Rating: 
Summary: lovely game
Review: A lovely simple, honest and clever game. My daughter was almost 4 when she got it and mastered it in days- and for those days played it for hours at a time! It reminds me of a kids' version of Myst in it's theme of putting many tasks together to create a solution to a problem.
It taught her how to use the mouse, navigate using a mental map, and remember tasks after many screens. An absolutly perfect introduction to basic computer skills in the lovliest way. I will buy many copies for presents. She still plays with it and her sister, 3 1/2 is now starting to play it alone.
Rating:
Summary: Very cute and lots of fun!
Review: After seeing many poor quality computer games for kids, Ollo was a breath of fresh air! This is a top notch game with a fun storyline and cute graphics that can be enjoyed over and over. This game is a bit challenging to navigate at first but after some initial guidance, my 3 year old plays it on his own with no problem. Highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Great game: my three-year-old loves it
Review: Age appropriateness is always an issue but this game requires basic mousing skills (dragging is the toughest chore) as well as listening and problem-solving skills.I needed to be there for the first and second rounds thru the game. But he is now self-sufficent. And the game is fun and looks great.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for 3 year olds
Review: Age appropriateness: Box says 3 and up but my guess is that 5+ would be more accurate. I don't know any 3 year olds that have the mouse skills to use this game. The map you navigate over is pretty complex for a 3 or 4 year old and there's a lot of back tracking to paths that just an action ago were impassable. Although this helps guide you by trail-and-error, the cause (action) and effect (path clears on another part of the map) would be lost on any kid under 5. Consequently, my 3 year old found this game confusing, frustrating, and very boring. Actually, so did I. I don't really see the educational value in, for instance, looking in a circus for a rake because that's not very logical or intuitive - just random. The whole game is like that. Things are hidden in the most incongruous places and navigating by trial-and-error is time-consuming and frustrating. In fact, you spend more than 75% of your time navigating the map. There's no value in memorizing the map because it changes every time you complete an action that progresses you through the game. Yes, it will keep 5 year olds busy but mostly with navigation, not educational activity. Both of us parents, who are software engineers, concluded that anyone could design a better game than this. Compare this game to Reader Rabbit Toddler and you'll see what we mean. Reader Rabbit Toddler is for 1-3 year olds but the user interface is intuitive and easy and perfectly suited for little people with little mouse experience. PS You may also want to pass on Dr. Seuss Reading Game (3-7). This game requires some really sophisticated mouse skills. Paradoxically, it's from the same company as Reader Rabbit Toddler, The Learning Company. I'll bet doubling the age range on kid's games really bumps up the sales. ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of stupid
Review: As far as I can tell, this running natively on OS X is it's biggest plus. To start with, none of the three year olds I know can play this. It requires solid mouse skills, a good memory and reasonably complex problem solving. Next, I didn't see any kind of documentation or referencing of the mini-games and spent the whole game wondering if I was supposed to be collecting these marbles and trying to find an apparently non-existant use for them. The chapter format does give specific tasks -- sometimes. It also blocks off areas of Ollo's world, presumably to make completing the current task easier. But ending the game didn't allow special access to the mini-games or any other special features, which I'd kind of expected. Also, it didn't look like it would vary any if you played it again, but I can't be sure. It just didn't seem that fun or that interesting. Kids old enough to master the skills required will probably be bored with it; those younger will need help. My kids all prefer Pajama Sam -- they may not be able to finish the game without help, but they have a *whole* lot more fun just playing around with it. And if you're actually looking for a toddler game to run on OS X, the new Reader Rabbit 2002 *seems* to run natively for me (it's not using 9 in any case) and is *vastly* superior for the three and under crowd.
Rating:
Summary: confusing for 3-5 years old
Review: For a 3-5 years old (what is recommended), it is very confusing
and boring. There is little help, and not enough animation and
fun games to play.
Rating:
Summary: Best kids Mac OS X game available
Review: I go through a lot of kid software, and this is the funniest cleverest learning software I've ever seen. The box says ages 3 and up, but kids under 8 will definitely need an adult's help to figure it all out. Every age will like the great animation. BTW, this game runs native on Mac OS X.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I picked this CD up at the library for my 3 year old and we have since purchased it. It is the first software that I enjoyed working through with her, and that she enjoys doing on her own. She enjoys every aspect of this software ie. working through the chapters, playing the "mini-games" on the way, and collecting the marbles for the pinball game.
Rating: 
Summary: Myst for Toddlers
Review: I purchased this game on the recommendation of a children's magazine. I read the reviews here as well, and dismissed the negative ones, largely because the complaints were that the children couldn't do them by themselves (I presumed the authors were the sort of parent who let computers, TV, etc do the babysitting - my apologies). Well, I sat down with my son to play the game and thought it was over his head. To solve the first puzzle, your child would have to go back through one screen to find a key, then to another screen to unlock a shed, then search the shed for the object and finally return to the original screen to use the object. Don't get me wrong - I think it's a great idea to get kids looking for the less obvious answers, but this game is just not for 3 to 4 year olds (the age range the magazine recomended it for). Try it out on a bright 5 year old.
Rating:
Summary: My girl's FAVORITE, the one that she always returns to
Review: I thought my four-year-old mastered this program over a year ago but she still enjoys playing it today (September 2003) and still learns small details she previously missed each time she plays. Critics who say this game is too difficult for three-year-olds are, in my opinion, underestimating the abilities of three-year-olds. This game is extrememly intersting and motivational. If a child has fun playing the game, he or she is bound to figure out how to solve the problems with a little parental coaxing. Just navigating around the "Ollo World" is fun in itself.
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