Still Christmas shopping? I've got a few more software picks you may want to consider:
What happens when you spell the word "cat" at Mother Goose's picnic pond? You grow a "cat flower," of course.That's just one of the magically silly things that happens in Mother Goose's Farm 4 Learning from Mattel Media.
The four CD-ROM collection is packed with activities, music and animations that will tickle preschoolers and teach them, too. Mother Goose and her cartoon friends lead children around the farm, visiting the barnyard, the farmhouse, the playground and a garden.
They'll find lots of animations at each spot and learning activities covering all the important stuff little people need to know: colors, shapes, letters, numbers and so on. They can sort, match, spell, color and sing-along to their favorite nursery rhymes or help Mother Goose read a tale.
The program also lets you print pages for coloring.
The activities are paced perfectly for preschoolers and even toddlers. The 2-year-old who helped me test Mother Goose's Farm was captivated by the program, particularly the silly mix-and-match animal part machine and the music synthesizer sandbox, which was loaded with all her favorite songs.
The program, aimed at children ages 3 to 6, is bright, friendly and requires nothing more than mouse clicking skill to use. And best of all, it's a bargain: $30 for the set. From Mattel Media (310-252-2000).
A child genius?
How to make your child a genius? Well, it wouldn't hurt to stock your computer with a copy of The Universe According to Virgil Reality.
In this new release from 7th Level, Professor Virgil Reality takes kids through the amazing and wacky world of science with the help of Cube, his trusty computer. They team up to teach kids about lots of stuff in the universe.
Like, why it is that even though the Earth spins our head don't? And, since we have 27 bones in our hands maybe we should say "give me 27" instead of "give me five."
There are eight sections to visit, including:
- the professor's floating learning lab, filled with objects that Virgil and Cube know all about, from the world's smallest frog to dinosaurs;
- an activity center where kids can perform virtual experiments and then hear an explanation for each reaction; they can also print out the experiments and activities to try at home;
- a theater stocked with photographs and video clips of scientists, inventors and inventions;
- a print shop with more than 100 activities, ranging from games to experiments and projects, such as making paper airplanes and building dioramas;
- a microscope that lets children peek at earthworm intestines, brain tissue, viruses and other weird stuff.
Airplanes, dinosaurs, balloons, skeletons - all the stuff that fascinates and piques kids' curiosity is packed into this superb program. There's even a copy of the science and technology sections of "The Columbia Encyclopedia"; kids can look up subjects and then cut, paste and print topics for school projects.
The Universe According to Virgil Reality, from 7th Level (972-498-8100) is for kids ages 8 and up and costs $40. It's available in both Mac and PC versions.
101 dogs
Disney is barking up a storm with its hit movie "101 Dalmatians." If you've got a young fan of the doggy saga, check out Disney's Animated Storybook, 101 Dalmatians.
It's the newest CD-ROM program in Disney's Animated Storybook line, which includes "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."
Pongo, the daddy Dalmatian, narrates the story of how he came to meet Perdy and the trouble that followed when Cruella DeVil set her evil heart on a Dalmatian fur coat.
Children can read the story themselves or have it read to them. There's a dictionary that explains words they don't understand and even a thesaurus that gives alternatives for words like "dog-napped."
The pick-a-page feature lets children jump from a screen of illustrations to any point in the story, and, like other Disney Animated Storybooks, "101 Dalmations" is loaded with clickable objects that perform new tricks with each click.
For example, in the studio where Anita, Perdy's owner, works you can click on a sketchpad and watch Anita draw Cruella first with a beanie cap, then a moustache and finally Mickey Mouse ears.
Games and songs are woven throughout the richly animated storybook, which is based on the cartoon classic version of "101 Dalmatians." You can set activity difficulty levels from easy to hard to test your child's skill at matching dogs to their owners, finding the lost puppies, working through a maze and breaking a secret code.
Like others of Disney's Animated Storybooks, this one is fun and fanciful. From Disney Interactive, $30. It's for children ages 4 to 8.
You might also check out the 101 Dalmatians Web site at (http://www.101.com), which also features games, puzzles and downloadable activities. I visited the site with a 5-year-old nephew, and he loved it.