Description:
Toddlers explore a bright garden world where they can make snails count and critters with instruments play the Blue Danube Waltz. Their playmate is an engaging duckling named DeeDee, who's visiting her grandmother. DeeDee's gran has a heck of a fun place: there's a Treehouse of Shapes, a Numbers Pond, a Garden of Colors, a Musical Waterfall, a forest full of Peek-a-Boo Animals, and ABC Toadstools in the garden. Go inside and there's Gran, all set to play Picture Playtime. All seven activities can be initiated and played with a sweep of the mouse or by hitting random keys--no clicking required. Parents should plan on guiding younger toddlers around this program. DeeDee's explanations are no substitute for seeing Daddy do it. JumpStart Toddlers sneaks the learning in everywhere. While you're counting in the Numbers Pond, sweeping the feather cursor over a lily pad makes a letter of the alphabet pop out, and DeeDee cheerfully interrupts her counting to utter "A!"(or whatever the letter is). Letters also appear like subliminal advertising behind the Musical Waterfall. Music is everywhere on this CD-ROM as well; each activity has a corresponding song, belted out in DeeDee Duckling's Broadway best. We occasionally find JumpStart's characters a bit cloying, but whoever designed DeeDee gave her some of the very same qualities that make toddlers so endearing. DeeDee fidgets, rubs her nose gleefully, and chews on the ends of her bonnet ribbons. The Learning Scrapbook that comes packaged with this CD-ROM is simply a series of printable templates that parents can use to build a baby scrapbook in that cutesy JumpStart graphic style. (Ages 18 months to 3 years) --Anne Erickson
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