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Educational: 4.2
Overall Design: 4.7
Ease of Use: 4.5
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Program Description Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Arthur's Preschool is a 2 CD ROM program that provides 8 distinct learning activities as you visit with all of Arthur's friends. On the 2nd disc, you will find a music program, a card creator and a large assortment of print off play activities. There is lots here to see and do.
When you open the program, Arthur will ask you your name, birthday, favourite pet and colour to start you getting involved and learning how interact with the program. What you will notice is that, after the introduction, Arthur will be calling you by your own first name throughout the program and will even teach you how to spell your own first name - a pretty clever way of elevating a sense of personal interaction.
The program starts you off in Arthur's tree house (see top right - this is home base) You choose the activity by deciding which of Arthur's friends you want to visit first and off you go.
If you choose D.W., you join Arthur and D.W in her bedroom (see 2nd right) where you are asked to identify which size of coin goes into each of the three piggy banks. A simple sorting game. If you do well the first time, Arthur will encourage you to try a more difficult level and you will be presented with a slightly more complex variation of the same activity.
Francine is out playing baseball and as she hits the balls into the playing field, you are asked count the balls and select the right number on the score board. Similarly here if you are able to do this easily, Arthur will encourage you to try a more difficult level, which, in this activity, will have you adding the number of balls in different colour groupings.
What you will also notice with all the activities, is that if the child hesitates, Arthur will provide more information and encouragement until the child responds. If the child makes a wrong choice, Arthur will give the user a clue to help them find the right answer. In these responses through the character of Arthur, the child is actually being guided and taught how to do the activity and learn what is inherent in the activity's experience.
All activities have 3 levels of challenge. There are lots of recognition for doing well in the form of certificates accompanied by songs to make it fun and give the child a sense of accomplishment
The 2nd disk has lots of print off play activities, an easy to learn picture card maker and, for us, the most interesting was the "Music Machine". Here a child can create simple yet engaging music compositions using up to four different instruments. The very clever design of the music machine makes it easy for a young one to design and assemble their own music arrangements.
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Home base in Arthur's tree house
Sorting and matching coins with D.W.
Adding baseballs with Arthur and Francine
The "Music Machine"
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Given the very basic learning level of the program, Arthur's Preschool is ideal for a child who is just starting to learn and grasp the fundamentals of numbers, counting and the alphabet. Given the quality of instructional support and ease of use, this would be an excellent starter program for learning the basics of interacting with a software program.
The "Music Machine" on the second CD has enough flexibility that it can be engaging for children up to the age of 9 OR 10, where an older mind can discover all kinds of different musical combinations to experiment with.
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Every year the good new programs become a little more sophisticated as the developers learn from their past experience. In the case of Arthur's Preschool, what more sophisticated really means is that the program is easier for a young child to use and offers excellent guidance once they are involved in the activities. So for example, if a child was hesitating or made a wrong choice, the responses and prompts offered by Arthur were very effective in helping the user understand a little more, so they could progress and find the right answer.
What we also really liked is the way the program used the child's name seamlessly throughout as Arthur talks to the user. Our young testers were delighted and amazed when they first heard Arthur talking to them using their own name. This was magical and really escalated their engagement with the program. (The program has an inventory of around 500 first names to draw from)
The "Music Machine" is one of the better basic music composition programs we have seen. What it very cleverly does, is allow a child to choose small "chunks" of notes that have appeal and place them in a sequence of their own choosing. Regardless of the sequence of notes selected, the resulting "composition" will sound just fine. If you explore the controls a bit, an older child will discover that they can create compositions using a basic 1 -4 -5 progression, as well as have up to 4 instruments playing harmoniously at the same time.
Finally, we liked the card creator again for it's ease of use for young kids and the fact that there were lots of games for the child to play once they have exhausted their interest in the core activities. Overall, this is a good program and with the support from Arthur an excellent starter program for very young ones.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Platform: PC: Platform: Windows® 98 to XP Media: CD-ROM 75 MHz Pentium(R) processor or faster, RAM: 16 MB, Hard Drive: 40 MB 4X speed CD-ROM drive, Monitor: 256 color display, set to 640x840 resolution, Audio: Windows compatible sound card and speakers, Other: Mouse, color printer recommended
Platform: Macintosh: Processor: Power PC® processor or faster, Operating System: 7.5-9.1 & OS X classic mode RAM: 16 MB, Hard Drive: 40 MB 4X speed CD-ROM drive, Other: Mouse, color printer recommended
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or to see other early learning programmes
Elmo's Preschool Deluxe - ages 3-5
Winnie the Pooh Preschool - ages 3-6
Reader Rabbit Preschool - Sparkle Star Rescue - ages 3-6
Dr. Seuss Kindergarten - ages 4-6
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten: Bounce Down in Balloon Town! - ages 4-6
Jump Start Kindergarten - ages 4-6
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