Life’s Little Celebrations with Love Monster

#AD Please note that this is a paid collaboration

Life has not been easy for us as a family this year. I don’t believe it has for many people as we get to grips with a whole new way of life. A way in which we have missed birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and many other celebrations.

One of the most difficult things has been trying to explain it all to Rex. Thankfully, on his 3rd birthday, we were able to arrange a virtual party – but it wasn’t quite the same as human interaction in person.

What has come to light are the little things which we tended to take for granted previously. Rex was able to interact with other children of his own age at nursery and this meant he was able to understand sharing.

About Love Monster

I can recall when Rex first saw the trailer for Love Monster on CBeebies. He became very excited, so we made a point of watching the very first episode back in January and, ever since, he has been a big fan.

The show is a colourful, animated series that follows the adventures of the lovable and rather funny Love Monster as he tries to make sure he does the right thing in a world where he is one of a kind. The programme showcases the importance of traits such as kindness, empathy, connection, and instinct.

Love Monster is a big character and puts life into the learnings to help the little ones. It helps the children to understand and cope with different emotions.

Rex Starts to Understand Sharing

Rex is a rambunctious 3-year-old. He is definitely a mummy’s boy who often proclaims his love for me. He gets scared easily but likes to tell us he is grown-up and wants to do things his way! He is also very self-opinionated and likes to be in charge. He isn’t great at sharing, so the Love Monster episode which has really resonated with us is ‘Sharing with Others Day’.

In the episode Love Monster comes back from holiday and finds some chocolates waiting for him. Because it is Sharing with Others Day, he should share them with his friends, but they look very tempting! The lesson learned is that sometimes, when you stop and think of others you realise how much they think of you.

Rex watched the episode with his Love Monster characters and, to start with he did not want to share it with them. He was intent on sitting on his own and they had to stay where they were.

It was not until the story unfolded that he started to understand that his toy friends were there for him. At that point, he decided to move down and sit with them to continue watching – and laughing – with them. He now calls the two fluffy Love Monster’s his toy friends – and can be regularly found playing with the figurines and making them have their own voices!

Rex gets in touch with his emotions

We have watched a number of episodes of Love Monster and Rex has started to remember many of them. He especially doing this with the Fluffytown Friends Figurine pack (RRP £14.99) as they all come together on the table to recreate what he has seen on the big screen using Love Monster, Tiniest Fluffy Bunny, Book Cub, Elder Kitten and Bad Idea Puppy (or Super Puppy as Rex has dubbed him!).

These figurines are perfect for little hands and a great way to encourage imaginary role play.

Fun Sounds Love Monster (RRP £15.99) gets carried around and made to play Limbo rather a lot with Rex! Being the lovable little boy that Rex is, the fact that Love Monster asks for a squeeze and wants to be Rex’s best friend is enough to make him extremely happy.

The one that raises the biggest smiles and laughter is Giggle and Hug Love Monster (£29.99). As soon as he realised that he could squeeze one of his hands to hear the show’s theme song, Rex was straight in there with some dancing – and a plead to watch the show and play the song along with the one on television.

Tickling his tummy made Rex burst out laughing as Love Monster made lots of funny giggling noises. Finally, he realised that Love Monster’s heart lit up as he sang, laughed, and spoke and that was it, Rex had a new best friend.

As you can see, all these toys have a part to play in Rex’s emotions and how he interacts with them varies according to his mood and which toys he is playing with.

All the Love Monster toys are now available at Argos.co.uk.

Our final thoughts

Ross and I understand our actions will influence our children. We try to lead by example, but it doesn’t always quite pan out that way. That is why the lessons taught by shows like Love Monster are so invaluable. To have the products to continue with the encouragement of these lessons once the show has finished helps them to re-enact what they have seen and, as a result, reinforce these important life lessons.