Features

• 3 beloved Dr. Seuss books on 3, fun-filled CD-ROMs
• Easy for kids to replay a favorite part, skip ahead, and learn hundreds of words
• Skills include: word recognition, vocabulary building, reading comprehension, and more
• Titles include Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and ABC
• For preschoolers û 1st graders; ages 3-7+

Reviews (2)

It makes him laugh! Awesome three disc set.
All of these discs are full of wonderful surprises! Especially the Green Eggs and Ham disc. It's classic, loveable Dr. Seuss that can be read to the child or the child can interact with the characters. Highly Recommended and a lot of fun!

Doesn't work on XP Pro
Tried to install it 10 different ways under XP Pro. (256 colors, low resolution, etc.). Still no joy. ... Read more

Product Description

Join the Power Rangers as they travel through time to battle evil forces, recover ancient treasures and save the universe! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Help SPY Fox foil William the Kid's dastardly plans of dairy destruction in SPY Fox: Dry Cereal. What will children do if Kid succeeds in cow-napping all the world's milk makers? Who is capable of stopping such a ghastly goat? Only SPY Fox, the super-smooth secret agent who finesses his way through SPY Corps' toughest assignments. This adventure tests kids' wits as they help SPY Fox use a host of slick gadgets, including a Laser Toothbrush and Suction Cufflinks. Monkey Penny provides clues from the Mobile Command Center as our hero takes on Kid's cast of animal adversaries. It's an udderly exhilarating world of cartoon espionage. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The first and the best
Don't let the new Atari packaging fool you - this game is a few years old. But it is an excellent game and well worth buying. Aside from offending goat's milk afficianados, this is a clean, kid-friendly game - which there are not nearly enough of in the world. If you thought it was too short or easy, play it again - there are several variations to get through, some more challenging than others. If you get stuck, there is a very complete help file included on the CD, or you can go to the website and get all the free hints you want. My daughter never seems to tire of it and has gone back to it again and again. There are a couple of places that require reading, so that a five or six year old might need some help, but be careful - you might end up staying up after their bedtime to play it yourself!

Here's hoping Atari decides to make Spy Fox 4, and soon (before my kid is too old to give me an excuse to buy it! ;-).

One of the few (very few) games I'd recommend
It has action without inappropriate violence, amusing one-liners, one very cool star and plenty of opportunity for kids to think a little.

6-year old kids can go through this one on their own, but it's funny enough for parents to watch over their shoulder.

In a market filled with brainless violent games aimed at a young audience and saccharine-sweet "educational" programs no one wants to play, I found that the three Spy Fox adventures struck a nice balance.

I, for one, would love to see a fourth Spy Fox adventure.

terrible game
My 5 year old got it as a gift and popped it in. After endless listening to the slow talking fox (you could actually spend 20 minutes without more than two mouse clicks), we got nowhere. I don't have hours on end to sit with him while looking on-line for every stupid click sequence to get to the next step. After an hour we gave up and I was so ticked off I had to pen this review.

Fun for all - while it lasts
Spy Fox has a better stock of one-liners than his human role model, James Bond. My 6 year old daughter had a great time working her way through the mystery, although some of the leaps in logic required a little help - which is fine, because I enjoyed playing along. The characters are interesting and funny, and it's clear that a lot more development work went into this than many kids games. Be aware, though: unlike arcade style games, once you're done, you're done. Still a great investment, though!

BORING
My 6-year old finished this entire game in the first day he had it. He said it does the same old things that all prevous ones did. He doesn't want any future Spy Fox games unless they find away to make their games more challenging and interesting. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Sassy and smart, this charming CD-ROM series combines early-childhood education and humorous storytelling with a distinctly European flavor--something along the lines of Doctor Doolittle meets Monty Python meets Beatrix Potter. Our hero, Oscar, is a small, curious British boy who tours the world in a hot-air balloon that enables him to switch among the four seasons with the click of a mouse. His companion, Carmela, is a treasure chest who often goes missing. In this escapade, Oscar crash-lands his balloon on the thatched hut of a timid animal researcher named Balthasar Pumpernickel, who lives on a farm amid fields of talking pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens. Carmela is there, too, stocked with a dozen delightful animal-theme games to play. Children are free to go straight to the games chest or explore the farmyard--and talk to the animals--in depth, across all four seasons of the year.

Along with this CD-ROM's elevated level of illustration, there's a fearlessness about content that is uncommon in America these days. The presence of dung on a farm, for example, is clearly acknowledged in the program with a special matching game (whose icon is a toilet bowl) that requires kids to "click and drag each animal to its droppings." As well, adults aren't the all-knowing educational founts here; Professor Balthasar, afraid of the animals, hides all day in his hut. "Outside lurk a thousand dangers!" he sniffs. Parents and kids alike will appreciate the goofy inanity of a farm-facts guessing game that poses such true-or-false questions as "Cows love to eat frogs," and "Sheep sleep on poles." Most powerful of all, however, are the stirring scenes of the animals: from sunny days in the fields to deliciously snowbound days inside the barn. (Ages 4 to 8) --Jean Lenihan ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A little difficult for our 4 year old
The game has lovely graphics, and creative-educational games. My son enjoys matching the poop with the correct farm animal. However, it is a little difficult for him to understand what the directions are or what he's supposed to be doing in the game. It's a bit "word heavy" for a boy who has an auditory processing disorder, but he does enjoy clicking on the animals to see if they'll poop. In fact, anything to do with poop will entertain him. It's really better geared towards older kids and younger children who can handle higher level learning. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

When the Rugrats set sail on the trip of a lifetime but end up on Island Uninhabited, there's only one family that can help them out: the Wild Thornberrys. Based on the upcoming Rugrats Go Wild feature film, this thrilling adventure has the babies trekking treacherous rainforest paths, taking on bug-eating plants, and staring down dangerous animals while solving "wild" puzzles to salvage their family vacation. ... Read more

Features

• Garfield -It's All About Math builds your child's abilities in basic math operations -Addition, multiplication, subtraction and division
• Garfield -It's All About Reading & Phonics has replayable games that will build knowledge of words, word sounds and pronunciation
• In Garfield -It's All About Writing & Grammar helps kids improve grammar, writing, memory and concentration skills
• Garfield -It's All About Vocabulary and Spelling offers 20 activities for superior phonics and vocabulary
• Ages 6-7

Reviews (5)

I can't use it
I also bought this but can't run it on my system. Disney provides an XP driver fix, but it can't be installed unless the program is already in your system. Catch 22. KB Gear is NO LONGER IN BUSINESS. That is what Disney told me. I'm trying to find any fixes.

WONDERFUL!
My 3 year old loves this product. We are running it on Win98. My copy actually came with drivers for Windows ME and 2000. Only problem I have with the company is that I can't find their company to see if there are additional software packages for the product!

deceptive
I just purchased the Sketch Board for my 4 year old...Got it home & proceeded to load the software included only to find out that this product won't run on any operating system higher than Win98. Also searched for possible updated drivers & discovered that this product is being marketed as a Disney product when it really isn't.They have a big picture of Mickey Mouse on the cover & the name Disney printed all over the box.... So if your thinking of purchasing this product & you're running WinNT,2000 or XP..forget it about it.

Great for kids.....lots of art
This is a wonderful product for a child. The SketchBoard (drawing tablet) and the software match up so what you see in front of you is on the screen as well. The software is pretty nifty with so many options for stamps and basic animation that most children will have hours of fun and learn a lot about creating art of the computer as well. My 4 year old has used it for a year and I am giving it as a gift for other preschoolers on my list this year. While it may be a basic drawing tablet in the right hands masterpieces will be produced.

Fun but useless
I have to confess-- I'm 15 and I bought this program, even though it's for little kids. I am really into animation and I thought it would be useful. Well, I was wrong, so if you were thinking the same thing, don't bother with this program. Here's a list of pros and cons:

PROS:

-Fun for making simple animation

-Easy to create scenes with Disney characters already available in Magic Artist stamp bank

- Fun Sketchbook with music

- Great for little kids to mess around with

CONS:

-Stylus for the sketchboard is impossible to use, it draws on the computer screen even with it isn't touching the board. Drawings come out badly no matter what level of drawing you are at. Don't use this if you really want to make animation. When you draw on the sketchboard it only shows up the computer so it's also hard to draw ANYTHING. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Spelling's what it says, and spelling's what you get from thisstraightforward CD-ROM. Kids visit three sites in this underwater scenario:a cave, a giant clamshell, and a sunken pirate ship. A visit to the caveprovides kids with a list of eight words to spell. They can click on aword, hear it read, and then hear it spelled. After studying the spellinglist (it's even arranged vertically, in classic spelling-list style), kidscan begin the game. During the game, the spelling word appears and a voicereads and spells it, then the word vanishes. The spellers either click onletters or use the keyboard to spell the word themselves. If all eightwords are spelled correctly, a captive fish is set free. Now, there'snothing wrong with this game, except for the fact that visiting theclamshell and the sunken ship yields the exact same game. The scenery andthe spelling words are the only things that change. Heck, even the fishbeing freed begin to look recycled after awhile.

The box boasts over 1,700 spelling words, and that's about the extent of thevariety in Spelling. We encountered where, seat, andnothing while cycling through the spelling words at the program'sbeginning, and after successfully getting though all three of the areas, we wereworking on compounds like shortstop and grandfather. The programautomatically adjusts to the player's ability, yet there is no way to save aspelling session or register individual users, so if your child worked his orher way up to offhand on one day, the next day it's back to seat.Customizing the spelling list isn't an option here; spellers must take whateverwords these denizens of the deep float their way. This program could supplementan early spelling education, and wouldbe a decent match for kids who love undersea themes, but there are otherprograms out there that provide more fun, variety, and control. (Ages 6 to8) --Anne Erickson ... Read more

Reviews (1)

First Grade Teacher's Opinion
Each day my students have "center time" which is structured independent study time through different activities. One of the choices is use of the computers. Spelling 1st and 2nd Grade is by far the best program that I have used. The children love playing it and it concentrates more on the subject of spelling and phonics than on the games. Too many educational software titles I have used are more game oriented than educational. I am always happy when the kids have a game that uses the skills that they are learning, but too many titles have some type of joystick game with very few subject questions to even win or proceed to the next level. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

a terrific product for little Little Bear fans
We have already tried a number of software products for young children, and I would rank this as one of the very best. The material is true to the children's series, so you see most of the characters from the show (Owl, Cat, Hen, Duck, Father Bear -- though not Emily or Little Bear's grandparents) and Little Bear and Mother Bear's voices seem to be voiced by the same voice actors as those of the television show.

The CD starts with Mother Bear calling Little Bear into the house when it starts to rain, and quickly switches to the activity selection screen. There is: 1) cooking -- adding ingredients to a bowl, cutting out shapes, and decorating cookies; 2) costumes -- drag-and-dropping various costume pieces and props onto Little Bear, Duck, Cat, Owl or Hen; 3) painting -- using a variety of colors and fill patterns to color any of six different scenes; 4) stickers -- drag-and-dropping characters and props onto various scenes (campsite, garden, bedroom, picnic, boat or house); 5) puzzles -- drag-and-drop 4, 6 or 9 pieces onto a template; 6) matching -- finding pairs of characters' pictures amid a layout of 8 or 12 "cards". An activity section has 27 projects which can be printed out; these include recipes (fizzy lemonade, gingerfriends cookies), games (sound bingo, finger puppets) and arts & crafts projects (vegetable stamps, making a water xylophone). There are enough activities to keep a child interested for a long time and options, such as the number of puzzle pieces to fit, mean the activities can be interesting for children of different ages. At any point you can print scenes in one of three formats (a color picture, a coloring book line drawing, or as a card), and printing has been without bugs.

Running this on a PowerMac G4, installation was quick and easy. The only weak point is the booklet, which contains nothing but installation instructions.

Recommended for ages 3 and up, but we are assisting a younger child and he loves it. He can do some things himself but needs help with others.

This is a terrific product, and I endorse it without reservation.

You'll Have to beg them to get off the computer!
My son played with this software on the computer at our town library's children's room and I had to beg him to leave the library! We went back a few more times and I finally realized that this software would capture and keep his attention over and over again. He even asked for the software for his 4th Birthday present! Since he loved it, I thought it was great, and the librarians thought it was educational, I purchased it for him. Happy Birthday Tyler!

Little Bear - Rainy Day Activities
I read the reviews before I bought this product and found them so helpful I thought I'd write my own. My daughter loves this game. She's 3 and a half and can get around all by herself. The card memory game is so good for them yet simple enough so that it's not frustrating for them. Adding sprinkles and decorating cookies is also one of her favorites. There's so many variations to this game I'm sure your child will have a favorite, too. Enjoy!!

Wonderful software for any day
My 3 1/2 year old daughters love this computer game. It is very child-friendly. You don't have to be able to read to figure out what to do. They can easily get around from activity to activity without a problem. There are a number of different activities which my daughters really enjoy. They get to "make" gingerfriend cookies with Mother bear, adding the correct amount of ingredients for her. They then get to decorate the finished cookies. There is a coloring book that allows them to floodfill the areas for ease and fun. They can add pictures to a scene (kind of like a sticker book, but one that you can re-use :o)). They can dress-up Little Bear and his friends in costumes in another activity. This is a very good computer game that is well-worth the money. It is one of their favorites. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Kids jump on board The Magic School Bus for another one of Ms. Frizzle's interactive field trips--this time to explore the Costa Rican rain forest. You'll explore seven ecological zones in the rain forest as you collect samples for the class science project. Watch videos, play games, check out multimedia reports, and hear fun facts about the rainforest. (Ages 6-10) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest
I really like all of the Magic School Bus series. Kids can learn a lot about a subject and the dialog is very amusing.

Games have proved particularly entertaining
The magic school bus series is a great series. Once again Ms. Fizzle takes the children on a fun packed adventure.

We have never been to a rain forest, but my five year old found the games on this Microsoft School Bus product particularly entertaining.

A great CD from a great series. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

FUN FUN FUN!!!
This is a great game for young kids and adults alike. The player gets to control SpongeBob as he travels through various locations on his way to Neptune's Paradise Amusement Park. The player collects all kinds of inventory objects and must figure out how and where they need to use them. You can also select your own dialogue choices creating some hilarious conversations with other characters during the game.

Spongebob is great!
I HIGHLY recomend this item.IF u want to know if it's good, well, it isn't good. IT'S GREAT! Trust me! This is the funnest game ever! I Love Patrick Star! HE's the best one in the game!

very fun, yet disappointing
This was so fun, but the worst part was the fact that it ended so quickly! I would have enjoyed it more if the game were longer, however it was exciting while it lasted! The characters' dialogue is witty just like the television show, however the graphics are strange if you care about that sort of thing.

Engaging challenge for 7 or 8 year olds
My 7 year old stuck with and solved this game in about 4 hours with minimal help. The game rewards perseverance and requires some thought. Observing my child play, I thought it was a well designed game. If scenarios varied each time the game were played, it would be even better.

This game is really cool!
In this game you have to beat four chapters and you have to pick up things and drop them off for people. Sometimes it's hard, but it's fun. Buy the game--you will have fun with it! It's a game for all ages. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Can you help Fred, Velma, and the gang solve the mystery behind thePhantom Knight and his dragon? Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight offerslaughs, pretty good animation, and a series of challenging puzzles to entertainyoung children for hours. Since the villain and clues change with each newadventure, replay is just as much fun as the very first game. Set up much likean episode of the classic television series, the program puts players in an old,castle-themed amusement park to explore for clues to its haunting. Some of thescarier areas will require feeding Scooby or Shaggy to coax them in; snacks canbe obtained by several tests of skill along the way.

Once enough clues have been collected, players decide who's to blame, then checkto see if the guess is right in an action sequence that closes play. Threelevels of difficulty are available, and each offers increasing pressure in theform of red-herring clues and harder challenges to acquire Scooby Snacks.Installation is very simple, and the CD-ROM comes with several Scooby-relatedgoodies like a printable poster and online previews of upcoming movies. (Ages 5to 10) --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (16)

hard but no replayability
I brought this for my daughter and played it myself first. I enjoyed the difficulty that the game play provided but was extremely dissappointed to find that the second time I played was exactly the same, all the items in the same place, the game play the same, it was easy. The only thing that really changes is the villan and the clues.
The kids have played once, with helpful hints from me to get them going when they got stuck. They havent been back which dosent surprise me as they tend not to replay games that do not have some varability.
It could have been a great game as it has the difficulty but without varibility it is not as good as it could be.
Solving the villian and clues does not play a big enough part in the game to make it replayable.

Great fun & learning
My 5-yr-old LOVES this game! With an age range being 5-10 I thought it'd be too hard for her, but after I showed her how to play, she can solve the mystery with her favorite characters. Yes, it is basically the same mystery over & over, but that's what she likes about it (It's like reading a favorite book again & again). There's alot of logic & sequencing needed & builds memory skills. You have to remember how to get to all the different rooms through many secret passages and find the clues in a certain order. This is loads of fun. We will be getting the rest of these mystery adventures.

Parents Cheapsheet for this potential Frustrating game.
It took me an hour to realize that to get past the first suspect and clue, you needed to give the "feather duster" to the old lady. That opens the locked door and makes the most of the other suspects appear. For the other locked door in the town, listen carefully to the Jester's rhyme after you give him the first ball.

With these two hints, the game is just like the "Jinx at the Sphinx". Without them, you will want to throttle the programmers. I played the game myself before I let my 5 yr old play. Since I knew the tricks, he enjoyed it completely.

Good Luck.

Disappointing Waste of Money
Bought this program for my 7 year old son. (The product says ages 5-10). What a piece of [...] this is! I have had other programs from the Learning Company that perform rather well. While installing this program you are forced to install lots of other junk "tag-a-long" programs (AOL, Quick time etc.)just to complete the install. Finally getting the program to run I, the 36 year old adult could not figure out how to make any progress in the game at all. How can I expect my son to figure it out? It was Impossible to even get to the games in which you earn "Scooby Snacks" that are needed to get around in the Castle. Printed out the entire "Book" of instructions and still could not get anywhere. I wish I would have read the other reviews first, I would not have bought it. My son doesn't even want to try it anymore since it's so frustrating.

Not for Little Ones
I bought this for my 5 year old and were BOTH stuck! He has played it several times and can't get past the first clue. He became frustrated with this game and stopped playing it. I too thought maybe it was me, but I am apparently not the only one out there who wasted their money on this game. I can only hope the other games for Scooby fans are better, as my son now wants a new one since "this one won't work". ... Read more

Reviews (7)

My 8 yr old loves I spy!
For those who say this is boring, maybe your kids should just stick to video games. My son is loving the books and the computer games. He conquers them pretty quickly and we have to buy more but hey, it's getting his mind working looking for hidden items. We went for an open house at his school a few months ago and the teacher picked up an I Spy book and said that it was the main thing all the kids fought over in class. We love all the books, computer games and the gameboy game that is out. Good investment for little thinkers out there!

Can't find 12th ladybug!
I really like this game but I am annoyed that I can't find the last ladybug in the find me game. I can find no game hint support sites either. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a bug (ha ha) in the program? I have spent weeks looking but always find the ones I've already found. Can anyone out there help me? I am not a child, but my daughter can't find it either. Apparantly the game will not finish until all bugs are found because I have found all the treasures. Does this game not have more than one complete game to play? I thought it had 3 like treasure hunt.
Thanks,

Will Keep You Thinking....
My 6 year old daughter loves this game. It is not easy and keeps her thinking. I some times find some of the items hard to find but with persistance you will find them. It is never boring. The whole family enjoys this software.

Elementary Kids Love It!
I am a computer lab teacher in an elementary school. Last year, I used this software for quite a few weeks when my Kindergarten through Grade 3 students came in for activity period. Students in grades 4-6 would beg to get a chance to use the software when their assignment for the day was completed.

It was a stretch for Kindergarten to find some of the items, because they did not recognize some of the items in the riddles, but I made sure to point these out in lessons and then circulated to help them more.

It was exciting to watch as students became absorbed in this activity, and most of them grew in their visual and verbal awareness. Children in grades 1-3 could either click to hear the descriptions or read for themselves.

Yes, it is on the shelf this year, but will taken out to be used in two years. This year I bought I Spy Spooky Mansion for use, and next year hope to get the Î Spy Treasure software if I can find the funding.

I Spy School Days-big bore
My six year old great nephew completed all of the activities within two hours. He was moderately interested in the beginning and bored by the time he finished. I watched as he played, and thought they were boring, too. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

In The New Way Things Work, The Great Woolly Mammoth, the inventor's hapless assistant, returns, and this time you can help him improve his inventor's skills in the Mammoth School House. Play the challenging quiz and increase or decrease the mammoth's intelligence, depending on how well you do. The special tracking feature monitors the Mammoth's progress (and yours) throughout. Keep him well fed with knowledge and he'll be the perfect companion for your scientific discoveries. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

excellent for any age
This program is perfect for the child who is always asking Why? or How? As an educator this is an excellent tool for my kids to learn how things work,why they work, and also learn about different inventors at the same time. The program includes everything from machines to digital technology. I also found this program very useful for myself. ENJOY! ... Read more

Features

• Team up with detective Barbie to solve the carnival mystery
• Crack the case of the carnival caper by searching for clues
• New clues and suspects every time you play
• For kids ages 5 and up

Reviews (6)

Hot CD for my boys!!!
My boys who are 5 and 7 love this CD. The CD calls them by name which is really cool. The action scenes capture their attention. I bought this CD despite having no girls to share it with. Yes, there is a lot of pink, but the fun is worth it!!! My son who says he "hates girls" still loves this CD. We have had fun with it for 8 months straight. Ton o' fun for the money!!! Monika

BEWARE OF WRONG MERCHANDISE!
This is NOT the Detective Barbie described. Instead of the carnival mystery, it is actually the VACATION mystery.. entirely different!!!
Even the wrong photo is displayed for sale. VERY DISAPPOINTING!

not just for girls
My three older children have enjoyed the Mystry of the carnival caper, They like riding the rides and being the first to win a prize at the sideshow as several children can join in.
The game play is fairly basic once you realise that you find a clue and go to the place the clue describes and you will find the next clue or you will see the suspect and have to catch him. You sometimes find keys which you will need to rescue ken. The magifiying glass is often nessecary to find the hand print that leads you to the clue. You can talk to the other characters. Catching the suspect is not always easy but if you do loose him you get another chance by following his footprints to more clues.
The good points are riding the rides is fun, there are three suspects all which are randomly chosen as the criminal and you dont know until the end which one it is, so the end is always a surprise. No two games are the same as the order of the clues is very random. The place where ken is hidden changes each time. There is plenty of replayability.
The bad points, character control is very clumsey, you use the mouse but must place the arrow at the edge of the screen to get the barbie to walk where you want her too, my younger children found this quite frustrating as the position of the mouse does not relate well to where the character is.
You must pick a name from the list and although it is a large list with a good variety of common and uncommon names your childs name may not be there particulary if it is a boy, then you have to pick something that is close in sound or an acceptable substitute, Barbie requently refers to your child by name so if the names not there it makes it difficult.
Overall it is a fun game, just remember to follow the clues as one clue leads to the next and finally the suspect and if you get stuck use the magnifying glass and follow the footprints. The clue computer does show the hot clue, the one you havent followed and the cold clues the ones that have already led you to a clue, and remember there may also be a key or tool you need hidden in the same place as a clue so look around with the magnifying glass even after you have found the clue.

Dust collector
My girls, ages 7 and 5, love Barbies but hate this game. They found it hard to use and not very interesting. It doesn't do much but collect dust at my house. They prefer Reader Rabbit and Jump Start games.

Great game!
I love this game! It's always fun because the calprit is someone different every time! I have played it a lot, and I would reccomend it to anyone who loves a good mystery! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

TERRIFIC
THIS GAME WAS COOL. I BOUGHT IT FOR MY DAUGHTER AND SHE IS UPSESSED!!! I PERSUADE YOU TO BUY, CUZ ITS DEFINATLY WORTH THE MONEY ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

This bundle includes two fun and educational software titles. A fascinating introduction to maps, atlases, and our world, My First Amazing World Explorer 2.0 incorporates two new educational games and more information into the award-winning original title. All the traditional features of a children's atlas are brought to life, while the magic of multimedia adds interactive adventures and learning activities that a book could never provide.

My First Amazing History Explorer introduces users to eight fascinating historical periods: ancient Egypt, classical Greece, the Roman Empire, Imperial China, medieval Europe, the Inca Empire, the Age of Industry, and a 1920s city. Help free Professor Timestein, who was been captured by the Time Fugitive, by filling in the missing pieces of the time-line trail. Travel in your time machine, and explore each period's animated maps. Answer comprehension questions along the way to collect stickers for your travel journal. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

World Explorer/History Explorer is Fantastic!
My 5 year old grandson and 50 year old husband both loved this! We purchased this to entertain my grandson during a 2 week visit and were more than pleasantly surprised. This is more than a game - it is a learning experience and will grow with you. The whole family enjoyed it!

History Explorer IS Amazing!
My five-year-old has been captivated by the History Explorer program for several months. The program offers the user transport to one of several different historical time periods in different regions of the world. Each period offers an appropriate and pleasant musical background while the user clicks on various icons in the setting to find out what each represents. My son has spent hours clicking to hear an explanation of knights jousting in the Medieval Europe, bodies being mummified in Ancient Egypt, or the Great Wall being built in Ancient China. Once he had a good grasp of each setting, he decided to try to "Find the Professor" by clicking around in each time period until he found the secret path. The game helped him move through the periods more quickly, giving him a sense of the passage of time, but it was certainly nice for him to opt NOT to play the game initially, allowing complete exploration of each time period.

The program is full of fun extras, like being able to choose what you want to look like in the travel photos and collecting stickers for your travel journal. The narration is expertly done by children and is offered for everything, making it a good program for pre-readers.

I am amazed at how interested my son is in history, and I give this program total credit for his fascination! I'm hoping that there will be another edition with seven or eight NEW historical time periods to explore. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Welcome Scooby and the gang--Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy--who have been called in to solve a puzzling problem in the Kudzula County Museum of Natural History.

A strange Glowing Bug Man has been seen roaming around the halls of the museum: things start to happen, property is wrecked, specimens get mixed up, and all sorts of other devilment occurs. Who is this man? Where has he come from? Is he the one creating havoc? The museum must stay closed while the pandemonium and ransacking continues. Help Scooby and the gang find out what's happening. Assist them in restoring the exhibits and spotting clues to solve the case. And never fear, help is always on hand from Nigel Nightwatch, head of the museum's security department.

This CD-ROM is aimed at children ages 5 to 10 and covers a large range of abilities. The broad age span is accommodated through three levels of difficulty, thus creating the appropriate challenges for a particular age or ability. The activities offered are full of fun and excitement and allow players to investigate by using logic, critical thinking, research, deductive reasoning, matching, and sorting--all necessary to encourage the development of thinking and problem-solving skills (and your children won't even realize they're learning!). Some of the activities can be printed out so enjoyment can continue even after the PC has been switched off.

Accompanying the package is a simple leaflet explaining installation, but it should be noted that the excellent user's guide, which is clear, concise, and comprehensive, can be accessed from the main menu. This should be read before beginning, and help may be needed for younger players. --Susan Naylor ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Great Game
We have three of the Scooby Doo Case File Games.
My four year old loves these games. He will play it for a long time. There is problem solving and mazes and other activities in each game.

My problem with this game (and the other Scooby Games) is that there is no variability. Once your child solves the game and plays it again, the puzzles are essentially the same. The clues might change and the villian might be different, but the puzzles are the same and the clues are in the same places.

This is not a problem for my kids though. They both enjoy the game and play it for many hours.

Enjoy.

Great fun but...
I would rate this a middle of the road four or at the very least a high three.

First the positive- the scooby gang are in a museum and a green glowing bug man has messed up the displays. They have to put the displays back together in order to earn clues. The clues point to a villian. Each of the 'games' or displays involves a different part of the brain- in one scooby has to jump on a conveyer belt to earn scooby snacks and collect bones, another is a puzzle, another is a matching game and so on. There are three different levels so you can have it fairly easy to fairly difficult. My five year old was able to play the easy with no help and the medium level with only a little bit of help.

The Negatives- The games are the same. The villians change but the games are the same- you are always doing a puzzle in the dinosaur room and it's always the same puzzle. The placement of the boxes in the puzzle might change but the idea is the same. I would have also liked to have seen the ability to change the levels of the puzzle as individual games, not the whole game.

However, it's a fun game.
I would also suggest the Freddy Fish games if your child likes to solve mysteries.

Enjoy.

Close, but not the best.
If any of you have expierienced past Scooby Doo games of this style, then you will understand this. In comparison, the voice acting in this is sub-par. The vocal animations are so generic that every word they speak looks just like the last. The load times between screens is a lot longer in this one than in past games. However, the puzzles are clever, and the background animations and layouts are very colorful and creative. Dropping you in many foreign locales. A good representation, and learning tool, of different cultures. My 5 year old enjoys this. But, myself, as a Scooby Doo fan, did not think that much of it. It was a bit shorter than previous games as well. Good game. Just not great. Hope the next volume shows more promise.

Great Scooby fun!
My 8 year old loves this new Scooby game. She will play it over and over. The facts on China are cool and the animation is just like the TV show.

I highly recommend this Scooby game. We like them all but this one is definitely a favorite!

Jessica & Hannah's Review
Jessica our 9 year old daugher said "this game is great, in one room you visit the cafeteria and you are challenged to blend different flavors of ice-cream until Shaggy gets the perfect cone. In each room you visit you need to find the clues to match the suspect until you find the glowing bugman". Hannah our 7 year old daughter said "this game is perfect, we both had fun with it and I think lots of people should have fun with it just like us" ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Zoinks! The Mystery, Inc. gang is hungry for a snack, but there's notmuch to be had in Los Burritos, a ghost town where they've stopped to look for food. This follow-up to Mysteryof the Fun Park Phantom pits Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, andGreatest-of-all-Danes Scooby against the Faceless Rider, a mysterious spirit (or is it?)haunting the town. Thankfully, they're all back with the same groovy clothes,lingo, and music--plus the goofy humor--that made their '70s TV show so much funto watch.

To get to the bottom of what's spooking Los Burritos, the group must explore thetown and talk to everyone who crosses their path, all the while looking out forclues to help them solve the mystery at hand. To uncover the right information,players must perform semi-educational activities like setting a clock to theproper time, putting a puzzle together, and recalling details from the gameitself. There are also fun challenges throughout (Scooby takes on the FacelessRider in a pie fight to the finish, and later plays a mean game of horseshoes)to earn Scooby Snacks. These prove important when you want Shaggy and Scooby toenter an especially scary area--you'll have to bribe them with Scooby Snacks toget them to cooperate. The fun activities and puzzles, paired with all the crimesolving, push kids to use problem-solving skills and deductive reasoning. Whoknew Scooby could make you smarter?

In addition to being just plain retro fun, the game offers some help in solvingeach mystery (we found several in our gameplay): click on the Mystery, Inc. vanto review the clues you've collected, check your Scooby Snack count, or askScrappy for help. And to keep the games challenging as kids grow (or perhaps foradults to enjoy), players can select from three "spookiness" levels thatincrease in difficulty. Also included are very thorough gameplay instructionsand a Groovy Goodies section that includes fun tie-ins to the video- andDVD-only release, Scooby-Doo and theAlien Invaders. (Ages 5 and up) --Leah Ball ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Scooby Doo, Through and Through!
Ignore the negative comments in any review of this game. More care went into creating it than into some of the original series episodes!
Scooby and the gang havea mystery to solve. There are Scooby snacks, train chases, clues and villians. What else can you ask for?
This game is a lot like a Putt Putt or Freddy Fish game. If you like those, or like Scooby Doo, you'll like this game. PS, you should be under 10 years old, but who's counting?

This game is great!
First, I'd like to say that all the people that have reviewed this game are adults. Next, this game isn't for adults!! It's for kids!!
My sister and I REALLY enjoyed playing this game, it's simply a matter of opinion, some kids will find it fun, others just need more challenge then this game can give. I'm 12, and I still like playing this game, though I am starting to look for more of a challenge. This is one of those games you play for a while, then forget about it for a few months, then go back to it and refresh your memory on how it play it.
I love this game!!!

Fun first time only
Our 3 children love computer games, (ages 6,7,&8) but this one they only wanted to play once. The game is too repetetive, and not very challenging.

Only for the REALLY YOUNG!!
I bought this for a family get together anticipating the kids would have a fun afternoon. They are all die hard Scooby fans!
We had problems from the start. We had to go to 3 websites to find the patch needed to run the game with Direct X 8. Although the graphics and animation were great, the kids solved the hardest level in just 30 minutes! The villian was the same and so were the clues. Even the video sequences were recycled on each level.The repetitive nature and the installation problems made us regret buying the game.

Scooby Doo Showdown in Ghost Town
My 5 year old loves this game. He needed a little help getting started, but once figured out the navigation, he was on his way. He has played it on his own numerous times, and is ready to try more Scooby games! ... Read more