We’re a PJ Masks Ambassador and received compensation or product for this post. All thoughts are our own. To the elementary school set, PJ Masks is their jam. Every friend that our 7 year old has over to play is immediately drawn to his PJ Masks stuff. Now that the show is a hugely popular Disney Jr. program the full gamut of toys, games and activities are hitting stores.
Some of these products arrived at our house as a happy coincidence when some of their friends were here to play. “Stop-I must take photos of everything”, the visiting kids must’ve thought that dad was just a snap-happy photo freak. However, our children knew the deal and calmly told their friends that they could play with them after I took a picture-at which time they told me to take the pictures ASAP.
Our oldest son just turned 7and is knee deep in a world of darts. He’s got a couple of dart guns and jumped like a cat when a pickle is placed behind him when he found out we were reviewing the Dart Zone Enforcer Motorized Belt Blaster. Aside from being a mouthful of a title, this dart gun looks impressive and manages to do so in a compact form that’s very durable.
So, I’ve only seen one Harry Potter film and that was the release from 2002, The Chamber of Secrets. As an adult watching it, having never read the book I was impressed, but not enough to read the books or see any more films from the characters. Flash forward 14 years and the prequel to the Harry Potter stories is out. But is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
Well, let’s start out by saying that it is a very good film. I knew nothing about the plot and that fact served me quite well as the magic, beasts and characters came into their own. The only thing that I knew about the Harry Potter universe is that a muggle is a non-magical being and that the bulk of the previous Potter films had a kid-centered family focus.
As a review, I don’t mean that as a pejorative, it’s just that from what I saw in Secrets it was aimed at children. The true power of the Potter-Universe hadn’t been discovered at that point. After that film I know that they got more inventive, a little darker at times and much more popular. It only makes sense, as the characters in the film got older, so did their fan base.
So, is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
There are elements of the film that will be great for 8 year old children. However, on the whole, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is fine for 10 year olds and in some cases 9 year old. It’s rated PG-13 and is really on the soft side of that rating. The film is such a soft PG-13 one wonders if the producers asked for it so that audiences wouldn’t think that it was too soft. To this point: it’s worth noting what worldwide audiences have their ‘official’ age recommendations as. ‘G’ in Japan, Netherlands 9 and 12 in the UK/Canada and elsewhere.
Our 7 year old would’ve been too bothered by some of the action sequences which are fraught with tension. For parents there isn’t any discernible instance of bad language. The lead character, Newt does say ‘bugger’ a couple of times. However, that’s only offensive if you’re in the UK and even then mildly so in the British colloquial vocabulary.
If our oldest were 9, I would’ve stopped watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and immediately gone home and gotten him. For that age (given proper adult supervision…..) this is a great film, jammed with humor, good/bad decisions, plus a couple solid references to Hogwarts.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is Harry Potter without the kid-centric title figure. The content in the film is A-Ok with ages 10 and up, as well as adults-who are willing to grade the film on a curve. Take the middle school and upper elementary kids, they’ll love this film and you’ll be the cool parent, just possibly enough o make them forgive you for the dreck that you thought they would’ve liked. This one is the real family deal.
An Excessive Alphabet, Avalanches of As to Zillions of Zs looks familiar and that’s OK. It’s written by Judi Barrett, with illustrations by Ron Barrett, the team behind the children’s classic, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Even if you’ve never read that book there is a comfort food quality in An Excessive Alphabet that makes readers feel that everything is going to be alright.
I’m a Let’s Play Ambassador and was compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. My wife sometimes jokes with me because I don’t remember much of my childhood. I remember things here and there, but they mostly revolve around play, some neighborhood friends and the parks we used to frequent. It’s selective memory-and I do try to remember the feelings that my wife so desperately want to hear about. However, when the rubber hits the road I always remember the fun, the play.
It was those horrible games of soccer on the field that was too short. If you kicked the ball too high on one side of the field it would go into the fenced in dog area, kick it the other direction and it would go into the creek. The only thing missing from this game of soccer apparently was a crew of Lost Boys and a gasoline shortage.
As as adult I wrote down what I remember about play-and how I can make it better-and more memorable for our kids. Check out the article over at the Let’s Play website.
Kid Lit is a fun genre. It’s also one that people who don’t have someone in that demographic might not know. Keith Baker and his peas are one that we just discovered. It’s the soul sibling to Homer Simpson when he said, ‘give peas a chance’. Then Mr. Burns asked, ‘how do you want to get the peas’? ‘With a fork’..,but that’s another story. Hap-pea All Year is a kidlit book that teaches pre-k through early elementary school kids the months of the year by showing peas having fun.
Voltron Legendary Defender is a five-issue mini-series from Lion Forge Comics that takes place immediately after episode 108, Rebirth, from the latest Voltron series that’s airing on Netflix. The content in the comic book is great for ages 9 and up because it teaches teamwork and friendship, but also has action and space travel to keep kids interested.
Let’s look at one of the most anticipated comics for us this year. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is easily one of the best all age comics you can pick up any month. Contrast that with the fact that there really isn’t a consistent Batman comic book that’s great for young readers. Put the two franchises together for a 6-issue run where they have to work together and you have Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, a mini-series that kids 6 and older must pick up.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube