5 stars (THIS IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!) - i love this game. you get soooo many gadgets like a robot dog lipstick to shoot. its so fabulouse the best barbie detective game. the main point is your barbie and you have to see who stole the fashions(long story)you get choose a style for each mission and the color because sometimes you have to blend with the bushes or the dark sky!!!! so many activities, gadgets, sneaking around, and talking to your so called friends because anybody can be suspect. GO!!!! get it now dont waist golden seconds when you could be solving a mystery.(did i mention buy it!!!) 4 stars (it was fun) - I had it when I was younger and I was hooked! But I didn't like that there is the same bad guy. It was VERY hard at first so you HAVE to let them teach you everything in that weird room(sorry, i forgot what it was called). I think that it would be for ages 3 1/2 - 8 . Hope i helped!!! :P lol ... Vivendi Universal :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Secret Agent Barbie (Jewel Case)
4 stars (High Strokes for Typing Instructor for Kids ) - High Strokes for Typing Instructor for Kids by Individual Software Target: The student was a 6 ?# year old girl; smart kid at the top of her first grade class. She was self-motivated to master typing, yet viewed typing practice as work rather than play. An unexpected alternate target turned out to be the parent. Expectations: The student understood that mastering typing would take a long time, and that three 10-minute lessons per day is better than one 30-minute session. Although the program is fun, the expectation that the student view it as a pure game was unrealistic. Yet, for the parent, it was a pure game; silly but entertaining. PC Platform; Hardware & Software: Dell Dimension with 2.4 GHz Intel Celeron processor; Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV integrated Graphics Controller with 1-23-05 6.14.10.4020 driver. XP home edition with all Microsoft security updates installed; DirectX Version 9.0c. Fun Factor: The student viewed Typing Instructor as fun educational software. She engaged in adventures on a treasure island, and competed in games by demonstrating typing proficiency. When the final stages of the game are reached, the castle offers a collection of books to type, as well as other games, e.g., a run away from the mummy type of game; both were enjoying. Narration was implemented with the aid of comical cartoon characters. This added to the enjoyment of the program, especially during the initial introduction before the student mastered any typing skills. The student was motivated to advance to higher levels in the game, and understood that it only occurred with advancement in typing skills. Multi-Person: The game supports multiple students. The parent started using the game out of curiosity, and became hooked. While the game challenges are geared for a child, the typing lessons are useful for adult too, and it helped to sharpen rusty parental skills. Also taught old timer a thing or two, e.g., the "... Individual Software :: Kids (Children) :: Touch Typing (Typist) :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Typing Instructor for Kids
2 stars (More like watching TV than playing a game) - My three-year old son and I enjoy playing some computer games together, and Reader Rabbit games have been a big hit. I saw this three-pack for such a good price, and we're Dora fans from rentals and books, so I decided to pick this up. Unfortunately, I was disappointed at how much this is a lot of talking and not too much playing. While the games offer "story" vs "just play" mode, the story mode was more than half animations and talking, with just a little interactivity. Worse, the interactive parts will eventually just skip on and keep playing, even if the child doesn't try to do anything, so they just play like a movie, too. If you've got a kid who's computer literate and you're looking for a different way to plop them down somewhere for a half an hour while you make dinner (and I'm not above that), then these games are slightly more interactive than the TV show. However, if you're looking for something educational or that's interesting to play while your kid's on your lap, this isn't the thing to get. Me? I'll stick with the Dora videos and probably just buy the next Reader Rabbit game instead. 5 stars (great) - this is a really good program for kids-it teaches them to count. my niece loves it 1 stars (Warning for Mac users...) - We didn't even get this one out of the box. We ordered it primarily for Animal Adventures, which is also available separately. But this three-games-in-one package seemed like a better deal. Unfortunately, Animal Adventures is NOT Mac compatible. At all. Also, this says it's for Mac OS X Classic, which isn't readily available with Tiger. It's in there somewhere, apparently, but it doesn't boot automatically like it used to. ... Atari :: Action :: Computer Games :: Kids (Children :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Dora the Explorer Adventure 3 PACK
5 stars (An easy version of Photoshop for kids!) - This program is great. Bought for my 6 year old son who displays a lot of creativity but is already knowledgeable of the computer, so thought this would be a good program to utilize his skills. I found that click and create was similar to Photoshop which is amazing because he'll already be learning skills for when he's older. The navigation is easy and Mia, the character, is adorable. My son's favourite part is making the gift cards where he finds excuses to make cards all the time now for the littlest of occasions! Great product. ... Kutoka :: Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple :: Social Science (Studies) :: Culture (Cultural) :: Art (Arts) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Kids (Children :: Kids (Ch :: Click -amp- Create With Mia
2 stars (Maybe if you have hours to waste...) - This game takes around an hour and a half to complete. It is VERY slow, boring, and any child under 7 will be bored to pieces after the first scenario of trying to get out of Charlie Brown's house. The narration is too long, you can't speed it up, and once you think you've solved the game and it's over, it continues on and on again. The only way I can recommend this is for young kids 3-5, who just want to see the Peanuts characters interact on screen and the opportunity to click on things and see what they do. Once you have finished the game once, it remembers this and you can now play any one of the game/puzzle sections of it again, but if you take it out of your hard drive completely, you will be back to square one. Other than that, it is very frustrating to play the entire thing. 1 stars (Slow, Frustrating, and Negative for young kids) - I bought this game when my son was 4, because he had mastered most of the preschool games but wasn't ready for games that required reading, math, or quick fingers. I thought it would be a good problem-solving mystery game featuring some of his favorite Peanuts characters. After several attempts to help him get Charlie Brown out of the house, I finally got frustrated myself and put the game away so he wouldn't keep pestering me to figure it out (I was stumped, and didn't realize there was a "help" file). He finally dug it out months later and figured it out himself, but I forbid him from playing as Lucy because of the negative language she used towards the other characters. We finally pitched the game and moved on to Putt-Putt, Freddy Fish, and Pajama Sam. Much more positive role models, challenging but not frustrating problem solving games, fun music, and a more kid-friendly pace. Don't waste your money. This game is an insult to Charles Schulz. 4 stars (A good time!) - My son is almost a year old and I bought this software on a whim, to see if I can figure out a kid's game i... Viva Media :: Action :: Computer Games :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Where-s the Blanket- Charlie Brown-
1 stars (not gnna say anything!!) - ew! you should know what that means!!!! yes this game sucks to the great beyond. dont buy it 1 stars (DETECTIVE BARBIE) - Game plays fine for about 5 - 10 minutes then freezes. Have to reboot computer. Will send game back. 1 stars (Not compatible with Windows XP) - This game is tedious at best. The movement arrows are slow and frustrating. Instead of allowing the child to put in his or her own name, there is a menu to choose from: neither of my granddaughters' names were on the list. And most important -- this game is NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS XP. It isn't readily apparent until you try to go into the garden or through secret passageways and knock out your computer. ... Vivendi Universal :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Detective Barbie 2 (Jewel Case)
4 stars (Great fun at first, but doesn't have much depth) - My 2 year old is a huge Pooh fan, and of course took to the good graphics and sound in this game right away. Some of the activities were rather non-sensical, but many were quite entertaining. Some of the counting and language excercises were very creative. The problem is that after we completed all of the activities and visited the bithday party (which took about 4 sessions), there was nothing else in the game to hold his interest. 5 stars (my son loves this cd-rom) - we've had this cd-rom for over a year now and my son still plays with it often. he's easily bored, so that says a lot. this cd-rom offers many activities and one can change the levels for a more challenging interaction. it also contains cute songs and is visually beatiful. this is a great product! 4 stars (Pooh fan) - I bought this game for my just turned 2 year old because she is a big Pooh fan. Some of the activities are a little hard for her but there are enough levels to keep her occupied. It seems like a great value because she will be able to use it for a few years and the price is so low. ... Disney Interactive :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: Action :: Computer Games :: :: Pooh Preschool w-French and Spanish (Jewel Case)
4 stars (Very good if you are a somewhat advanced) - As most of the reviewers have mentioned, this course is not for the beginner, even though Rosetta Stone advertises it differently. It can be very useful to you under the following conditions: 1) You already have an understanding of Chinese grammar, so that the sometimes very complex sentences even in early lessons won't overwhelm you. In turn you will profit immensely from the amount of vocabulary you can learn in a short time. 2) You don't expect to get conversational proficiency. Rosetta Stone teaches you to describe pictures, something which is done in many real-life language courses I have visited. One could say it is just a concentrated form of this particular exercise. That said, it will enhance your ability to describe and to link words to objects and anchor that link in your brain. For me that method works much better than vocab lists, even in a flash card form. Especially, I don't know a better way to learn modifiers, an essential part of Chinese grammar. 3) You always have a dictionary at hand to look up words because the programm does not give you any translations. 4) You don't expect it to teach you how to write Chinese characters. This is always something you have to do on your own, a computer cannot really help you. By changing between Pinyin and character script (traditional and simplified) in Rosetta you can learn how to recognize characters, but I think of it more of a vocabulary builder. Also, if much text is displayed, characters tend to get too small in order to be recognized. 5)You see it as one more tool in your collection of Chinese learning materials. In my opinion for Westerners Chinese can only be learned this way, you can't rely on a single book to provide everything. It gets 4 stars because of the price which I find outrageous. Given the fact that the Chinese version is merely an adaptation of the general Rosetta Stone system, it should go for no more than $150 both levels. So tr... Fairfield Language Technologies :: Kids (Children) :: Learn learning :: Asian :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh :: Rosetta Stone Chinese Level 1 -amp- 2 Personal Edition
4 stars (A useful and fun programme) - After studying Russian, by myself, for about six months, I found that although my knowledge of the grammar and the vocabulary had progressed, my speaking and listening skills remained poor. I decided to buy Rosetta Stone Russian in order to learn how Russian words and sentences sounded. The programme was easy to install and easy to use. Best of all, I really enjoyed using it. The programme begins by showing four pictures and a word. The task is to pick the picture corresponding to the word. It is possible to choose whether the word is spoken or written, or both spoken and written. Gradually as you progress you meet simple phrases and eventually sentences and whole paragraphs. This method works really well as you are continually tested, while the whole learning experience feels more like a game than studying. While the listening and reading elements of the programme work well, I found it was less successful with regard to speaking and writing. The speaking part of the programme involves attempting to imitate a native speaker. The programme compares the sound you make with what the sound should be. I generally found it almost impossible to imitate the Russian speaker in such a way that the programme considered I had done so successfully. I therefore found this aspect of the programme more frustrating than useful. The writing part of the programme unfortunately requires using a very fiddly onscreen keyboard, which makes the whole process very slow and tedious. The key thing anyway with writing Russian is learning how to form the letters by hand and no computer programme can teach you to do this. I would suggest that someone beginning to use this programme should at least already know the Russian alphabet and ideally some of the grammar. Moreover to complete some of the exercises a dictionary is essential. There is no doubt that working through all the exercises is very useful. I found the programme especially good at helping ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: Kids (Children) :: Cyrillic :: Learn learning :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macinto :: Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1 -amp- 2 Personal Edition
3 stars (Dora's PC Games - Animal and Backpack Adventures) - I bought Dora's animal adv (using Win2000) for my 2.5 yr old and he loves it. At first it was kinda hard for him. But he mastered it. Now at 3 yrs, he loves to play with it with no help. There are good memory game, fun facts, numbers. Lotsa activites. I rate this one a 5 star for fun, educational and overall. Worth getting. BUT then I bought Dora's Backpack adv (using Win98) and there were so many problems with it. The trio came on very slowly. The game exited itself or froze up while playing. I'm not sure if it's b/c of Win98. The game itself is okay if there are so many bugs in the game. I rated this one a 3 stars for fun but 1 star for too many bugs. 2 stars (Dora Animal Adventures is pretty poor) - I am StoryMaker. My sis Chocolate Dog got Dora Animal Adventures for her 7th birthday on July 14 from her grandparents (part the reason I through on that extra star for the overall rating!). It is not very fun. We are not preschoolers but I bet preschoolers would think the same! The installation takes a long time when it loads the files even if you choose Minimum and the shortcut it makes says "Play Animal Adventures" instead of "Dora Animal Adventures" (we rename it though) and it is annoying because there is a JumpStart Animal Adventures too! I do not like the Sign-In screen. You must press the arrow buttons to start a new game (scroll to blank field journal) or countine a game (scroll to used field journal) and of the paints to color your FJ there is no red and red is my favorite color so I must use pink and you can only put one animal sticker on your FJ (I need to choose!). Most of the places lead you to a boring game where you find the animals (whitch is too easy even on level 3) and your cursor turns into a camera and you click it. Actullay, wherever you click it always takes a pic of the animal. All the animals do tricks when you find them, but the Anaconda Snake turns into a balloon anima... Atari :: Action :: Computer Games :: Kids (Children) :: Computer software (programs) :: :: Dora the Explorer- Animal Adventures
5 stars (Fantastic Program) - I have been meaning to learn French for quite some time and have picked up some books and audio tapes but got quickly frustrated and discouraged. However, after ordering this software I am starting to think that I may actually be able to learn French. As a little background I have never been good at languages and I was not very good at my foreign languages in school (could barely speak a word). I am an absolute beginner at French an was very nervous that my past performance in learning languages would prevent me from learning French. I was also a little nervous when I read some of the other reviews that said this might not be the best program for beginners, but I ordered it in the hopes that I could at least try something new. I am extremely happy with my purchase. The proram walks you through French in a very intuitive manner, and though there aren't any explanations it starts you out so slowly that you are easily able to figure out the meanings of what you are seeing on the screen. There is something to be said for learning a language by recognition and repetition rather than learning the grammer rules first. I do use my grammer book occasionally (I bought it before this) but only to satisfy my curiosity about certain thins like feminine and masculine articles, and singular and plural nouns... Honestly this is a fantastic program that teaches you how to speak and hear French with amazing success. You do learn the grammer rules, but you figure them out for yourself by comparing phrases and by building on earlier lessons. It really is similar to the way a child learns to talk (without ever having to know what a past participle is). Bottom line - fantastic proram and I would have no problems suggeting it to anyone. Even if they know nothing about French and have struggled with other languages. 3 stars (Rosetta Stone; Not best for everyone) - I'm aware that Rosetta Stone is highly regarded in pedagogic circles. However, I hav... Fairfield Language Technologies :: Kids (Children) :: Learn learning :: French :: Foreign Languages (Language) :: Reference :: Education (Educational) :: Computer software (programs) :: Mac Macintosh :: Rosetta Stone French Personal Edition Level 1
