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

[modzy78]

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

I was somewhat satisfied. I think it's a nice idea that lost a bit in the execution.

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

My 5 year old (now 6) loved getting the letters and using the stickers. She wrote a tiny bit back (one or two words). As a reluctant writer, it was difficult to get her to try. She had no interest in writing based on the prompts provided, choosing her own ideas to write or draw.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

I liked the opportunity for my daughter to receive her own post.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

I think the amount of text was too much for younger readers. I had to read the letter, and she lost interest. Actual photographs would have added to the line drawings. Some of the jokes (like about Sugarloaf Mountain not being made of sugar) went over her head. It felt like I'd have to do a lot of research and extension activities to help her understand and learn about the countries. It would be a great review of places we've visited, but not so great to introduce something new. The format and stickers were nearly the same between the two packs, so I think it would lower interest.

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

At this time, no. There are other services that provide much more.

• ‘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?
  

It feels a bit high. I've looked into other subscription services about countries that include a lot more engaging items and aren't much more expensive. It feels that the parent has to do a lot of the work with this subscription (writing text, figuring out what to do with the child's replies, finding photographs and additional information). If I'm going to do that, I could save myself the money.
It's a shame, because the idea is really nice. But it just feels like others have done similar better.

[PhilomenaButterfly]

Very satisfied.

DS2 loved the first letter and wrote back straight away, he wasn't as interested in the second letter and hasn't written back yet.

They're very entertaining.

Nothing.

Yes, definitely.

[PhilomenaButterfly]

I couldn't afford £7.90/month.

[EccaB]

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

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back? My 8year old loved the idea of the letters coming from a friendly cat and did write back on the same day as receiving the first letter.
  

• What did you like most about the letters? They were very informative with great stickers and a poster to map Banjo's travels.
  

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? The second letter was very long and although interesting for an adult to read, my daughter became bored after a short period of time. It may be improved by having the facts about the countries presented in a different way, which keeps the children engaged or perhaps shorten the letter altogether.
  

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Undecided. The idea is a good one, but I am not sure whether I would recommend it at this time.

[Baldwin1973]

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

Quite satisfied thanks

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

At first she was really excited as she loves getting things through the post but she didn't seem to spend long reading the letters. She was a bit confused about leaving a letter under the sofa as she knows we post things in the post box.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

They were written to my daughter personally and had some interesting facts in them.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

Maybe something specific from the countries such as a postcard or a keyring would have made it more interesting.

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

Not I don't think so.

• ‘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 it is quite expensive for what we received. Its a great idea but maybe if you sent something a bit more concrete ie a keyring next time it would be worth the price. I wouldn't pay almost 8 pounds for this. My daughters interest waned considerably after the first letter arrived.

[noo1985]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
My children loved the letter, they really believed that banjo Robinson was real and it got there imagination going.

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

They did write back, our dog ate the first letter so they wrote another and posted it under our sofa, they were incredibly excited when Memphis slim had clearly been in to our house to collect the letter!

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

It was a fun way to get them to read and they loved hearing about his adventures and got them excited learning about other countries.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? It would be nice to be able to be personalised to all the children in your household not just one!
  
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
  

I would recommend, it isn’t cheap but do think it inspires their imaginations!

• ‘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?
  

It is fair as you do get 2 letters for this price. Though I feel this may put people off, I would probably much rather pay a smaller amount for 1 letter

[WindyWednesday]

I’ve written my review above, but wanted to add that for a subscription service I’m not keen to compose part of the letter. This needs to be written in the same style to be in keeping with the letter. This part is odd and jars. I don’t think I would be interested in this part of the letter writing, especially at £7.90. I’d like Banjo to write it himself with information I can give.

Also as others have mentioned, a key ring or similar for each letter or once a month would be better value.

[Spirael]

- Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
The delay was a bit unfortunate for us, as in the time between sign up and the letters arriving, DD1 (8 YO) became a bit more savvy about some of the 'magical' things she used to believe. So she wasn't being fooled by Banjo, but was a bit worried about how the letter knew about our cat, and what colour our sofa was, and demanded to know what was really going on. I ended up telling her my part, and explaining that it was like receiving a story in chapters by post. She was then fine with it and excited by the concept.

- What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
Once past her initial skepticism and worry, DD1 actually loved the letters! She enjoyed reading about Banjo's journey and was happily sitting down and absorbing each letter the moment it arrived. The length and language of each letter was perfect for her age and ability. However, since she knew it would just be me picking up the letters, she didn't write back.

- What did you like most about the letters?
I liked the format and the conversational tone of the letters. It's subtly different to reading from a story book, and includes useful language skills to learn. For example, I had DD1 asking me what P.S. and P.P.S. meant.

- Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
I think the length and language of the letters is perfect for an 8 year old, but the 'write back' side of things is a bit of a waste, as a number of kids in that age group won't believe it.

Including a few stickers is fine, but why not include a 'further information' digital side for that age group? Get them to enter a code from the letter onto a website/app, which will then give them more information about the country Banjo is in, perhaps even as a mock blog.

You could get really clever with that and use the unique code and their digital interactions to personalise the next postal letter. "Did you enjoy reading about Brazil on my blog? I've made a new post, all about China!"

Also, a 'goodbye' letter template from Banjo would also be handy, for parents to print out and post to the child once they want to finish the subscription. Something like "I got an unexpected invite from some Astronauts the other day and I'm heading off to visit space now, so I don't think I can send any letters for a while. Thanks for reading, be good! - Banjo".

- Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
Yes, it was a huge novelty for DD1 to receive a letter and it is all helping to encourage her reading and broaden her language (and Geography!) skills.

- ‘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?
For DD1's age group, I think I'd prefer to pay slightly less and remove the colouring in activities and writing stationary, instead just receiving a letter about Banjo and his adventures, and maybe some stickers.

Also, the option for one letter per month instead of two, to keep subscription costs down, might work better for some families.

If a website/app as I described earlier was included, then I'd be happier to pay nearer the £8-£10 mark, depending on what was included and how much edutainment they would provide. (Mini games, etc. Provided they had absolutely no micro-transactions!!)

I'd also like an option to pay X up front to cover X number of letters, for example to gift to nieces and nephews, with a goodbye-for-now letter from Banjo at the end. I don't want to remember to faff about with subscriptions in those cases!

[LostMyBaubles]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
9/10 from us. Loved the letters, ds and the younger ones thought they were magical.

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

The eldest asked the younger ones what yo write back and they came up with a letter about how excited they were to get personalised letters from a magical cat

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

The little personal details

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

Including details about siblings so the family canget involved

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

Definitely!!
Love the quality of the letters

[liane77]

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service? They were really thoughtful. A good level of facts and a nice balance of humour.
  
• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? My lb was very excited to see his next letter. He loved putting the stickers on the envelope and the map. Did they write back? He wrote back immediately after we had read the letter and checked first thing in the morning to see if it had been collected.
  
• What did you like most about the letters?i liked the personal details that were inserted in to the letters. My lb thought it was magical that banjo knew all about him.
  
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? Mostly I noticed that the reply paper was very small. It’s really hard for a new or reluctant write to work in such a small area.
  
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Yes, it they can afford the subscription through to its completion. It would be disappointing to have a half finished map

[Lilliana]

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

I thought the letters were lovely and liked all the stickers and map that were included.

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

My DD was really excited when she received both letters. She wrote back the same day independently of anyone suggesting that she did it. She took more time drawing a picture to Banjo (to show a place she would like to visit I think) than she has ever spent on anything.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

The personal details brought it to life - the colour of our sofa and other random bits that made her eyes widen.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

I think when it goes live you can add your own ps? This would be great as she asked questions in her letters back.

• 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 is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?
  

I really like the letters and my daughter definitely did but at £8 I would have to think about it as it’s the top end of the price range I would consider.

[Notanotherpawpatrol]

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

I was really happy with the letters. My 7 year old loves getting post and she loved reading about the different countries.

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

Yes, she wrote back to both letters and was very excited to write a letter.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

I liked her learning little facts about the countries

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

The whole cat mail under the sofa thing it doesn't make sense. I had a million questions about what cat was going to come and collect it, how would they get in our house, how would it get back to banjo, how many cats would it take to get back to banjo, why under the sofa etc etc etc. I didn't understand why under the sofa and it would have made more sense to say put it on the windowsill or next to the tv or something and it would disappear magically.

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

I definitely would, I love the concept.

• ‘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 don't want to write the last paragraph for my child 🙄 I have enough to do! I would like to give some details and have it be personalised though. I'm also not sure what 'writing stationary' means, I'm not interested in receiving pens and pencils or erasers etc. I also feel £7 is a little expensive for us. I was looking more around the £5 Mark.

[Smooshface]

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

I think it is a lovely idea, and my older daughter was very curious about the letters, more so than the actual recipient!

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

She did write back to the first one (coloured in the picture) but not to the second one yet, but she's not writing solo yet

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

How personalised they were and funny too!

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

Not particularly!

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

Definitely, it was adorable, might ask for gift subscription for christmas

• ‘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?
  

This sounds so fab, I do think it is fair, very sweet, and the girls looked forward to the letters.

[Bryna]

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

Fairly satisfied, as the subscription will be fortnightly, it should hold their attention better, the trial unfortunately was too far apart

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

My DS liked receiving the letters and responded to the first one with some help from his older sister

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

Giving information about other places in the world

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

More personalisation, maybe an option to let the publishers know some of the questions written by the children. *edit- having seen the last question, I can see this will become an option!

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

I don’t think so in it’s current format, theres not really enough information about other countries, it could do with a trinket or photo from the country.

• ‘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 this is quite expensive for two letters and a few stickers!

[chl0e123]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
I was very pleased, especially when I didn’t have to do anything, she was amazed a letter came for her in her name, she got very excited, but struggled to understand some of the literature in the letter and she is very bright for her age.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back? Yes I have attached some pictures of her letters, she wanted to get on the computer and google the country he is visiting next, which is great because she is home schooled so we can use this for education purpose.
  

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

That’s they come in my child’s name, and you can collect the paw stamps to add to the map and receive a prize after they all collected.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? Yes I like the idea of Banjo having an owner and they travel together, just like old jacks boat and his dog salty of CBeebies, I think it’s more believable for kids rather than believing a cat writes letters.
  

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Yes I have already recommended these to my home education forum members, as they are always looking for ways to encourage their children to write.
  

• ‘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 do think it’s a bit high because my daughter had no interest in colouring the pictures sent so they were not used, therefore I think £5.95 but would pay 6.90 if something else was included maybe a photograph of banjo in his countries which she could collect or post card,

[avocadoadvantage]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Fairly satisfied as I enjoyed the make-believe part of the whole thing but I was glad I hadn’t paid for it!

• 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?
  

She was excited to receive a letter through the post and enjoyed the stickers and mini envelope. She was more excited about writing and posting the first letter than the second.

I felt the letters were too long for an infant aged child and that they should get some educational advice on how to pitch letters to different age groups. My child lost interest listening to the second letter and I felt it was trying to be too clever.

The response part could also have been differentiated by age. Consulting a primary teacher would help here!

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

No, sorry

• ‘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?
  

Not really. For stickers and paper it seems expensive and I didn’t feel the personalisation was that great. I have subscribed to a craft activity in the past which was cheaper and better value.

[Wincher]

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

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

He was really a bit too old for it at 7/nearly 8. He doesn't believe in Santa/the tooth fairy etc so saw straight through it and wanted to know the story behind it. However then his 4 year old brother started playing with the stickers etc and he got pretty cross! But he would have been too young for it on his own as he can't read yet. I thought the age range it would suit is pretty narrow. However perhaps some girls I know would like it better than my boys did.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

Stuff about different countries

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

Make it a bit clearer where the stickers are designed to go.

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

Possibly

• ‘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?
  

Seems reasonable

[vickyors]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
I loved it. My daughter loved it. We really enjoyed reading the letters together, looking at the map and crafting replies. She loved looking at different parts of the world that she new of.

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

She wrote back- it was quite hard, but she enjoyed it(she's5) and she loved 'posting' them under the sofa. She was so excited to have someone to write to.

• What did you like most about the letters?

Hmm. I liked it all. I suppose the map and stickers to go with the letter was a fantastic idea. I'll upload photos later of our dining table- taken over by Banjo!!

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

No

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

Yes. Totally.

• ‘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?

Yes, I can't wait.

[kellyloul]

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

I was more excited than my child, I used to enjoy being a pen pal but think that this was a little less fun as you have to have the imagination to believe the cat is true so my son at 7 was less imaginative.

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

My son enjoyed reading the letters but was not enthusiastic to write back.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

That they looked as if they had come from somewhere different and were intriguing.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? I found the materials were not that great.
  

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

No

• ‘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 it is too expensive per month

[MrsFrTedCrilly]

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Somewhat satisfied, I can appreciate that it’s a test period but time lapse between letters was huge! DD (5) was totally enthralled by Banjo and pretty much told everyone we met about mummy meeting a talking cat.

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

She loved them and was very excited about Banjo knowing about her sofa and where she lived. She liked the drawing and writing but was nonplussed by the colouring in sheet.
Did they write back?
Yes, immediately both times

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

I liked the fact it engaged my reluctant reader and writer to reply. DD loved the stickers and map.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

I think the language level of the letters was a little above DD level of understanding. The tone of the introductory letter was definitely less formal than the Brazilian letter. Way too many random facts in that one and it felt quite stilted reading that one with DD

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

Yes, for a child with an active imagination it’s a great idea. It encouraged DD to look up information about sugar loaf mountain.

• ‘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 it’s slightly on the high end at 3.95 per letter, depends on what time period you are committed to signing up for too.
We would also love it if you could share any photos you have of the letters.
Thanks for including us in the trial

[lovewatchingrainfall]

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

I like the idea, the letters were good they gave my daughter things to talk about.

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

She was over the moon with the letters, she loved to recieve them. She loved waiting for the post to arrive the actual letter aswel and all the bits that came with it. She was so excited to write back to both of them

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

The letters need to be more age aimed, they were long and hard for my 5 year old to read, so i had to. would be good if something the children says in their reply gets put into the letter from Banjo. A little gift or postcard would also enhance the 'holiday' or maybe a photoshopped photo.

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

Depending on who the child was and how much had been improved then maybe 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 is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

To be honest i am not sure. I think my daughter would love it and be so happy to receive the letters. However i am not sure if to me i feel that i would get my moneys worth. I might be tempeted to try it for a month or so for my daughter, however not sure i would go out of my way..Sorry.
Don't get me wrong my daughter loves it and talks non stop about Banjo and his travels

[TFSRM]

- Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
We thought it was really good. My daughter loves getting her own post addressed to her.

- What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
She really enjoyed getting the letters. They were a good length for her to read on her own with a bit of help on the tricky words. She decided last Christmas that she doesn't believe Father Christmas so I was surprised she went along with this so well but she loved writing her replies to Banjo and putting them under the sofa. She even checked that we had a window open for the Cat-Postie to get in and checked the letter had gone the following morning. I thought the stickers were a nice touch.

- What did you like most about the letters?
I loved how excited my daughter was about receiving her own letter and writing back without needing any prompting.

- Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
A prep sheet for parents giving some more details about Banjo such as what he looks like. My daughter caught me out a bit on this one as she asked what he looked like and when I said I wasn't sure she reminded me I was supposed to have been out to lunch with him! Oops. Also maybe an email just ahead of each letter with some facts about the country or suggested links to look up more information with your child.
Also, my daughter still has large writing as she's only in Y1 so having a double -sided sheet for her letter and then a separate page for a drawing would have been nice so she could write a bit more.

- Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
I definitely have friends whose children would like this. It's a bit different and a nice way to encourage writing and creativity in a structured way.

- ‘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 it's a really nice idea to be able to personalise part of the letter and this makes me even more keen on this product. £3.95 per letter seems reasonable.

[PooPooOfferson]

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

I thought that the quality was great (paper quality; map; stickers).

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

My child replied to the first letter but lost interest halfway through replying to the second. He wrote and drew pictures.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

My child liked the personalisation and the pet/sofa detail.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

The letters were perhaps too long-winded for a six-year-old.

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

Perhaps for those with older children.

-A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?
This seems too expensive.

[MimsyBorogroves]

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

DS (6) loved it, loved the whole idea and thought it was fantastic. I thought what we got each time was lovely, but I cringed when Banjo suggested he would be on our sofa at some point - DS is still convinced we are getting a new cat.

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

He loved them and wrote back immediately.

• What did you like most about the letters?

The facts and the fact that it made DS want to find out more about the world around him.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

I thought they were great as they were - apart from cat-gate!

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

Yes, as long as the idea develops more. My problem with it is that there's going to be an end point, and for a child who gets obsessive that can be an issue - especially if he's invested in the character being real.

• ‘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?

At first I did - the price of a couple of magazines. That in itself is appealing...but actually I'm not sure looking back on what we got. It would be easy to replicate it ourselves for much less.

[EsmeeMerlin]

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

Not very satisfied. To me it felt very random, there was no back story or character information, there was no advice for parents to make the most of it and some of the phases my son did not understand from the letter. It is a great concept but did not meet my expectations.

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

He sort of liked it, the personalised stickers and the colouring went down well but the letter was not awfully interesting for him and a lot of it needed explaining to him. He also found the cat a bit random, again i think an introduction to the cat with a picture of the cat would have been useful. He wrote back once with a little effort and did not want to write back a second time. It did not really draw him in.

• What did you like most about the letters?
  

The personalised stickers and the idea it would tell a child interesting facts about different stickers.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
  

Quite a lot-again an information sheet for parents, a introduction to the cat, the writing to be more catered for younger children, the writing to be more interesting and eye catching and perhaps more activities for the children to complete.

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

Sadly not.

• ‘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?
  

No I think that's too expensive for this product. Its not good enough in my opinion to justify £7.90 a month when I feel some improvements could be made to the product. There is not enough content and some of the content that is included, parents could just print it themselves at home and save their money. We have done other subscription services for children for less money and with more content.