite countries, too. She did write back and was tickled by the notion of leaving her letter under the sofa for ‘cat post’.

What did you like most about the letters? The way they were presented — really colourful, inviting and fun. The personalisation was a big hit, too.

Is there anything that you feel could be improved? Even for my bright six year old these felt a little young; I don’t know how much longevity these would have in our household. More facts and maybe more of an ongoing narrative to follow would go down well. Also, an option to add siblings at a discounted rate would be excellent. DD2 (aged 4) felt a bit left out!

Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Yes. I think this is a nice alternative to pen pals (I’ve found it really difficult to locate a pen pal service for my children) that is secure and educational.

Thank you for choosing us to take part! I do have a photo or two but would prefer to email these directly to Tree Climber. @EllieMumsnet is this an option?

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Very satisfied! I love how they can be personalised- my daughter loved he knew what colour the sofa was!

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My daughter (8) absolutely loved getting the letters! She loved everything about it- receiving her own mail, learning about the countries and reading the letters.
She replied to both- straight away! She enjoyed writing the replies and doing the drawings so much. She even loved the concept of having to hide it under the sofa!

• What did you like most about the letters?

They encouraged her to read and write and they brought out her imagination.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Shorter space in between letters and more personalisation - which I do know you get with the subscription.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes definitely!

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I think that is a great idea as my daughter did have questions she wanted to ask him. I know the price has now gone down I I totally agree with that desicion and the new price is so much more affordable.

Thanks so much for letting us trial this subscription. My daughter absolutely loved it!

1.) Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
We were very satisfied with Banjo's letter. My daughter was so excited when she opened the first letter and even more excited when the second letter arrived.

2.) What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
She loved the letters and must have read them at least a hundred times :-). She wrote back on both occasions.

3.) What did you like most about the letters?
The personalisation was fantastic. She also loved reading about Banjo's adventures.

4.) Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
Perhaps offer different letters for different age groups. My daughter is 6 and I feel the letters were perfect for her, but I guess in a few years these letters would be a little too childish for her.

5.) Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
Yes, definitely.

6.) £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?
Yes, this seems to be a fair price.

I was quite satisfied
After the first letter my son did not write back and after the second my older daughter wrote a letter so my son did to.
We like the stickers.
Maybe more personalised
Probably wouldn’t recommended
I don’t think I could afford it for two letters a month.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Very satisfied overall. I think it's a great idea and was really pleased to be part of the test - thank you

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My 5 year old loved them and told lots of people about them. Yes she wrote back with enthusiasm!

• What did you like most about the letters?

I like the concept of travelling to different countries and the personalisation

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

I think a bit more on the country and a bit less general stuff

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes especially for children who don't like to write that much

Oh sorry and price wise I would pay the new price but not the original price

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I liked the idea of the letters and the kids found the whole concept hilarious and were over the moon to be getting their own post.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters?

My 7 year old read the letters to my 4 year old and they were both chatty about it at dinner later.

Did they write back?
Yes, immediately. Including asking a whole load of extra questions and asking for a photo!

• What did you like most about the letters?

They were silly as well as educational which made them fun for the DCs

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Being able to make them for siblings. My 4 year old wondered why he was left out

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes

I think the first price was too steep but would consider it for the reduced price if.it was written to both kids

- Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I thought it was a really good way to get children reading and writing. The letters were long and had challenging language and were very informative.

- What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My daughter absolutely loved them and read them to everyone. Yes she wrote back and hid the letter under the sofa.

- What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the information about the counties Banjo had visited and the fact the letters had a fun feel to them. They were presented really nicely too and were clear to read.

- Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

A small gift from each country would be really good although not sure how practical. Maybe a colourful postcard that could be displayed on the fridge? We always buy a postcard from places we’ve visited.

- Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes I would. Especially if their child was a reluctant reader or writer.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Fairly happy, liked the concept, nice to have something that involves reading and writing as letters are becoming obsolete somewhat in our modern world

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

Very excited to receive them and liked the stickers and the personalisation about our cat

• What did you like most about the letters? The fact there were also stickers to place on the map

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? More/coloured illustrations in the letter

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Probably not at this stage but maybe if they improved and I felt the subscription was worth it

• ‘Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I think it’s a much better price than £7.90, frankly I would not have paid that and wouldn’t of signed up after the trial, at £5.35 it’s a lot more reasoanable and I will Be signing up for the subscription

Drawing from 2nd letter

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

My daughter was very excited when it arrived- looked very attractive

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

The letters are too long and the choice of font is poor. More definition needed in the design and perhaps pictures for young children

• What did you like most about the letters?

Lovely themes and stickers

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Good concept but needs to include games and puzzles or some other craft activity

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Not as it stands

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Too expensive

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Very satisfied. I really liked the letters, they were engaging for my 7 year old, with a nice touch of humour. The stickers and the envelope to.write back were a nice touch and I liked the fact that each letter gave a prompt for the child to write back.

What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
My daughter loved them. She was very excited to read them both and wanted to show everyone her first one, along with the map and the stickers. She was very keen to write back, and did reply to the first letter. Unfortunately, our summer was somewhat disrupted by a family emergency, which made it more difficult to find the time, but without that we would definitely have spent more time replying and following Banjo's travels. I would.have liked to look at some information about Brazil together and so on.

What did you like most about the letters?
The excitement for my daughter of getting her own letter, and the opportunity to practise reading and writing without it feeling like school.work!

Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
I would like to see an option of having letters from an explorer, without it being a cat! At 7 I felt that my daughter didn't really believe that cats could write letters and it would have been lovely to have a similar experience without having the awkwardness of 'But cats can't type!' I think even a cartoon character of a boy or girl would be better. Maybe parents could.be given the option of boy/girl/cat?

Missed the last couple of.questions:

Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes, for a reluctant reader/writer or for a young child that was still into make believe. If there was an option of a non-cat explorer I would be more likely to recommend to a wider range of parents.

Is the.price of £5.35 a fair price?

I think.that's about right, yes,.particularly with the option of personalizing letters. I think there would definitely be.people that would.pay that. I'd probably consider it if my daughter was really.keen.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I thought the letters looked really good and there was a good range of items in the pack. Obviously we had a longer than average gap between letters and this wasn't great so it's good to hear that will be reduced.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

DD was very excited to receive her own post but she did struggle a bit with the idea of a cat writing to her and I struggled to get her involved with the letters. It didn't grab her.

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the map and the stickers and the idea of DD learning about the world. I thought the quality of the finish was good.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Maybe a range of characters to help tailor the letters to the child. DD is dragon mad and would possibly have engaged more with a dragon character or possibly another child (imaginary of course)

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Probably not I'm afraid.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

It is probably a fair price for what you get but I wouldn't pay that to buy the letters for our family as I don't think my DD would enjoy it as much as the other subscriptions packages we already pay for - we get Curiosity Box and Tinker Box and have had Toucan Box and Weekend Box in the past.

Thankyou for letting us try this - my feedback is as follows:

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service? Quite satisfied, my son loved receiving his own mail in the post and it's a nice concept re learning about other countries

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

He enjoyed the letters, he did start to write back but got distracted..

• What did you like most about the letters?

The creativity

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

More pictures/ visuals/ more age appropriate (child orientated) wording/ instructions

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Maybe, depending on the child. Also depends on the cost, I would be more inclined to at £4-5 a month

My daughter enjoyed receiving the letters and finding out more about other countries, although I think older children would appreciate more facts and pics. She struggled to write the letters as she is only 5 so younger children will need more parental involvement. The personal touch was really good but I wonder if it would work if you didn't have a pet to refer to. I think the decision to reduce the price will make it much more appealing to parents.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
I found it quite fun to do this with my son and felt it was very helpful for encouraging his writing (he is a very reluctant writer). I was pleasantly surprised by how convincing he found it all. The map we got with the first letter will look really good when it’s filled in.

What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
My child was very excited by the letters and was very keen to send something back to Banjo. He really dislikes writing and with the first letter was very reluctant to write anything much at all, but with the second one he filled a whole page. I was amazed! He is a big fan of stickers and spent a good amount of time colouring in the pictures. I had to read the letters for him as he said the writing was too small.

What did you like most about the letters?
I liked the map that came with the first letter and the personalised elements of the letters. I also liked the bits in the second letter that encouraged a bit of independent research (I thought it would be good if that could be linked to the web content in future). The stickers were nice too.

Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
More child friendly print size and font on the letters. The content of the letters also seemed a bit too adult to me, although my son seemed to enjoy listening to them. More facts about the countries and I’d like to see more encouragement for independent research (perhaps linked to the website). My son was really excited by the personalised bits in the letters, so more of that please. More stickers!

I’d have liked a parents’ pack to have been sent separately to help make the most of the letters.

Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
For children of a similar age, and particularly those who are reluctant writers, yes I probably would.

‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?
Yes with the added web support I think the revised price seems fair enough and I probably will sign up for it. I think the original price was too high.

PS I would have attached a picture of the second letter my son wrote but he sealed it up in the envelope before I had chance!

verall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Great loved is

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

Soo excited yes wrote back

• What did you like most about the letters? Excitement of my daughter
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

No

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Yes it is

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Very! For us it felt a long wait between letters, but I understand it will be fortnightly, which is just right I think. It was all good quality. Dd loves her map (I’ll get a picture in the morning!)

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

She was thrilled- so excited- yes she wrote back. She would have been even more pleased with personalisation- I was a bit surprised she bought it tbh but she did!

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the map, and the fact that they encouraged her to find out more (looking up animals to draw for him etc) it’s a really nice way to learn a bit of geography!

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Only things that have been covered I think - Personalisation, backstory and letter speed. Think it’ll be great! The odd wee key ring or something from his travels would be a nice extra (no sweeties though - food allergies!)

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

I would yes.

A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Yes definitely. I probably would have paid the higher price but will definitely be subscribing for that. And I am so pleased they’ve said we can join in at China, that would have been very difficult to explain!

It’s been lovely, thank you