Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Log in Start free

Apple Squash

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 3

Balanced

Exact score locked

Watch on

Save

Apple Squash

See the exact scores

The review is yours to read. Create a free account to reveal the exact SlowScreen score and every pillar score.

Create free account

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 fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is clearly present and regularly draws attention. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

The episode follows one clear through-line: the farm has too many apples, Wheezy has no work, and the cat won't eat, and all three worries come together in a single solution. Events arrive in a sensible order, with the narrator signposting each step ('meanwhile Tom checked on Wheezy', 'at that moment Rev arrived'), so it is easy to follow what happens and why. The logic is satisfying because Wheezy's blades accidentally squash apples into juice, which is exactly what sparks the idea to turn him into a juicing machine. The one caveat is that the story cuts between three separate problems for a while before they join up, which asks a little extra tracking from a three-year-old.

The emotional weather stays calm and kind from start to finish. The worries are gentle, a bored harvester and a fussy cat, and no one shouts, frightens, or threatens anyone. Tom tries to cheer up Wheezy, Fi patiently offers the cat one food after another, and Matt and Tom work together without any sniping, so the tone is warm and consistent. Every small worry is settled by the end, with Wheezy useful again and the cat finally drinking apple juice.

Tom drives the solution himself: he notices the squashed apples, realises they can become juice, and brings Matt in to help build the machine. The story models a recognizable chain, a problem spotted, an idea, and a plan that is tested and shown to work. The limitation is that Tom's actual reasoning happens off-screen, the narrator simply says he 'had an idea' and the building is shown as a busy montage, so a child sees the result more than each thinking step. Even so, the payoff clearly links the accidental discovery to the clever fix.

The narration is clear and well-articulated, words are used consistently, and the sentences are complete and easy to follow. Dialogue stays concrete and purposeful: Fi names real foods as she tries to tempt the cat ('lovely sardines', 'how about some kippers'), keeping the language tied to things a child can picture. The caveat for a three-year-old is that the narrator leans on idioms such as 'feeling sorry for himself', a 'bumper crop', and 'there's something fishy going on', which sit a little above this age. Most of the talk informs and describes rather than just exclaiming.

The episode is built around recognizable real-world activities, picking apples, taking produce to market, feeding a pet, and finding a use for a surplus crop, and the feelings of wanting to be useful and caring for a fussy pet are easy to relate to. What holds this pillar down is that the whole world runs on talking, thinking farm vehicles, and the clever fix depends on a machine that does not exist in real life, so the central problem-solving is not something a child can copy offline. The human moments are more transferable, a child could help pick fruit or offer a pet its food. The lesson about not wasting good apples is sound, even though it arrives through fantasy.

More information

This farm story centers on two fair-skinned adults, Farmer Fi and farmhand Matt, surrounded by talking machines and a few animals, so the picture of people is narrow with no children, older characters, or varied backgrounds on screen. Fi is in charge as the farm owner, which is a real positive, but the work splits along familiar lines: she spends much of her time at home coaxing a fussy cat to eat while Matt handles the apple picking, heavy lifting, and building. The team cooperates well, and the machine characters show warmth and genuine feeling, including Wheezy openly feeling bored and sad. Overall the show offers little human diversity and leans on a traditional division of tasks, softened only by its cooperative tone and a woman in the lead role.

This is a grounded farm story with only a gentle layer of imagination. Almost everything on screen comes from real life: an autumn apple harvest, a trip to the market, a fussy farm cat, and the everyday problem of growing more apples than anyone can sell. There is no villain, the conflicts come from situations rather than characters and are solved through teamwork and Tom's idea for an apple juice machine. The one imaginative touch, vehicles with faces and feelings, stays consistent and suits a young child, though it is also what keeps the world from being fully realistic.

Tractor Tom tells a complete little story: a bored combine harvester and a glut of unsellable apples are solved in one stroke when Tom dreams up an apple juice machine. The calm narration and warm voices make it easy to have on in the room, and the running joke of the fussy cat refusing every food pays off nicely when she finally laps up apple juice. There is little aimed squarely at an adult co-viewer, and the animation looks dated, but the storytelling holds together and never grates. A pleasant enough watch for a parent sitting alongside.

Themes

Farm life

Central

The whole episode takes place on Spring Hill Farm with a barn, orchard, tractor and combine harvester.

Resourcefulness

Central

Apples that can't be sold at the overloaded market are turned into juice instead of being wasted.

Problem solving

Tom links the accidentally squashed apples to a way of using up the whole surplus crop.

Harvest

Recurring

Fi says 'we've got a lot of apples to pick' and the orchard is full of a 'bumper crop' ready for harvest.

Learning to work together

Tom, Matt and Rev work together in the barn to build the apple juice making machine.

Belonging

Recurring

Tom looks for a way to make the bored Wheezy 'feel useful again'.

Activities

Juicing

Wheezy is turned into a machine that squashes apples into juice.

Apple picking

Fi and Matt pick a bumper crop of apples in the orchard.

Feeding animals

Fi offers her cat cat food, milk, sardines, kippers and cream.

Building

Matt and the vehicles build an apple juice making machine in the barn.

Going to market

Matt loads Rev with boxes of apples to sell at the market.

Emotions

Frustration

Wheezy sits in the barn 'with nothing to do' and feels 'a little bit useless'.

Anxiety

Tom is worried about the bored Wheezy and Fi is worried about the cat who won't eat.

Joy

By the end the narrator says 'everyone was happy' and Wheezy is 'feeling useful again'.

Behaviour

Problem solving

Tom turns the problem of too many apples into a plan to juice them with Wheezy.

Helping

Tom tries to cheer up Wheezy and works out a job that will make him feel useful.

Caring for animals

Fi repeatedly offers her cat different foods to coax her to eat.

Teamwork

Matt and Tom build the juicing machine together inside the barn.

Perseverance

Fi keeps trying food after food (cat food, milk, sardines, kippers, cream) for the fussy cat.

Social lessons

Problem solving

Instead of wasting unsellable apples, the characters find a new use for the surplus.

Teamwork

The farm characters combine their efforts to solve the apple problem together.

Inclusion

The story centres on helping Wheezy feel useful and part of the work again.

Helping others

Tom's single idea helps Wheezy, uses up the apples and finally feeds the cat.

On Spring Hill Farm one autumn morning, the combine harvester Wheezy is bored with no work, Farmer Fi's cat won't eat, and the orchard has more apples than the market can sell. Tractor Tom discovers that Wheezy has accidentally squashed some apples into juice while napping. With Matt's help, Tom turns Wheezy into an apple juice making machine. This uses up the surplus apples, gives Wheezy a job again, and the cat finally drinks the apple juice.

Season 1

5 episodes

Tractor Tom

Tractor Tom

Ringtone

recommended age co-watching from 3

On a hot day at Springhill Farm, farmhand Matt shows off a new mobile phone that can record any ringtone, then loses it. Fi and Matt search everywhere, but the animals have recorded their own voices onto the phone, so ringing it only produces a moo or a quack and confuses everyone. Tom the tractor works out that the sounds are coming from the phone itself and finds it. Fi thanks Tom with a cool shower and records a special ringtone of Tom as a surprise for Matt.

Tractor Tom

Tractor Tom

Showtime Tom

recommended age co-watching from 3

On Spring Hill Farm, farmhand Matt and Farmer Fi decide to put on a show instead of watching TV, with Matt practising magic tricks and Fi keeping her act a secret. The mischievous vehicle Rev frightens all the animals away by revving loudly, so Tom the tractor searches the farm and rounds them up again. Meanwhile the cat Purdey climbs the tallest tree to scratch an itch and gets stuck. At the show Matt performs comic magic and Fi reveals a team of disco-dancing sheep, and Tom rescues Purdey using a move he copied from the sheep.

Tractor Tom

Tractor Tom

Apple Squash

recommended age co-watching from 3

On Spring Hill Farm one autumn morning, the combine harvester Wheezy is bored with no work, Farmer Fi's cat won't eat, and the orchard has more apples than the market can sell. Tractor Tom discovers that Wheezy has accidentally squashed some apples into juice while napping. With Matt's help, Tom turns Wheezy into an apple juice making machine. This uses up the surplus apples, gives Wheezy a job again, and the cat finally drinks the apple juice.

Tractor Tom

Tractor Tom

Baa Baa Tom Sheep

recommended age co-watching from 3

On Springhill Farm, a lost lamb mistakes the red tractor Tom for its mother after Tom is accidentally covered in white flour. The flour spills when two small farm vehicles, Buzz and Rev, race past during one of their arguments about who is fastest. Farmhand Matt and farmer Fi try several ways to reunite the lamb with its real mother, and Tom eventually rescues the lamb from a river, washing the flour off. The lamb finds its mother, Buzz and Rev are left in trouble for causing the mess, and the other sheep then start following Tom too.

Tractor Tom

Tractor Tom

Football Crazy

recommended age co-watching from 3

Tom is a red tractor on Spring Hill Farm. Farmer Fi asks everyone to tidy the messy barn before they can play football, then leaves to help Matt repair the broken-down Rev. Tom and his friends pile up the logs and hay, but the tidy barn is wrecked first by a stray ball and then by the sheep, so they clean it three times. When Fi returns with the repaired Rev for the promised game, Tom is too tired to join in.

Related media

Other series that fit this age group

Jessica's Big Little World

Jessica's Big Little World

recommended age co-watching from 2

Jessica's Big Little World follows a young girl eager to do things herself, with her family and toys at home and around town. Warm and playful for preschoolers, with gentle lessons in independence and perseverance.

Puffin Rock

Puffin Rock

recommended age co-watching from 4

Puffin Rock follows young puffin Una and her baby brother Baba exploring a quiet Irish island full of animals. The tone is calm and gentle, for young preschoolers, teaching nature facts and helping others.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

recommended age co-watching from 2

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom follows an elf boy and a fairy princess through small adventures in a tiny fairy-and-elf world. The tone is light and cheerful, aimed at preschoolers, with gentle social lessons.

Bing

Bing

recommended age co-watching from 2

Bing is a young rabbit exploring everyday moments with his caregiver Flop, at home, the park and outdoors. The tone is calm and reassuring, aimed at toddlers, with gentle emotional and social lessons.

Explore more

From this series Tractor Tom

By age 3 years

By platform YouTube

Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Create your account

We use functional cookies and Google Analytics to improve our site. Learn more