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Educational: 4.0
Overall Design: 4.5
Ease of Use: 4.3
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very
good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Ariel's Story Studio is an interactive storybook and "learn to read" designed program using the original story of the Little Mermaid. In addition to the storybook, the program provides a rich range of creative activities that helps develop reading and language skills and knowledge of your child.
"Read and Play" presents the well known story of Ariel in a 12 page interactive storybook. The story is presented through a series of colourful animated screens which include a written and spoken narrative. (See right) You can track what is being said by following the written words that are highlighted as they are read. You also can find out the synonyms or definitions of specific words in the text, just by clicking on them.
All of the images in any screen will come to life when you click on them, telling you more of the story or singing one of the songs from Ariel. As you journey through the story, you will come across 3 separate sections within the story, called "Make your Own Storybook", Make your Own Grotto" and "Make your Own Music".
"Make Your Own StoryBook" allows you to create your own story using a mini library of visual images and props from the Ariel story, and you can write your own story line to go with the pictures. These stories can be saved and printed off in colour.
"Make your Own Grotto" allows you to build your own underwater aquarium, by asking you to choose the fish and underwater plant life you would like to have in your aquarium. Once you have placed the fish and plants in your grotto, the coral, kelp and sea fans will actually grow in front of your eyes and the fish will take on a life of their own. This is very impressive to see. As you build your grotto, you will learn the names and some introductory information on all the types of fish and plant life that you have selected.
"Make your Own Music" (see bottom right) allows you to select the instruments for an underwater orchestra and then hear how they sound together in 4 different songs of your choosing. You can also make your own music by clicking on the individual choral singers in the orchestra.
The program also has a variety of games and you can easily move from the story to the activity areas and back allowing lots of opportunities to explore and play.
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" Sebastien the Lobster is my favourite storyteller " - Jennifer, age 7
"I liked listening to the music from the movie and making my own fish place." -Arianna age 6.
" I made my own story and gave it to my Mom. She liked it and put it on the wall in my bedroom. - Emily, age 5
At the risk of stating the obvious, this program is ideal for any young girl even if she has never been exposed to the original story. The story itself is one of Disney's all time great romantic stories for young girls. The software program provides a unique blend of story reading with interactive activities that encourage and develop reading skills, a love for listening to stories and opportunity for creative play that will engage most young girls.
The published age level for the program is 6-10. We would suggest you can go as young as age 4 with this program and still get a lot of usage out of the program.
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It is nice to come across a program that is based on a very well known and loved story, such as Ariel, and discover that the software program is not just basically the movie or the book in software form.
The software developers not only brought all the rich visual, musical and narrative qualities of the original film into this program, but really made an effort to bring a whole lot more to the learning and activity value of the experience, that could only be done through the capabilities of the software medium.
The reading detail in the story itself really helps your child to learn to sight read by tracking the narrative as you hear it, just as you would track your own finger underneath the words as you are showing a young child how to read. Word definitions are very cleverly and very imaginatively taught, using poems to describe the meaning of selected words in the narrative text.
With 3 major "Make Your Own" activity areas, 7 game activities, in addition to the Ariel story itself, this program has a rich variety of activities that gives the program lots of depth - reason to come back and explore some more. If are considering picking just one program for a young girl, this would be an excellent choice. - Robert Shields
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Platform: Macintosh®, OS 9.1 & OS X (Classic mode), RAM : 16MB, Hard Drive: 30MB, Video : Super VGA (640x480x256color), CD-ROM: 2X or better,
Platform: Windows® 95/98 ME & XP , CPU : 486/66Mhz or better, RAM : 16MB, Hard Drive: 30MB, Video : Super VGA (640x480x256color), CD-ROM: 2X or better, Sound : Windows compliant sound device
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or see other reading programs
Disney Ready to Read With Pooh - ages 3-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Reading - ages 4-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Phonics - ages 4-6
Let's Go Read 1: An Island Adventure - ages 4-6
Ariel's Story Studio - ages 5-9
Carmen Sandiego Word Detective - ages 8-14
Robinson Crusoe - ages 8 -16
Language Trek Grades 5 & 6 - ages 10 -12
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