Well, that was a wet and miserable Bank Holiday weekend and it looks set to continue for Little Chap’s Half Term holiday too. *sighs*

I’m pleased to report that I’ve been at work so far this week, hiding out in an equally damp Mayfair. Yesterday, I stepped on a wobbly paving slab *writes furiously to Westminster Council* and ended up with a very soggy, muddy left trouser leg! Good thing I’m more machine wash, than Dry Clean Only these days!

Anyway, you know what I’m going to say. It can be hard to while away the hours with energetic child/children on a wet and rainy day. Even the toughest parent will admit that braving the elements can result in frayed tempers and misery for everyone if we aren’t careful. I have always been grateful for Little Chap’s love of jigsaws and crafting but even that doesn’t last all day and sometimes, it pays to have an alternative distraction for half an hour.

This half term, I hope I have just the thing.

Egmont have already brought out several e-books and apps of their classic MR MEN and Little Miss titles. These were my favourite books when I started school. I don’t recall how quickly I tried to ad them myself but I remember loving nothing more than curling up on my mother’s knee, thumb in mouth, to listen to her read me their adventures, while I was enchanted by the fun, bright and effortlessly simple drawings of Mr Bump, Mr Happy, Mr Jelly et al. I doremember wishing I could get my own felt tipped pens to draw such beautiful pictures too!

Egmont’s latest release is Mr Tickle.

The original drawings from the book have been animated. Kids can sit back and watch Mr Tickle reach out his extremely long arms and get things out of the fridge, or tickle the teacher through the classroom window. The more inquisitive child will notice little stars and wriggling flowers that deliver even more fun as parts of each picture moves or makes a noise.

The story can be read to them or by them, depending on age and ability or they can just sit back and listen to it, read by David Walliams. Trust me though, they’ll love it even more if they’re sitting on Mum or Dad’s knee for a cuddle *winks*.

The app however, is much more than just an animated story book. The character of Mr Tickle is brought to life by a built-in e-activity book.

It is a colouring book, where kids can colour in their own Mr Tickle and, with the necessary parental consent (or not! See settings.), they can happily grow parental photo libraries by adding their own work/s of art.

There’s a Wack-A-Worm game with three levels of difficulty. As I struggled only to hit the worms, not Mr Tickle’s arms on the Easy level, I’m hoping it will amuse Little Chap for a while longer than a few minutes!

Finally, there is a Funny Faces game, where kids can get creative and design their own Mr Men or Little Miss. With a variety of bodies to choose for starters, kids can add the background of their choice and “build” their own character, by adding eyes, nose, mouth, hat or other accessory etc to design their own masterpiece.

Best of all, it doesn’t have any annoying links to other Mr Men apps or games or websites that charge you as soon as you (or your hapless charge/s) tap the screen and Egmont have thought to put a page telling you, the parent, all you need to know to make it work, so you don’t look a complete half wit when your three/four year old demonstrates the app’s key features to you on first picking the darned thing up…! What? Only me then.

you know, I think while he’s at it I might have another go with those felt tipped pens…