marytara's Full Review: The Learning Company Reader Rabbit Toddler Full Ve...
I could hardly believe it when I found Reader Rabbit's Toddler on an online offer for FREE. Honestly, I thought this program might be a piece of junk since they were giving it away. But for just the cost of shipping and handling it was worth the risk of trying it out. I'd seen this program in the stores for around $25 dollars. As it turned out this is because the program is the original version and a new version for 2002 has just been released with some new and different activities.
Technical Requirements
PCs: Win 3.1 or higher, 486/66 or better, 8 Mb RAM, 2X CD ROM, mouse
Mac users need Power Mac, 8 Mb RAM, System 7.5.1 or higher, 2X CD drive, mouse.
Installation
The program installed quickly on my Windows 2000 machine, but it threw a few errors initially. I had to click "ignore". This is because its a slightly older program, and like many has a few hiccups when dealing with Win2000. The newer Reader Rabbit titles are likely to be more compatible, and I hope to find that out soon. Also, because of these same reasons, I need to set my windows control panel display to 256 colors and also 640X480 for best viewing.
Program Overview
Reader Rabbit's Toddler from The Learning Company is recommended for ages 18 months to 3 years and is the introductory software offering from a line of educational software for children of all ages. This product is lapware, and best enjoyed by children playing together with parents interaction at the computer together.
In the program, Mat the Mouse visits Reader Rabbit at his treehouse. Both characters are friendly and not annoying in the least. In fact, they are quite endearing. Reader Rabbit is sort of like Bugs Bunny and Mat the Mouse, somewhat reminiscent of Jerry from Tom & Jerry, except Mat is a girl. Together they travel into a storybook for an adventure. In the storybook, the graphics are all bright and colorful and Your child can choose from any of the 8 storybook destinations and activities. The program requires the use of the mouse but very little clicking is involved so even the youngest of toddlers can give it a try.
The activities
Follow-Me-Theater was the first place we went in Reader Rabbit Toddler. In this activity, Reader Rabbit demonstrates several fingerplays and encourages little ones to play along. My son absolutely loves finger-plays and joined in quickly with Reader Rabbit (and Mom) for some fun. Children can choose from one of eight different songs by rolling the mouse to an icon which gives a light up reward and the son begins. The songs are: Eensy Weensy Spider, Hickory Dickory Dock, Little Bo Peep, Twinkle Twinkle, I'm a Little Teapot, 2 Little Bluebirds, Where is Thumbkin?, and Clap Your Hands.
For little artists, a trip to Rainbow Rock to use a magic crayon which allows kids to color by rubbing the mouse over pictures on the screen as colors magically appear. When the page is complete it will come to life with music and animation. Examples of pages range from numbers 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, or a picture of a tree, car, fish, etc.
The Bubble Castle happens to be a favorite of both my son and I and has definite kid-appeal and replayability. In this module, a dragon is blowing bubbles and some of the bubbles have animals inside of them. As your child runs the mouse (which is a magic wand cursor) over the bubbles, they pop. The sound is almost as great as popping bubble wrap and is addicting which encourages your child to want to pop more bubbles. Once you set the animals free from the bubbles they climb into the bubble castle and when all 5 windows are full the sequence ends and the numbers 1 through 5 are counted out. The Bubble dragon blows again and more bubbles come on screen and you repeat it with a new animal, like little pink bunnies or happy little tigers.
Sky Shapers is a cross between a shape sorter and a puzzle. My son LOVES shape sorters and has several of them, so this module translates well onto the screen for him and was easy for him to pick up. Each exercise will have different shape outlines in the sky and then at the bottom of the screen are the shapes. Its your child's job to drag the matching shape up into the right spot. When they move the shape it names the color and shape aloud. Once the shapes are all inserted they make up a picture, like a choo-choo or a butterfly or fish (etc) and they come to life.
The Peek-a-boo Zoo takes place at night. The screen is pitch black except for little pairs of eyeballs. The mouse is a flashlight and as different animal sounds play. When spotting the right animal connected to the sound, the animals reveals itself and its tells you its name.
Pop and Play Animals is a jack-in-the-box game where mousing over 3 different jack-in-the-boxes activates different animal surprises. If your child gets 3 of the same animals in a row, a little 1-2-3 counting song plays and then depending on which animals were in a row a little phrases plays. For example, "We are 3 racoons and we love to sing tunes".
Since my son loves music, he enjoys the Musical Meadow very much. In this module the mouse is actually a little bumblebee and moving the in between 3 different types of flowers will turn on and off different musical instruments. To change the tune that they are playing, you fly the bee back to the hive. Changing the tune switches to the same activity with animals instead of flowers.
The Alphabet Express is one of the tricker activities included in this program. In this activity a little choo-choo train with three box cars chugs its way onto the screen. Each car is labeled with a letter and a keyhole. Your child's mission is to match labeled keys to the appropriate car. When the key is matched the car will open to reveal some sort of object that begins with that letter. For example, B- Ball, K-Kite, I-ice.
Baby Basket Bingo is one of the more precious modules. In this game there are 4 different animals and a picnic basket. In the picnic basket there's a baby animal that is crying. Your child's job is to reunite the baby in the basket with its Mommy or Daddy animal based on the sound it is making. The choices are simple, like a cat, cow, lion, horse, etc.
Overall Thoughts
Despite the fact that this is an older version of software, I am thoroughly impressed with it. In fact, I might go out and pay the full price for the newer 2002 version since it also includes some updated activities. At 19 months my son really enjoys this program and he will not be getting bored soon with any of these activities. There's so much for a kid to do, and learn things like colors, counting, letters, shapes, matching, music and more - along the way.
Previously we'd been playing a "baby" program which only included keyboard tapping and he was very interested in the mouse. Now, he is very far from being a mousing expert. In fact, he's pretty wild with the mouse. But, this program is great for teaching mousing techniques in fun and educational ways. I highly recommend Reader Rabbit. If you're not sure that your child will enjoy it you can pick up this older version for less money but expect to have to fiddle around with your settings if you are using Windows ME or 2000.
List of Reader Rabbit Programs
Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby & Toddler
Reader Rabbit Toddler
Reader Rabbit Preschool Sparkle Star Rescue
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten Bounce Down in Balloon Town
Reader Rabbit 1st Grade Capers On Cloud Nine
Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade Mis-cheese-ious Dreamship Adventures
Reader Rabbit 3rd Grade
Reader Rabbit Math Adventure Ages 4-6
Reader Rabbit Math Adventure Age 6-9
Reader Rabbit Learn to Read With Phonics
Reader Rabbit I can With Phonics
Reader Rabbit Thinking Adventures
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