Part of the LearningBuddies line, this program boasts 50+ activities covering a full first grade curriculum.
There are 2 CD-ROMs in this package the first one is entitled Disc 1: Bionic Bunny's Contest, and teaches essential first grade skills. Arthur and his friends are participating in Bionic Bunny's "Good Deeds Contest" and are searching for good deeds to do in the community. During this quest, kids play the following learning activities:
LearningBuddies software titles monitor progress and adapt the program to meet an individual child's changing needs. There are Progress Reports available so that parents can know how well their children are doing. Clicking on the star icon on the screen will pull up a Preferences screen that allows players to adjust the volume of the music, to turn printer access on/off, to use auto-leveling or not, and to view the Goal Checker a kid-friendly graph that shows how close children are to completing their mission.
We found the range of skills covered in this program to be excellent activities cover the expected arithmetic and language arts subjects, but also social skills, music, critical thinking skills, and more. The printable activities are excellent, and the inclusion of board-game style activities is refreshing and fun. Kid testers barely came up for air t they had so much fun testing this program!
Minimum requirements are Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0, a 486/66 MHz, 16 Mb RAM, and 2X CD ROM. Mac users require a 60 MHz Power PC with 16 Mb RAM, System 7.1 or higher, and at least 2X CD ROM.
reading, phonics, word sounds, spelling, vocabulary, sentence construction, counting, addition, subtraction, measurement, categorization, real-life skills, sequencing, patterns, creativity, logic, spatial relations, strategy, attributes
The characters provide positive reinforcement, making for a very encouraging atmosphere for learning. We found the program to be very helpful when kids were struggling. The learning activities are age-appropriate, and the difficulty levels provide a good range of challenge for first-graders.
The screens are very bright and inviting, and the characters friendly most children will be attracted to the game, whether they are Arthur fans or not.
This program contains many desirable design features, including clear navigational icons, an easy-to-use interface, the ability to "click through" introductions, and more. The difficulty levels adjust automatically as a child progresses, but can be changed manually if desired.
There is an enormous amount of content to keep children busy for hours on end. Multilevel activities extend the program's replay value even further.
Suggested retail price is $29.95 US, which is appropriate for the quantity and quality of educational activities