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The Elf Games

Sufficient

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 2

Stimulating

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Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 2. Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Ho...

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https://slowscreen.com/en/series/ben-and-hollys-little-kingdom/s1/e12-the-elf-games

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/ben-and-hollys-little-kingdom/s1/e12-the-elf-games

Slowscreen

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 2. Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Ho...

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2
Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2

slowscreen.com

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 2. Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Ho...

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2
slowscreen.com

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Subject Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games | Sufficient, co-watching from age 2

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 2. Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Ho...

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/ben-and-hollys-little-kingdom/s1/e12-the-elf-games

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This program is well-balanced. It remains mostly easy to follow and process. It is a good fit for the recommended age. The pacing is moderate. The story remains easy for a child to follow. The sound is intense and continuously present. The visuals are calm and well-organized.
Everything follows one clear thread: Holly wants to take part in the elf games, which are meant for elves only. Events unfold in an easy-to-follow order, from Ben practising, to the running race, the high jump, and finally the wheelbarrow race that Holly and Ben win together. Cause and effect are strong and visible, for example the moment magic is used and Ben is disqualified as a direct result. A fair amount happens in each stretch, which asks a little concentration from the youngest viewers, but the single storyline keeps it followable.
Feelings run through the episode, with Ben disappointed at coming last, upset at being disqualified, and briefly short with Holly when he says she has 'messed things up enough'. Most tension is resolved warmly, with Holly apologising and Ben answering 'Not to worry', and the ending brings everyone together. The caveat is that the tone is not consistently kind: elves are teased as boring and sweaty, and Nanny Plum breaks the rules on purpose without much reflection. The emotional ups and downs are gentle overall but shift often enough to notice.
Holly drives much of the action herself, insisting she can contribute and offering to be Ben's partner when no one else will. Her idea to use her gymnastics for the wheelbarrow race is a genuine bit of problem-solving that pays off when they win. Ben shows initiative too, practising his lifting and jumping. The thinking stays fairly simple and some outcomes are helped along by others rather than fully worked out, but for this age the visible try-and-succeed pattern is clear enough.
The dialogue is clear, well spoken by the child voices, and built mostly from short complete sentences that a young child can follow. Concrete words sit alongside a few stretchier ones like 'gymnastics', 'competitor', and 'disqualified', which arrive with enough context to be graspable. Much of the talk carries real information, describing rules, events, and what each character can do. Cheerful exclamations like 'Hooray' and 'Poopla' pepper the speech, which is fun but leans on expression as much as content.
The world is built almost entirely from fantasy, with fairies, elves, magic wands, and flying at its centre, which sits at a distance from a three-year-old's own daily life. The recognisable frame is a sports day with running, jumping, and a wheelbarrow race, and the social lesson that everyone has different talents is genuinely relatable. Some actions like dancing, jumping, and gymnastics could be copied offline, but they are wrapped in magic and fairy abilities that a child cannot carry into real play. The strongest real-world link is the familiar shape of competition, fairness, and friends helping each other.

More information

This score shows how inclusively the series portrays diverse people, families and cultures. Scale: Limited → Varied → Rich → Inclusive.
The episode fills its tiny fairy-and-elf world with a wide crowd: boys and girls, children and older figures, and background characters with a range of skin tones filling the stands. The story itself turns on who is allowed to take part, as Ben the elf and the other elves insist the games are for elves only and not for fairies, while Holly pushes back and eventually wins a race and gets the games opened up to her activities too. Initiative is spread well, with Holly driving the plot and a girl elf, Lizzie, competing alongside the boys. The one soft spot is that fairy skills get coded as dancing, gymnastics and 'looking pretty' against the elves' 'serious' running and jumping, a familiar split the episode leans on even as it breaks the barrier down.
This score shows whether the series stays close to everyday reality or leans into fantasy. Scale: Fantasy → Mixed reality → Realistic.
This episode sits in a fully imagined world of fairies and elves, with magic wands, flying and spells like 'Abracadabra'. What grounds it is the everyday event at its heart: a sports day with running, a high jump and a wheelbarrow race, plus feelings any child knows, wanting to win and feeling left out. There is no villain; the tension comes from Holly bending the no-magic rule and the elves saying the games are only for elves, all resolved warmly. The fantasy stays consistent and the humour is easy to follow, though the amount of magic and flying leans more fantastical than a three-year-old typically needs.
This score shows how enjoyable the series is for parents watching along. Scale: Tedious → Tolerable → Pleasant → Enjoyable.
This episode gives a watching grown-up plenty to enjoy. Dry British wit runs through the commentary, the story has a clear arc as Holly talks her way into an elves-only competition and wins the day, and the voices stay pleasant rather than shrill. The clean, colourful animation and speech-led sound keep it easy to sit through alongside your child.

Mild conflict

Ben snaps at Holly 'No, you've already messed things up enough' before she wins him over.

Deception

Nanny Plum secretly casts a spell to help Ben jump, saying 'No one will notice'.

Competition

The episode centres on winning and losing across several timed elf games events.

Stereotypes

Traditional gender roles

The fairy girl is linked to dancing, gymnastics, and 'looking pretty' while the elf boys do 'serious' running and jumping.

Princess archetype

Holly is a pink-dressed fairy princess who magics up a fancy trophy and lists 'looking pretty' as a talent.

Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Holly the fairy princess wants to join but is told the games are only for elves, until her family's secret magic gets Ben disqualified. In the end Holly partners Ben in the wheelbarrow race, using her gymnastics to help them win. The elves agree to add dancing and gymnastics to the next games so fairies can take part too.

Season 1

11 episodes

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E01

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

The Royal Fairy Picnic

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Princess Holly's family prepares for a royal fairy picnic with their magic basket. Holly invites her best friend Ben Elf, who packs real sandwiches, cheese, and fruit from home. At the picnic Nanny Plum tries to conjure magic jelly, but the spell escalates into a flood that only a powerful stop spell can halt. The stop spell cancels every piece of magic food too, so Ben quietly shares his elf lunch with the whole royal party.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E02

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Gaston the Ladybird

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Ben the elf and Holly the fairy princess play with their friend Gaston the ladybird, riding on his back and watching him roll over. The next day Gaston will not come out, so they ask Nanny Plum for help and visit his cave. They find it messy and smelly and decide to clean it as a surprise, but Gaston cries when he sees what they have done. The friends realise Gaston loved his home just as it was, and they happily put back the cobwebs, smelly socks and dirt before running off to play again.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E03

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Holly's Magic Wand

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Princess Holly practises wand magic with Nanny Plum and accidentally turns Ben Elf into a hat. Nanny reverses the spell, and Holly heads off to play with Ben, only to realise she has left her wand behind in the meadow. Ben offers to help search and they discover that a jackdaw has carried the wand up to its nest. Ben climbs up to retrieve it and Holly successfully casts a thank-you cowboy hat spell for him.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E04

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

The Elf Farm

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

King Thistle demands a real boiled egg for breakfast but the elf farm delivery arrives without one. Ben, Holly and the elves drive back to the farm, where the Wise Old Elf shows Holly the carrot field, lettuce patch, tomato plants and chicken pen, explaining how each part works. A chicken escapes during the visit and follows them all the way to the castle. The chicken lays an egg for the King, who happily asks for daily deliveries from then on.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E05

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Daisy and Poppy

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Princess Holly's baby twin sisters Daisy and Poppy are learning magic and accidentally flood the castle with porridge during breakfast. Later, while Holly tries to play with her friends, the twins escape with a wand and turn the kittens, rabbits and birds around them into transformed elves and fairies. Ben enlists Gaston the ladybird to track the twins down, and Holly reverses every spell with chants like 'come back twins'. The episode ends with the twins tucked into bed, dreaming aloud of tigers and crocodiles.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E09

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Fun and Games

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Ben the elf helps his mum bake cupcakes in the family kitchen, and his friend Holly the fairy princess joins in with the stirring. While the cakes bake, the two go outside and play tag and hide-and-seek, and Holly keeps slipping into flying and magic despite promising to play fair. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, everyone agrees the time flew by because they were having fun. The episode ends with the friends sharing cakes and Ben showing a trick.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E10

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

King Thistle is Not Well

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

King Thistle catches a cold and insists it must be something serious. After fairy magic only makes him sneeze, the Wise Old Elf arrives as a doctor and diagnoses a common cold, while Nanny Plum, Ben and Holly set off to collect a dewdrop, slug slime and a frog burp for a special cure. The King drinks the potion by mistake and grows a head of long hair, but his cold clears up all the same. In the end Nanny Plum catches the cold and the King promises to nurse her back to health.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E11

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

The Lost Egg

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Ben the elf and Holly the fairy princess find a stray egg while playing and set out to return it to its mother. With Nanny Plum's guidance they learn it is a blackbird's egg, build a nest, and have King Thistle keep it warm until it hatches. The chick imprints on Nanny and grows hungry, so the group tries to charm worms and call the mother bird. The mummy blackbird finally arrives and takes her chick home.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E12

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

The Elf Games

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Ben the elf prepares for the elf games, a sports day of running, jumping, and lifting where magic and flying are banned. Holly the fairy princess wants to join but is told the games are only for elves, until her family's secret magic gets Ben disqualified. In the end Holly partners Ben in the wheelbarrow race, using her gymnastics to help them win. The elves agree to add dancing and gymnastics to the next games so fairies can take part too.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E13

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Nanny Plum's Lesson

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Nanny Plum is teaching Holly and the fairies three fairy rules when a gust of wind blows her clean off the castle wall. Ben, Holly and Gaston the ladybird set out to find her and bring back her wand, following her through a series of soggy, muddy mishaps in water, a bird's nest and quicksand. Ben finally lassoes her free and everyone returns home. Nanny finishes by saying she has learned it is good to have friends around when you need them, whether they are fairies or elves.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
S01 E15

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Mrs Witch

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Nanny Plum takes Ben and Holly to meet a retired witch in the woods, insisting witches are smelly and useless. When Nanny mocks her once too often, Mrs Witch freezes her, so the children fetch King Thistle. Instead of scolding the witch, Daddy showers her with compliments until she happily unfreezes Nanny. Everyone parts on friendly terms, and Daddy explains that saying nice things about people goes a long way.

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