Tinga Tinga Tales Up, Down & All Around Monkey

All 3 boys love watching cartoons on TV, one of their favourites is the Cbeebies programme Tinga Tinga Tales. James is probably the bigger fan out of the three but I think this is because he has only just started watching TV properly. I think one of the main attractions to the programme is that everything is so colourful.
Tinga Tinga Tales is aimed at children aged 3 - 6 years old. The stories and characters within the programme are inspired by  traditional African folk tales and the Tingatinga art of Tanzania. Tinga Tinga Tales brings to life tall tales of how the animals came to be the way they are today.


James has been a very lucky little boy over the last few weeks, he was sent the Up, Down & All Around Monkey from the lovely people over at Bandai. 

Here is Monkey's story:

There was a time when Monkey didn't swing in the trees


"He used to play on the ground and he loved to wind Nasty Crocodile up. When the big rains come to Tinga Tinga, Monkey gets stranded up the Mango Tree! Needing Crocodile's help, he promises to give him his Heart in exchange for being safely returned to dry land... but tricks him by giving him a juicy, red mango instead! Crocodile is furious to find out he has been tricked! Snap! Snap! Snap! From that day on Monkey swings from branch to branch keeping well clear of Crocodile's snapping jaws".


James loves playing with Monkey, and he has been taken on many journeys with us, we even took him to the supermarket with us. He is definitely quickly becoming one of James' favourite toys.


Monkey is very cheeky and demands to be played with and picked up, turned upside down or turned the right way up. He can hang from his tail or his hand. He is a very clever Monkey and he knows which way up he is and even if you turn him the other way round he will know that you have moved him.

He says lots of fun phrases that refer to his story with the crocodile such  as "Pick me up and make it snappy", "I'm over here", "Are you going to pick me up straight away or straight away next year", "whooh, I'm upside down" and "Sssshh, I'm hiding from the crocodile". Monkey also laughs a lot which has James in fits of giggles. He loves cuddling Monkey and he is now a firm favourite at bedtime.

Monkey is priced at £25 and can be bought here on the Bandai website. He requires 2 x AAA batteries but these are already included. 


We have really enjoyed playing with Monkey and listening to him talk, he is a very adorable toy. We give him a rating of 5/5 for being such a lovely toy.