Information about
ZingZillas
Target Age
3-6 year olds
Episode Duration
22 minutes
About The Show
The ZingZillas are a band of four primates who live on a tropical island where music is everything. Each 22-minute episode follows the characters as they rehearse and work towards their daily song (the Big Zing), which takes place at the end of the show. The ZingZillas are helped by a series of other characters who ensure they get to perform on time, and each episode also showcases a real musician who could be anyone from a didgeridoo player from Australia or an opera singer from Italy. There is a strong narrative, with a single song in each show, allowing for plenty of fun and frolics along the way. The series combines animatronics with hand and fixed puppets.
Main characters:
- Zak
– A gorilla who is the incredibly cool lead singer of the band.
- Tang
– A guitar-playing orang-utan who writes all the music.
- Panzee
– A style-loving chimpanzee who plays bass guitar and keyboards.
- Drum
– A stick-wielding monkey who always lays down a great beat.
- DJ Loose
– A sloth DJ who looks after the band and is a music guru.
- Todd
– The island caretaker, a mandrill who loves to help the band but is rather accident prone.
- Beach Byrds
– Harmonising waitresses who love to get dressed up for the Big Zing.
- Moaning Stones
– Ancient standing stones who provide the bass lines and comment on daily life on the island.
Educational benefits
ZingZillas helps children to:
- Appreciate different types of music and encourages them to discover their own favourite songs.
- Learn what sounds different instruments make.
- Become aware of different instruments from around the world.
- Enjoy music and have fun playing instruments.
Website benefits and summary
Go on The Big Coconut Adventure with the ZingZillas online, or choose to dip in and out of the seven games. All the games will help your child to appreciate the value of rhythm and harmony in music, whether it’s through the Splat Down (splat the fruit in time to the beat), making your own tune with the Ant Chorus or matching sounds with the Hummingbird Harmoniser. Children can put on their own Big Zing, as in the TV programme. There are also colouring sheets to print out and colour in.
Musical games help children with their creative development, giving them confidence in experimenting and using their imagination. Music and rhythm are also great for your child’s language development, and if they want to dance along to the music too, all the better for learning how to spot the beat and help with their physical development.
Games
Zingzilla's Ant Chorus
Make music with the Ant Chorus. Have fun mixing up the sounds and trying to make a tune. This game shows children how notes are on a scale and a tune needs to follow a beat.
Zingzilla's Back Drops
A fab combination of art and music - paint a picture and hear it come to life. This game is an extension of what your child may already do at home - make noises as they draw and paint, and think about the sounds different colours and lines might make.
Zingzilla's Beat Blender
Blend everyday noises to make music and beats. A great opportunity to remember that music is all around us and can be created from everyday objects.
Zingzilla's Hummingbird Harmoniser
Find the matching lilies to find the matching instruments being played by the hummingbirds and play more and more elaborate tunes. This games tests children’s visual and and hearing matching skills.
Zingzilla's Music Dash
Play with Panzee and Tang as they play lots of the different Zingzillas’ instruments.
Zingzilla's Splat Down - hit the fruit in time to the beat
Hit the fruit in time to the beat. A challenge for children to make sure they are listening to the beat behind and hitting the fruit at the right time. Great for developing rhythm.
Zingzilla's Big Zing
Join in with the Big Zing, whether you’ve got a webcam or not.
The Big Coconut Adventure
Go on the Big Coconut Adventure with DJ Loose - a chance to play all the individual games in one go, leading to the Big Zing!
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