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Software and Games : GSP : Children's Fun & Learning : Children's Reference
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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
Armchair adventurers relax. With the Become a World Explorer CD-ROM children can obey the call of the wild and see the world without leaving the comfort of their home. Once loaded, it's possible to whizz around the world in almost 80 ways with this fun and feature-packed CD-ROM learning adventure. As soon as you've filled in the virtual passport, you're off. The first stop on any interactive globe-trotting adventure is Sam's bedroom--it's perfect for click-happy kids with animations that come to life when you hit the objects scattered around.For beginner backpackers, a talking train gives a guided tour of how to find your way around the world, and what a choice there is. You'll find video clips, an interactive index, a country finder with each nation's flag and a wide range of fun games that test skills such as general knowledge and compass directions. A ringing phone launches more adventurous travellers straight into the globetrotting game that displays the strongest aspects of the software. Clues based on geographical sights and sounds lead players on an interactive journey around the world. Along the way, the players' knowledge of capitals, continents and customs are tested in a totally involving way with three difficulty levels encouraging repeat visits.
The beautifully detailed animated maps with pop-up info boxes and sticker book links are an impressive feature, as are the virtual postcards. And although the amount of features may mean younger players require some initial help, this superb software combines learning with plenty of fun and will ensure numerous repeat visits. --Martin Oliver
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Avanquest Software
Dorling Kindersley has produced yet another outstanding and completely new interactive learning system-- My First CD-ROM: Getting Ready For School--to help children develop key pre-school skills while providing parents with advice and information on child development. It has been written in consultation with Sue Robson, a renowned early years' teacher, educational consultant and author, who is a senior lecturer at the Roehampton Institute.Meet Zack, a Jack-in-the-box and friendly on-screen guide whose aim is to make learning fun. Hear his clear explanations and animated instructions on how to play the six easy games. Each one can be adapted to suit your child's level of understanding and their fine motor skills. For example, choices can be made between using the mouse or the keyboard, or selecting different speeds or levels of difficulty, choosing between hearing letters as phonetic sounds or as names, and so on. This flexibility enables games to be adapted over and over again as your child's skills develop, so building and developing a child's confidence.
The package is designed for 3-5 year-olds, under parental supervision, or for slightly older children to use on their own. Progress can be monitored and difficulty levels can be adjusted according to age and ability. The games aim to acquaint and help children with the key topics covered in the first year at school, and include number recognition, logic, counting, mathematical language, shapes and sizes, spatial awareness, speaking and listening, letter recognition and letter sounds. Work sheets can be printed out which can extend learning beyond the PC. Buy this package for your youngster, and lay firm foundations with its highly effective approach to parent-assisted learning. --Susan Naylor
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Avanquest Software
Learning Ladder Preschool is an excellent CD-ROM packed with a wide range of activities for 3-5 year olds. Woody the Pencil guides children through the different activities, which are very well explained.Children will enjoy becoming familiar with the mouse and navigating around the room making toys move and change. They will also enjoy doing the different activities such as painting the colouring book, having a go at recording their voice, listening to a story, doing puzzles and much more.
By clicking on the different bears children can carry out activities related to words, numbers, time, directions/space, shapes and nature/objects. Each of these areas contains 18 different games for children to play, so there is plenty to keep them occupied. There's also a good range of activities, many of which support the Early Years Curriculum at school. For example, there are activities that work on identifying sounds in words and on ordering, counting, matching, etc.
Children are rewarded with stickers when they complete an activity correctly and they will love collecting these in the sticker book. This would be an excellent buy for parents who want to introduce their child to using the computer in a fun and educational way. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
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Avanquest Software
Become a History Explorer is an excellent CD-ROM in this series, which will turn any child into a budding historian. It's aimed at children aged 6-10 years old and encourages them to find out about eight exciting periods in history, through games, quizzes and information screens.Children will love the challenge of collecting the pieces of the time trail, so that they can rescue the history professor who has been trapped in time by the time fugitive. Children must travel in the time machine and explore each historical world in order to find all the pieces and become a history explorer. There is an excellent journal in which children can record their travels. This would help to consolidate what they have learnt about each period in history. Having answered questions along the way children are rewarded with stickers, which are kept in their journal. There are also activities to do, for example, design a coat of arms, which can be saved in the journals, along with photos and other souvenirs. There is also an excellent index menu that allows children to view information screens on a very wide range of topics. This would be particularly good to use if children were having trouble answering any of the quiz questions.
Become a History Explorer would be an excellent buy for children aged 7-11 years old who would love to complete the mission and rescue the history professor, while exploring an extremely good range of historical information. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
Become a British Isles Explorer is a fun CD-ROM aimed at children aged 6-10 years old. It encourages them to play games, look at maps and find out a whole range of interesting facts about the British Isles through very informative information screens.Children will love the challenge of following Jo on his five journeys around the British Isles and collecting five medals to become a British Isles Explorer. Children can explore the map of the British Isles. They can look at regions, and towns to find out about famous places, people and much more. The trips can be recorded in the child's own travel log, together with stickers and photos that are collected along the way. A great way to reinforce the information they have found out. There are a range of fun activities for children to do, for example, recording the weather, sending postcards and printing out map outlines which can be filled in. There is also an excellent Index Menu that children can use to find out about a wide range of topics and look at word definitions. They could use this menu to answer any questions that they might be having trouble with.
Become a British Isles Explorer would be a good buy for children aged 7-11 years old and it would really extend their understanding of the British Isles. This would be excellent to use if a child was doing a topic or project on the British Isles. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
Sure to satisfy the curiosity of any would-be fossil hunter, 3D Dinosaur Hunter is excellent for learning, exploring and walking with those fascinating creatures of history. Using a dinosaur museum as a metaphor, the explorer (you!) works through the fascinating process of digging up a fossilised skeleton, preparing the bones for transport, learning about the species and uncovering how the creature died. But this museum goes far deeper than that--there are 50 different species to learn about, each with their own story and habits.The second of the set's two CD-ROMs includes six dinosaur habitats built in a 3-D environment. Controlling the mouse moves you through the environment like a ghost, watching the dinosaurs in a given habitat as they move about. Everything here is both well rendered and animated, and while this part is fun, it's almost too good--it will leave you hungry for more when you reach a wall (i.e. the limit of the environment). An especially nice touch: embedded throughout the program are video clips of scientists at work, actually uncovering and preparing dinosaur bones in the desert. It's a terrific glimpse into the process, a look at all the hard work that comes long before the final stage of exhibition in a museum.
Designed only for Windows, 3D Dinosaur Hunter takes full advantage of any contemporary computer with a decent monitor, video card and good speakers (especially if you have a three-piece speaker set that includes a subwoofer). The soundtrack is filled with ambient noise and at times we could not only hear the prehistoric noises, but feel the tremors of approaching carnivores. --Mike Caputo
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Avanquest Software
Learning Ladder Year 6 is another excellent CD-ROM from Dorling Kindersley. It's aimed at children aged 10-11 and structured so that children listen to a lesson and then carry out exercises that help to consolidate the literacy and numeracy they are learning as part of the school curriculum. This CD-ROM would be invaluable for any child in Year 6 who is preparing for their SATs.Exercises can be done at five different levels of difficulty, so that children are challenged and continue to make progress. For every 400 points that a child scores, they are rewarded with new pictures to use with the printing machine. As they gather more pictures they can enjoy designing their own cards, invitations and labels, which can be printed out.
Children can also have lots of fun navigating around Science City and learning lots of facts along the way. For example, they can find out about animals, food chains and gravity. The progress tracker clearly shows how each child is getting on with a system of green and red lights. This would quickly show parents where more help is needed. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
Learning Ladder Year 3 is another excellent product from Dorling Kindersley. This CD-ROM is packed with a good range of activities tailored to support the Year 3 school curriculum. Children can navigate their way around the playroom, looking for fun activities. These include the printing machine, which they can use to create their own labels, invitations and cards.Children can then improve their literacy, numeracy and science skills by undertaking a wide range of activities that help to consolidate Year 3 work. Children can, for example, choose correct word endings, solve addition and subtraction problems, label skeletons and identify correct habitats for animals. These are just a few of the carefully thought out and clearly explained activities here.
Children should be able to use this program independently. They are rewarded with stickers for each activity they complete correctly and will enjoy collecting these and putting them in their own sticker album.
Learning Ladder Year 3 would be an excellent buy for any Year 3 child. It consolidates the learning that is taking place at school and develops children's competence on the computer. --Amanda York
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Avanquest Software
Become a Human Body Explorer is an interesting CD-ROM full of information about the human body. It's aimed at children aged 6-10 years old, but would be best suited to older end of this age range.Seemore Skinless, the helpful skeleton, guides the children through a wide range of games, quizzes and experiments. Children can play four fun interactive games, which involve, for example, collecting body parts by answering questions and learning about the body and choosing how Seemore should spend his day. There is an excellent search feature so that children can access information screens on a very wide range of topics. (Parents of younger children may want to supervise children's use of this, as there is information about reproduction and how our bodies change.) Children also have the opportunity to create their own Secret File, which contains information about themselves and can become a scrapbook of facts.
So once children have visited the information screens, played the games, answered brainteaser questions and found out amazing facts, they will have discovered all they need to know about the human body.
Become a Human Body Explorer would be a good buy for parents or teachers of children aged 8-11 years old. It encourages children to explore and find out about the human body in a fun and interesting way. --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
Bear and Penguin's Big Reading Adventure is another excellent program developed by Dorling Kindersley. It is aimed at children aged 5-7 years old and helps to develop a wide range of literacy skills through four fun games.There are very clear instructions and each game is initially demonstrated, so children will quickly be able to develop confidence and independence. 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 literacy hour in school; for example, spelling words by choosing the missing sounds and putting words in the correct order to create a sentence. There are also two storybooks that children can choose to read together or alone. If children want a break from the games there is also an excellent printing section where children can make their own stationary and create lists, cards, writing paper and signs. This is a brilliant way to encourage children to write for a range of different purposes.
As children play the games they collect snowflakes and they are then rewarded with a sticker for their sticker album. When all the stickers have been collected they can print out a certificate and listen to the reward song.
There is an excellent guide for parents that discusses the skills the games are developing. The child profile shows parents how many times children have played each game and at what level and also suggests follow-on worksheets that can be printed out and used with children.
Bear and Penguin's Big Reading Adventure would be an excellent buy for parents or teachers to use with children aged 5-7 years. --Amanda York