Children at Busy Bees have been enthralled with the new John Lewis Christmas advert featuring Excitable Edgar the dragon, and the experience is actually helping with their education.

It is also helped to get youngsters to get in the right festive mood for a forthcoming community concert.

The pre-school group watched the advert together on the day of its release, which is something they do every year, as an annual tradition; and they were so thrilled by the 2019 offering, it has provided them with a seasonal topic in class.

Busy Bees manager, Emma Davis said: “ It sparked lots of fantastic conversation as the children discussed what happened, the impact of the dragon’s fire breathing and his feelings.

“The dragon became so popular with the children that it was decided to have a whole week of fun and learning based around the character. “

Mrs Davis added: “Over the week, the children were decorating biscuits to look like Edgar, investigating freezing and melting, writing letters to Edgar and making dragons with play-dough.”

And its not all about festive fun, it’s about learning too.

Mrs Davis said: “ Children will develop their mathematical skills through play with bakery items where they will weigh, count spoonfuls of ingredients into numbered cake cases and use cookery books.

“They will also be making a Christmas pudding!”

She added: “The focus on Edgar is a great lead in to the group’s Christmas activities.

“This year, the highlight will be a sponsored singalong at Ledbury Market Theatre on Monday December 10.50am."

Tickets are available from Eventbrite.

But Christmas has already been very much in the air at Busy Bees, which is based at The Hive, off Bye Street.

Children have been enjoying a book, called The Tree That’s Meant to Be, about a tree that growing "a bit too much to the left and a bit too much to the right, making it imperfect".

And a Busy Bees group also went for a walk into town to see the Christmas tree, looking at the shop window displays on the way.

And the youngsters have also been having fun, decorating their own Christmas tree.