Second- I like the fact that you can push a button and the page will be reread. I also like the fact that there is another button that will highlight some words and explain them a little bit more in depth.

Third- My son enjoys the games. I haven't found them to be the most educational games around. However, that isn't why I bought this software. I bought it because my son enjoys Pooh and this is a cute story. The games do require some reasoning skills and are educational. Particularly the one where you have to listen to piglet describe an object and pick it out of a lineup of toys.

Fourth- the cute music songs with the words that are highlighted so you can sing a long are a great bonus for my son. He can't read yet, but he sure likes to point to the words and watch them get highlighted. It is really a prereading type of skill for him right now (words mean something, you read from left to right etc.)

Enjoy.

"Activities include an attribute matching game, in which Piglet gives a verbal clue like 'I'm looking for something square and made out of wood,' .... The activities are generally lacking in educational value".

Lacking in value? Even though the phrase is modified by "generally", I think it ignores several ways in which this particular activity is potentially useful for particular children. I'm not an expert in cognitive development so I won't say very much about the deductive processing skills being employed (providing that the child happens to be at a level where this helps). My area is language acquisition, specifically foreign language / second language. For children (and adults?) doing this game in a language that is NOT their native one, the activity has educational value.

However, having said that, I wish the clues were repeated more often. If you click on the wrong object, Piglet only says things like "No, that's not the one I'm looking for". He does not repeat the clue. If you didn't catch it the first time, you're out of luck -- you have to click each item until you happen upon the correct answer.

Other than this one point, I agree with the "Children's Software Revue" review: This is a good product. Your kids will like it and you'll get good value for your money.

-------- note --------

I bought the Japanese version in Japan, and it contains the English version. I bought it for my 7-year old daughter, who's fluent in Japanese but not a native-lavel speaker of English. She finds this CD-ROM interesting in both languages, so I believe this CD-ROM will help her English. The US CD-ROM contains a Spanish version, so if your situation involves English and Spanish, my message may be relevant to you.

"Activities include an attribute matching game, in which Piglet gives a verbal clue like 'I'm looking for something square and made out of wood,' .... The activities are generally lacking in educational value".

Lacking in value? Even though the phrase is modified by "generally", I think it ignores several ways in which this particular activity is potentially useful for particular children. I'm not an expert in cognitive development so I won't say very much about the deductive processing skills being employed (providing that the child happens to be at a level where this helps). My area is language acquisition, specifically foreign language / second language. For children (and adults?) doing this game in a language that is NOT their native one, the activity has educational value.

However, having said that, I wish the clues were repeated more often. If you click on the wrong object, Piglet only says things like "No, that's not the one I'm looking for". He does not repeat the clue. If you didn't catch it the first time, you're out of luck -- you have to click each item until you happen upon the correct answer.

Other than this one point, I agree with the "Children's Software Revue" review: This is a good product. Your kids will like it and you'll get good value for your money.

-------- note --------

I bought the Japanese version in Japan, and it contains the English version. I bought it for my 7-year old daughter, who's fluent in Japanese but not a native-lavel speaker of English. She finds this CD-ROM interesting in both languages, so I believe this CD-ROM will help her English. The US CD-ROM contains a Spanish version, so if your situation involves English and Spanish, my message may be relevant to you.