In The Night Garden... (A Musical Journey... The Album...) - Various Artists

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	A great mixture of soothing songs
Disadvantages:	None to mind

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In the Night Garden is a wonderful magical place for children where between being awake and asleep a new world is open for chilren to explore. With characters such as Iggle Piggle, a loveable blue character who is never without his red blanket, and Makka Pakka with bike in tow and a horn that blows loudly to everyone, your child cannot help but be enthralled and caught up in the fun that is "In the Night Garden"
Since Night garden started the phenomenom has reached high fever status. You can buy many memorabilia for your child ranging from cuddly toys that dance and sing, to bath toys and even scooters and DVDs. Now they have released a Night Garden DVD including all the delightful songs that the Night Garden Characters sing. Here is a brief synopsis of the Night Garden Characters.

Upsy Daisy is one of the many characters in the Night Garden. She is an ever happy with recogniseable coloured spiky hair and bright clothes that are mismatched but bold and endearing. Her favourite past time is to dance around the Night Garden whilst inflating her skirt - she has a cord she can pull that inflates her skirt with air -she dances with this and then when she is finishd she pushed the cord and it deflates back to a normal skirt. Upsy daisy's best friend is Iggle Piggle and he shares many of her adventures and fun each time a visit is made to the night garden.
Iggle Piggle

Iggle Piggle is an energetic blue creature that is forever with his red blanket in his hand. he is characterised as Upsy Daisys best friend and each episode he arrives to the Night Garden in a small boat, which he also uses for sleeping in.
Iggle Piggle is an amusing character -when he is surprised by anything his first reaction is to fall backwards on the ground in shock, but he very quickly recovers from this and is back on his feet. When it is time for everyone to go to bed in the Night Garden you can always trust to find Iggle Piggle being the last to go to bed, as he puts it off as long as he can so that he can play.
Other characters within Night garden must not be forgotten -these include:
- Tombliboos - 3 delightful siblings who live together in a large green bush, which when you enter it is a vast series of warrens abundant with musical toys. slides and games which entertain. The Tombliboos are named Ooo, Eee and Unn They are recognisable by their stripy and spotty clothes and the fact that their trousers always seem to fall down. When they play music in their home it is very loud and is heard by all in the Night Garden.
- Makka Pakka - he is an adorable beige coloured creature who is very small in comparison to Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka. He roams around the Night Garden on hisOg-Pog. This is a 33 wheeled trike, on which he carries around his sponge and soap whilst honking his favourite horn.. Whilst roaming around the Night Garden he searches for stones and collects them - washing them once he finds them. Whenever he encounters one of his friends he enjoys washing their face as well, He lives in a small Cave with his favourite stone, which he curls up with every night.

- Pontipines -the Pontipines are a family of ten peg-dolls who live in a small house next to the Wottingers. Their house is a small white wash house with a pretty red roof. The wear red clothes and red hats and the Pontipine parents are forever losing their 8 children whilst exploring the Night Garden. Mrs Pontipine can always be seen looking through binoculars to find her children - the great thing with this is that each time she finds a child she counts -so its a great counting game for your children to follow.
- Ninky Nonk - The Ninky Nonk is an amusing train that travels through the night garden of its own accord. It consists of 5 brightly coloured carriages, and it stops to take the characters on trips around the garden. All characters are lways buckled in safely when riding the Ninky Nonk as it seems to have a life of its own, and travels up and down trees, through bushes and over bumpy ground as a fast speed.

- Pinky Ponk - the Pinky Ponk is a brightly coloured Airship that travels around the night garden. It is green with Brightly coloured spots and transports the characters above the garden so that they get a great aerial view of everything that is going on.
Titifers -the titifers are oddly coloured birds that sit in the trees and sing songs throughout the program - there are about ten of them in total, with different colours and their song indicates to all the characters that it is time to go to bed.

The Album.
The Night Garden Album is fantastic as it uses all of the songs that children will recognise from watching the programme - different characters sing the songs and it is great value ans the CD contains 25 songs - here is the list:
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1. In The Night Garden Opening Theme
2. Oh No It's The Ninky Nonk
3. Hello Igglepiggle
4. Igglepiggle Goes For A Walk
5. Hello Upsy Daisy
6. Upsy Daisy Kisses Every In The Garden
7. Tittifer's Verse 1
8. It's The Tombliboos' House
9. Tombliboo Bricks
10. Tittifer's Verse 2
11. Hello Makka Pakka
12. Catch Makka Pakka's Og Pog
13. Tittifer's Verse 3
14. Hello Pontipines
15. Pontipines Go For A Walk
16. Pinky Ponk
17. Where Is The Pinky Ponk Going
18. Haahoos
19. Everybody Loves Jumping
20. Tittifer's Verse 4
21. Time For Tombliboos To Clean Their Teeth
22. Night Garden Dance
23. Tittifer's Bedtime Song
24. Time To Go To Sleep
25. In The Night Garden Closing Theme
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The songs are easy to sing along with and you can also get the lyrics of all of the songs from Itunes and/or other internet sites so that you and your children can follow along with the CD and have a more intereactive experience. The music is gentle and soothing so helps your child relax -and it also gives your child the opportunity to relate music to programmes and characters and discuss this with yourselves. I found the music is always a relaxing way to settle my son down before bedtime and whilst I am reading him a bedtime story. WE have also found that it is great to settle our son to sleep with, and we also use it for long car journeys so that he is entertained. It is a fantastic present for lal young children and certainly worth its value in money.