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Software and Games : GSP : Children's Fun & Learning : Ages 5-8
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Avanquest Software
Baum's original tale of the Wizard of Oz is adapted to create the story of Oz. The story is made up of 18 beautifully illustrated pages of a book, each being depicted on the screen with the words, and the animated characters coming to life as the story, is told.With the aid of this storybook options can be set to either have the tale read to the child, or for the child to read themselves with the text being highlighted along the way. As the story is completed on each page the characters come to life and act out a short scene before a new page is opened.
The storybook has the facility to be fully customised to your child's ability. Early readers can have just a few words to each page, and this can be increased as their reading capacity grows. With clear text, and bold, bright animation the child's interest is captured making reading an enjoyable, fun pastime.
A comprehensive glossary allows new words to be investigated and knowledge to be expanded, and observational skills are also developed by working through the screens.
With the capacity to develop as reading skills grow, and the friendly characters you will meet along the way, this truly is a magical way to learn! --Mandy Wood
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
Messy Time Magic is one of a range of Fab-a-Rooney CD-ROMs and console games from the BBC, where the accent, as ever, is on fun and enjoymentThe package has been developed in line with the foundation stages of the National Curriculum. There are different skill levels, catering for different abilities for children aged three years and above. Children can have fun being imaginative and creative, but the biggest asset of all (as far as parents are concerned) is the fact that there is absolutely no mess!
All the games involve either making something on-screen, or producing a picture, which incidentally can be photographed when the photo icon appears. Six of the Tweenie characters play the games: Jake, Fizz, Milo and Bella, along with Izzles and Doodles, and the degree of difficulty depends on which character is chosen. Izzles is at level one (the easiest) and Bella is at level six (the trickiest), but don't despair--Max is always on hand and available to provide friendly advice.
Use the eraser, wave the colour wand, make patterns, change sounds and take part in many other activities including "Recycling Fun", "Dot-to-dot Magic", "Window Wonder", "Baking Surprise", "Jungle Maker" and "Get Messy", which introduces Judy, who will show you how to print out. While playing the games it is also possible to access video clips from the TV programmes.
Accompanying the CD-ROM is a wonderful colour pamphlet giving idiot-proof instructions for everything from installation to playing the games. Created with the kind of production values you would expect from the BBC, this well thought-out package will be loved by young Tweenie fans. --Susan Naylor
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
The New Way Things Work is a CD-ROM packed full of information about machines and the scientific principles behind them. Children can learn all about the latest technology and take a look back in history to find out how things work.Children will enjoy, for example, navigating their way around the warehouse or choosing from the A-z of machines to extend their understanding of how things work and discover the science behind some great inventions. They can look at information screens with excellent text, diagrams, animation and video clips. They can also find out about some of the great inventors who created these amazing machines. There is a useful progress tracker to show children which screens they have visited and which screens are left for them to look at.
Children can also use their new-found knowledge to face the challenge of the science test and try to win a master, an expert or a genius certificate. Children can look back at information screens or take a look at the research answers if they are struggling.
The New Way Things Work would be a good buy for inquisitive children of 8 years and over who love to know how things work. It's particularly useful for helping children who are struggling with homework or doing a project, as it covers a huge range of scientific principles. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
When you start The Lion King II: Simba's Pride you enter a very atmospheric animated jungle. Paddle Bash and Conga Longa are easy games to pick up but they are difficult to master.In Paddle Bash you grab a paddle and you get yourself ready to send balls flying as you try to knock down as many bricks as you can. As you would expect from Disney, there are plenty of fun, colourful special effects as bricks are successfully broken up. Smart keyboard skills are required as you try to angle your shots and send balls bouncing in every direction. And as you score points, you help Timon or Pumbaa move closer to a tasty bug treat. There are clear printed instructions with each game and your mouse is represented on the screen as a lion paw-print. If you want to break yourself slowly into the game, you can start at the kitten or cub level.
The second game, Conga Longa invites you to keep the jungle beat as you join a swinging conga-line of cartoon animals. The aim is to move your cub around and gather up other animals into a conga line. As you dance by an animal, it hops into your line. But if you break your line, you lose your dancing animals. With the jungle music pumping away in the background, this is a tough game to get to grips with. But if your cub dances over a red flower, you get bonus points and there are specific bonus animals you have to collect. It's an original game but it requires a lot of practice to get your conga swinging properly! --Justin Hunt
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Avanquest Software
Disney favourites Timon and Pumbaa invite you to join their jungle shooting gallery in the first game on The Lion King arcade title.To play Slingshooter, you load up with berries and then fire them with your mouse button at the targets, which can be anything from a laughing hyena popping out of a tree to a crocodile suddenly surfacing from a pool. You are also given a list of characters not to target. This is a fast-moving, fun game that is easy to play. Timon and Pumbaa introduce the rules and crack gags at each other's expense, urging you not to fire berries at them.
In the second action-packed arcade game, Bug Drop, it's slightly more complicated. You have to think fast. It's a game of strategy, speed and bug identification skills. As Timon and Pumbaa drop different colourful bugs, you have to quickly match them up with bugs of the same colour. These combinations make the bugs disappear and keep your log free for more bugs. The log that fills first is the loser. There are clear rules and you play against a background of lively jungle music.
As you would expect from Disney, the standard of animation is excellent and the characters are imaginative and very engaging. Children who love The Lion King will probably be quite at home playing games in the jungle with these two lovable cartoon characters. --Justin Hunt
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
The Adventures of Mr Greedy belongs to the same family of products as The Adventures of Little Miss Scatterbrain and The Adventures of Mr Tickle and like them, it's set in the Mr Men village. This time, three of the Mr Men have got a problem-–Miss Chatterbox has become shy, Mr Happy has lost his sense of humour and most disturbing of all, Mr Greedy isn't hungry any more. Children of 4-8 years will enjoy joining the other Mr Men as they try and solve these problems in this delightful point-and-click puzzle-based adventure game.It's in three parts. First, you have to help Miss Scatterbrain bake a cake to bring back Mr Greedy's appetite, then you go with Mr Bounce while he finds Coco the parrot who'll cure Miss Chatterbox and finally, track down Mr Tickle, the only one who can put a smile back on Mr Happy's face. To find Mr Tickle, kids need only to navigate round the village and keep their eyes open. Making the cake is a bit more challenging because some of the ingredients (eggs, cream, gherkin, cheese, banana, glue) won't necessarily make a particularly tempting cake--and because Mr Greedy is who he is, you'll need to make more than one cake. Catching Coco is pretty easy-–you just have to find him and then grab hold with the mouse.
Of the three titles in the series it's probably the least satisfying, but younger kids will enjoy it and as usual, the quality of the animation and characterisation is high. --Rob Beattie
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
There are high-pitched voices galore exclaiming "Yoho" "Ahoy" in various combinations on this delightful CD-ROM. Aboard the pirate ship Rubber Duck, the seven seafaring friends have seven games to play and young fans won't be disappointed as the activities are stimulating and the characters are all adorable. Choose from the seven different games on offer, each takes only a couple of seconds to load and are more about enjoyment than competitive scoring. The Help screens are very useful and include the option to make each of the games hard or easy so that the challenge can be kept fresh as children get better at the game. The simple games and puzzles include "Toot with Swab" where players can make harmonious noises and direct the characters to blow over the top of bottles to play scales or form a tune. Another favourite is "Mop with Poop" where the player can direct Poop to clean up the dirty water Cat has spilt before Bilge makes his deck inspection. "Chairs with Grog" is a virtual game of musical chairs and is great fun.Swab will play some music. When Grog clangs his pot, the music stops and you have to dash to a chair! To do so click repeatedly as fast as you can on the nearest chair.
The quality of the graphics here is very high, the animation looks absolutely charming and the faces of the characters when they lose at musical chairs are especially heartbreaking! (Ages 2-6) --Rachel Ediss
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Avanquest Software
Bear and Penguin's Big Maths Adventure is a fun and easy-to-use program designed to develop young children's addition and subtraction skills. This program would be excellent to use with 5-7 year olds.There are five different games to choose from, all of them clearly explained so that children can develop their independence when using the computer. The games, which can be played at three different levels, have been carefully developed to practice the skills that children are learning as part of the numeracy hour in school. It is advised that the games are played in the numbered order so that there is a progression of skills development. The maths adventure involves, for example, filling in the missing numbers on the maths machine and painting a picture by answering addition and subtraction sums. After playing all of the games children are allowed to play the Super game which helps to consolidate the skills that they have been learning with mental arithmetic against the clock. Some more able children may find the maths a little easy, but for most children this would be an excellent way of developing and consolidating addition and subtraction to 20.
There is an excellent guide for parents which discusses the skills the games focus on. A range of very good worksheets can be printed out and used with children to consolidate the maths that they have been doing.
If children fancy a break from maths, there is also an excellent printing section where children can make their own stationary and create door signs, birthday cards, letterheads and invitations. This is a brilliant way to encourage children to write for a range of different purposes.
Bear and Penguin's Big Maths Adventure is another excellent Dorling Kindersley program and would be an excellent buy for parents or teachers to use with children aged 5-7 years. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
Rainbow Fish and the Whale is a fine example of an enjoyable interactive storybook that combines fun and education. Based on the bestselling Dorling Kindersley children's books about Rainbow Fish, the package is aimed at children aged 3-7 years. There are two difficulty levels, offering challenges for different age groups: easy for 3-6 year-olds, and hard for 6-7 year olds.Rainbow Fish is playing in the ocean when Hermit the Crab alerts him to the fact that all their fishy friends have been swallowed by a Whale. Soon, though, they are swallowed and find themselves in the whale's stomach. How are they to escape? Children will love to take part in this interactive, animated adventure that will help them learn songs and sing along, play action games, match colours and solve puzzles, unravel secret codes, and depending on the moves they make, determine how the story will end. Best of all, those held captive inside the whale are eventually released.
While all the enjoyment is taking place, children are acquiring essential early learning skills: colour recognition and sorting, problem solving, listening skills, hand-to-eye coordination, logical thinking, basic mouse and PC skills, and many more. Rainbow Fish and the Whale is an excellently produced package that is faithful to the graphics and tone of the original stories. The program is easy to load and instructions are included on the CD-Rom. The package maintains the high quality you would expect from Dorling Kindersley, and is guaranteed to give hours of fun combined with learning, whether or not players are familiar with the Rainbow Fish books. --Susan Naylor