mongomad1's Full Review: The Learning Company Reader Rabbit Playtime for Ba...
I came to pick my then 1 and 1/2 year old son from my mother's house and found them playing this game. My son was not old enough to have the dexterity to move the mouse nor the verbal skills to tell her what to do, but he sure could shout unintelligible phrases and point! Mi madre had gotten the game from one of my life-long friends that constantly unloads his unwanted crap off on us since their children are older, but this one was a keeper.
I promptly went to e-bay and purchased a copy of my own for the boy and paid $10 with shipping. It was a VERY wise investment in that it lasts a couple years versus expensive Nike shoes! This is achieved by it being two levels in one game, er go Baby and Toddler. He is now three and prefers the pre-school edition we recently purchased, but still will request his first games of choice found on this CD on occasion.
It is MAC and PC compatible
Suitable for children 1-3 years of age
Keeps his attention span over many other PC games purchased as they seemed to have actually TESTED this on children to ensure it was enjoyable for them, unlike those made by Blue's Clues
Not nearly as boring as watching Blue's Clues DVD's with him, or Diego, or Dora the Explorer and thank the Lord Barney seems to have retired!!!! I still act excited watching his favorite programs, but something about that Rooney from the Doodlebops gives me a creepy PeeWee Herman vibe
Anyway the game. The beginner level is aptly named "Baby" which includes:
First the scene of Reader Rabbit chasing a female mouse named Matt and she hides in a toy chest. This is all animated and if you skip it by pressing a mouse (pc device not character) button, expect a yelp for a do over. Once in the toy box there are 10 games to choose.
Good luck with the strong willed child that knows what (s)he wants but is unable to express it. It is easy enough to exit a game and it takes you back to the ten choices which are-
1) A Cow icon- this is a trip to the farm and different animals hide in different spots. You, or your child if that manual dexterity of mouse control has developed, simply hover over the various spots like a hay bale, a pond, a barn door and a loft. The animal, partially hidden, comes out to make his natural sound. It actually changes animals so that it is relatively different for a few times.
2) Faces icon- by far my son's least favorite as you click on the rat, er I mean mouse's different faces around her body and it tells you what that face is expressing. Happy, sad, cold, wanting a divorce, needing the credit card to go shopping. OK, I made the last two up.
3) Peekaboo- bubbles go over a blank picture frame and as they are popped by moving the mouse over them, it reveals a picture of an animal with the letter it starts with. Then it says the letter like "S" for "Silly Snowman".
4) Kaleidoscope- by far my least favorite. You pick a pattern like fish, shapes (triangles, squares, etc.), leaves and others and it makes a Kaleidoscope image of them. If that's not great enough, you can change the direction it goes, inward or outward. I don't get it, but my son could tolerate it for a few cycles. It is a true test of parenting not to say, "Come on, this sucks! Freaking say you are ready for another game already!" But you don't as you know it will be repeated in daycare verbatim.
The others include Drawers - made up of musical instruments, a book, which has four stories, shapes that you put in the right place and they slide down, theater where you get to play nursery rhymes, house that you click on the doors windows and mailbox to see who is behind them (peeping Tom training I guess) and a chair icon that you click parts of the mouse's body and it tells your kid to touch his ears or whatever. No, they do not go there!
That is only the Baby part, the Toddler selection has another 9 games and REALLY does teach more than just looking at stuff, although Baby encourages interaction as well. In "Toddler" you have:
1) Clouds- here you match up shapes.
2) Castle- where animals are trapped in bubbles a dragon blows and you pop them and the animal goes into the castle. There are several animals like monkeys, tigers and dinosaurs. After the castle is full it counts them. Four of them, every time, 4 of them, 4 of them... just getting you used to the game!
3) Crayons- you move the mouse over an uncolored picture and it chooses the colors for you, so basically you just scrub it back and forth revealing the finished product they want you to see.
4) Train- by far my son's favorite game because he loves letters and he loves trains. An engine pulls up 3 boxcars with letters on them. You have three keys at the bottom to unlock the cars with the corresponding letter. Match it to the boxcar and something beginning with that letter is revealed. They sing a song and pull off and that train will keep bringing letters as long as you or your child can stand it.
5) Theater- this plays songs that Reader Rabbit acts out like the itsy bitsy spider, hickory dickory dock, Mary had a little lamb, Thumbkin, etc... It is nice to see some of the old school songs for kids still are alive and kicking.
The other four are OK, but the top ones have been listed above. The best thing is that the click button is not needed, all they need to do is maneuver the mouse to the things they want to grab and place them where they need to go or wait for a timer to select the option (fairly quickly). My son, prior to three, could easily navigate, ending games, starting new ones and even exiting the program.
He has learned many things from this with reinforcement from daycare, books we read to him and other educational items. Mainly, I just like to hang out with him when he is having fun and this software did the trick for many an hour! I highly recommend this and several other of the Reader Rabbit series.
WINDOWS & MACINTOSH (CLASSIC) Matching Differences Singing Dancing Musical Instruments Animal Names Sounds, Platforms: Macintosh WindowsMore at Amazon Marketplace
Platform: WINDOWS MACINTOSH (CLASSIC) Publisher: LEARNING COMPANY Packaging: JEWEL CASE Rating: AGES: 1-3 Discovery the happy and colorful world of Re...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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