Wiggly Play Time was a tape that intrigued me as I built my son's Wiggles collection. All the other Wiggles tapes are predominantly song and dance numbers with little skits in between, Wiggly Play Time is not. Instead, its a compilation of episodes from a 'Wiggles Television' series. Wiggles TV was shown in Australia (and for a while in the US too).

The Wiggly Wiggly Background

If you are not familiar with The Wiggles, they are a group of four Australian grown men who sing and dance around and perform children's tunes. Each member of The Wiggles (Greg, Murray, Anthony, and Jeff) wears their own color (Yellow, Red, Blue, and Purple) and has a distinct performance personality. The Wiggles are joined by a few of their friends which include: a pirate (Captain Feathersword), a dog (Wags the Dog), a green dinosaur (Dorothy the Dinosaur), a purple octopus (Henry the Octopus) and a few other friends - which add to the fun. Their biggest appeal is the 6 and under crowd with a strong toddler contingent making up quite a large fanbase in Australia, US, and Canada.

"Good" & "Bad" Stuff
Wiggly Play Time includes 3 episodes which run around 20 minutes each. The entire tape is 65 minutes long making it longer than most of the other Wiggles tapes. However, It seems like its much longer than the 1 hr it runs. This is because most of the tape is comprised of skits as opposed to song and dance. There is something about the song and dance numbers that just makes the time fly by and captures the attention of young audiences. The skits move much slower. At almost 70 minutes, Wiggly Play Time may be too long for a younger toddler to handle. The good news is that because there is not a lot of plot contained in these skits the tape can be stopped and started without much (or anything) lost.

Because Wiggly Play Time includes more than just music and dance, there's a bit more "meat" to this tape than other offering from The Wiggles. In addition to the added length, this also means a few important lessons are taught. Nothing too deep, just simple stuff about the importance of family, friends, working together, peace, and of course the importance of having a good time!


Wiggly Play Time Song List
1. Get Ready to Wiggle (with the "Young Wiggles")
2. Go Captain Feathersword, Ahoy!
3. Uncle Noah's Ark
4. Havenu Shalom Alechem
5. Dorothy The Dinosaur (Tell Me Who Is That Knocking)
6. John Bradlelum
7. Get Ready To Wiggle
8. Move Your Arms Like Henry
9. We're Dancing With Wags The Dog
10. Having Fun At The Beach
11. Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep On His Pirate Ship
12. The Monkey Dance
13. Ponies


Most of the songs on Wiggly Play Time are included on other Wiggles tapes. So if you are a fan of Wiggles for the songs themselves, don't look here for "new" stuff. Instead, Wiggly Play Time incorporates favorite and familiar tunes with fun skits. At first I thought the skits were kind of boring. But, after repeated viewing and putting myself at the toddler/preschool level I can see that the skits are not boring - they are simple and age appropriate.

The skits in Wiggly Play Time are fun(ny) and "light". They don't include much in the way of plot but instead simple sketches including:
-a flashback to when The Wiggles were kids and as far back caveman times!
-Dorothy the Dinosaur tricks Captain Feathersword (that's not very nice now!) and Anthony struggles to perform Greg's expert magic tricks (rabbit in the hat)
-Jeff and Murray look into the sky and find some "friends".
- and more ;)

Our Favorite Skit is of course the flashback episode which shows each of the Wiggles as a young boy. In this episode young children are dressed in the "Wiggles Uniform" and its really quite darling. I can see lots of young kids wanting to dress in a "Wiggles Uniform" which is simply a colored long sleeve T-shirt and black pants. These costumes are for sale on the Wiggles website though this ensemble would be easy to put together on your own as well. Also in this episode we see The Wiggles back in Caveman days - its pretty amusing to say the least to think of these guys in a whole new light.



Overall
My son enjoys Wiggly Play Time. But from my observations, it simply does not excite him to get up and move as much as the other Wiggles programs. I am hoping that as he gets a bit older he will be more interested. Part of why I love The Wiggles so much is because of their ability to get my son "wiggling"- so this tape is not my first choice for "up out of the chair shaking and grooving".

Of course, as a fan of The Wiggles, I recommend Wiggly Play Time for your Wiggles collection. However, an important thing to note - The age recommendation on this tape is for children 1-8 years. I really think it might be best for ages 3 and up, for length reasons only. The content is very appropriate to entertain the 1-3 yr old age group but slightly older children will definitely get more out of the stories that are presented.

Last but not least, and a little bit of wishful thinking showing here, (Hey, it can't hurt!) I'd like Wiggles TV to come back. With the recent introduction of The Wiggles onto the Disney Channel, I'm kind of hoping it may come back at least to re-runs on cable TV. One can only wish!


Ready for Wiggly Play Time with The Wiggles?

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My Wiggles Reviews
Wiggle Time
Yummy Yummy
Wake Up Jeff
Dance Party
Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas
Yule Be Wiggling
Wiggly, Wiggly World
Toot Toot!
Wiggly Play Time
Hoop Dee Doo Its a Wiggly Party!
Wiggly Safari or Wiggly Safari on CD
The Wiggles Magical Adventure - A Wiggly Movie
Wiggle Bay


For "Everything you need to know about The Wiggles" Read: The Wiggles 101


Visit The Wiggles website:
http://www.thewiggles.com


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8