Arthur's Kindergarten

Reviewed by Ronda Scantlin
Published by The Learning Company

Age Group: Age 2 to 5, Age 4 to 8
Type: Thinking Games
Price: $30

PC version requires:
Windows 95/98, 486/66 MHz, 256 color display, 16 MB RAM, 20 MB HD, 2xCD-ROM

Mac version requires:
PowerPC 60 MHz, System 7.1 or later, 256 color display, 16 MB RAM, 2xCD-ROM

Description:

In Arthur's Kindergarten, children can practice a variety of important skills while working to rebuild Arthur's tree house.

Disk 1: A terrible storm has wrecked Arthur's tree house and the whole gang works together to fix it. Arthur recruits his friends and you to lend a helping hand around their community in exchange for supplies to rebuild the tree house. Build a "junk sculpture" to get a table for the tree house by choosing the piece of junk that rhymes with the spoken word. In the "Picture Window" activity, sequence the pictures in the proper order so they tell a story. Then you will get a window for the tree house. The games encourage children to practice important skills taught in pre-k and kindergarten, such as letter recognition, vocabulary, rhyming, counting, addition, patterns, and categorization.

Disk 2: At Arthur's Kindergarten Activity Center you can choose the music machine or create your own cards. The print activities include cut and paste (like a pinwheel project), color and learn (coloring sheets), puzzles and games (dot to dot and mazes), and more fun (recipes for play dough and color by numbers, for example.)

Features:

  • Familiar characters such as Arthur, D.W., and the Brain
  • 2 disks with over 50 activities
  • Encourages practice of a variety of kindergarten level skills
  • Three skill levels for each activity
  • Some games allow 2 children to play
  • Printable activities and certificates
  • Progress tracking

Technical Aspects:

Arthur's Kindergarten installed without any problems. The program incorporates colorful graphics of Arthur and his friends. One note, however, is that the audio of a few activities did not always respond as quickly as kids might like. In addition, the game called "Ice Cream Inventions" was slightly clumsy and was slow to react to the player's responses.

Report and Conclusions:

Arthur's Kindergarten uses a number of fun techniques to help young children practice important skills necessary as they enter school. In the "Where'd It Go?" game, use your memory skills to choose the matching objects hidden in wooden boxes. Think carefully - some of the boxes are empty! In "Grandma Thora's Garden", use addition to move forward the correct number of spaces; two children can play this one. The "Brain's Dad's Spare Parts" game allows children to work on following directions and developing an understanding of shapes and colors in order to complete the task. While the characters do provide encouraging comments throughout, you will soon become aware that the same comments are repeated many times; this may or may not decrease "replayability" for some children and parents.

The materials and activities available to print from Disk 2 are useful additions to the interactive games and can reinforce skill learning. An important component for kids and parents is the progress checker. You can find out the number of correct responses (also given as a percentage) for each level of each activity played. Arthur's Kindergarten will provide children with a familiar environment and much-loved characters while incorporating fun into the development of essential skills.




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