A very Play School Christmas by Jan Stradling and Jedda Robaard

Fans of Play School will be thrilled at the publication of a book about their favourite characters spending Christmas together at Jemima’s caravan park. All the trappings of Christmas are shown as the group arrives at the park, looks for the boxes Jemima has hidden, then prepares the tree, decorations, presents and food for the big day.

Big Ted, Little Ted, Kiya, Humpty and Joey all arrive in Kiya’s car, ready to unpack. But the little tree looks bare and so Jemima sends them all off to find the boxes. Each box reveals things which they will need to make Christmas a success. Humpty unfortunately sits on the box of paper chains but Kiya finds the box of wrapping paper, Little Ted finds a box of crackers while Big Ted finds the box wth the Christmas pudding recipe and Joey finds a box of things for the lucky dip. Each makes a present for the lucky dip, using recycled or found material. Big Ted makes a picture, Kiya creates a mobile and Joey designs a bag made of recycled material. On the day they are all prepared and designate the day the best Christmas ever.

All children will love the story reflecting all the things that families do at Christmas time in Australia. The soft digital illustrations follow the progression of the holiday spent together, all the characters finding something to do with Christmas to show the readers. Australian animals can be seen in the background, and children will love spotting and identifying them while focussing on the excitement of preparing for Christmas and the sharing with family and friends. I particularly enjoyed the reinforcement of sharing, of being with friends and of present giving from recycled, found or home made items.

Themes: Christmas, Australian animals, Play School, Humour, Holidays.

Fran Knight