Spelling Blaster Ages 6 to 9

Reviewed by Stephanie Heese
Published by Knowledge Adventure

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts
Price: $40.00 US

Description:

Description:

The Blaster pals are vacationing on Planet Islandia, but there is trouble brewing! Valuable books have been stolen from the Planet's treasury, and the mayor needs the Blaster pals' help. The Mumblers from Planet Nonsense are the culprits, and children must help the Blaster pals identify the specific guilty Mumblers. They need to earn 5 clues by displaying mastery of the selected spelling list, and when they have collected them all, they can complete their mission by figuring out who the guilty Mumbler is! There are 140 carefully organized spelling lists to choose from, and children have a choice between easy and hard levels. Parents can select the required mastery percentage anywhere between 70 and 100%.

Children can freely explore any of the 7 games that are to be found on the 3 islands: Tropical Island, Ice Island, and Island of Darkness. Each game provides some sort of spelling challenge for the chosen word list. Some, like Volcano Climb, are arcade-style games, and others involve editing misspelled words or simply typing the correct spelling of a word to advance, for example, over a bridge or across water. When children complete a mission, they receive a certificate, and after completing all the word lists under a story heading, they receive a printable storybook! For further practice with word lists away from the computer, word search and crossword puzzles are available for printing.

Features:

  • 1700+ spelling words organized into 140 lists
  • 29 printable storybooks
  • Word Editor for customizing spelling lists
  • Spell Track feature for tracking patterns in spelling errors
  • Printable word search puzzles and crosswords
  • Recognizing spelling patterns
  • Use of phonics and rhyming words
  • Editing misspelled words

Technical Aspects:

Installation is easy with Windows 95/98 Autoplay, and the required QuickTime version 3.0 is included if the user doesn't already have it. The game ran smoothly, and the graphics are impressive and even striking.

Report and Conclusions:

The games in Spelling Blaster are really enjoyable. My son was actually cheering for himself as he played the activities, something he doesn't normally do. Some activities require a lot of typing so he also got some keyboarding practice on the side. I particularly like the range of activities and different methods of practicing/drilling words. I see great value, for instance, in the concept of editing misspelled words as a means of studying spelling words. Although not explicitly stated as such, I feel that the age range can be neatly divided into the easy and hard levels. First and second graders will probably be most comfortable with the easy level and the hard level is best suited to children in grades 3 and 4.

We love the idea that we can enter our own spelling lists. Every week, my second-grader gets a list of spelling words from school, and these can be added into the "word editor" so that they are incorporated into the game! Unfortunately, any added words that are not already programmed in are spoken with digitized speech that is often very unclear and at a lower volume than the rest of the speech. It sounds exactly like the text-to-speech on the CD KidWorks Deluxe by Davidson, which can be very hard to understand. It's unfortunate because this is such an excellent feature. It should be noted however that I was more irritated by this than my son was!

This title is best suited to a child who enjoys the space theme characteristic of the Blaster series. The graphics are improved from other Blaster titles, and the setting is rather unique and compelling. Even my husband who is normally not hugely interested in kids' games stopped to watch a few times. It would be helpful if children playing this software are half-decent gamers, because there are some activities that require fast reflexes (they are video game style). However, children can choose the games they play and there are others that do not require these skills. The spelling workout is excellent, I can't say enough about that. There is a lot of incentive to complete missions, as children get to print out storybooks and certificates of completion. Both my son and I are thrilled with Spelling Blaster. It's great fun and does a tremendous job at teaching spelling!