Disney's 102 Dalmatians Activity Center

Rating:
Summary: Adventures in Typing with Timon & Pumbaa
Review: My seven year old son rushed to my compter as soon as the Amazon box arrived. He was not disappointed as he was easily able to put the CD in my I-Mac himself and click on the icon to start the adventure. It held his interest for an hour as he moved through the excercises guided by the Disney characters. When I wanted to work at my desk our son simply moved to his dad's PC and with a little help was able to install the typing tutor at Dad's desk as well. The typing excercises and games are perfact for a young child and my son is not even aware that he is learning to type. We have had the CD for 3 days now and Patrick sits at the keyboard with his hands in the correct position and is able to type simple works without even looking at the keyboard. He has learned all on is own with no help for us. For my son it is essential that he learn to type as soon as possible. He is dyslexic and is struggling with writing and spelling. Soon he will be able to use a keyboard with a word processing program in school but he must first learn to type. I highly recommend this software. I rated it a 5 but Patrick says it is a 4 because he says it is not his absolute favorite thing to do but it is "really great!".

Rating:
Summary: I must be a sucker to buy Disney software!!
Review: My very bright 5 year old was bored after the first 30 minutes. The games are not much fun, and my son was very disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Great Intro to Typing
Review: So far, our 6 year old is quite taken with this disc. The disc focuses quite well on the basics of typing -- such as home row and not watching your fingers -- and offers "certificates" as levels are successfully completed.

Rating:
Summary: Great for a very reluctant typist
Review: The last thing my son wanted to do over the Summer is learn typing. But his handwriting leaves a lot to be desired, and they allow lap tops in his school so they want the kids to know how to type... and this program appeals to his sense of humor and fun. He doesn't mind doing the lessons even though they are quite challenging once you get into it. There are certificates to be earned and lots of encouragement from Rafiki. I recommend it. Even though my son is 11, and older than the recommended ages, it's still a lot of fun. He's also ADHD, but it manages to hold his attention!

Rating:
Summary: Didn't install right, the games aren't very fun
Review: This did not install on my kids' computer, which is Win98, and only installed on my work computer (not great). Of course, I had already opened it, so returning it wasn't worth the possible hassle. At any rate, I thought the games were not imaginative and the navigation was poor, so it was tough for my kids to get around and figure out where the games even were. Plus, the skill level required for the different "sub-games" is pretty divergent.

Rating:
Summary: Great game, tons of fun!!!!!!
Review: This game includes four fun-filled levels. It's great for kids of all ages. But I am sorry that it is SO difficult to find in stores. I recomend this item to anyone who is looking for a very, very fun learn to type game for children.

Rating:
Summary: Good Game... Parts of it are a bit monotonous for young kids
Review: This game was purchased for my six year old. She is a pretty active kid...not a lot of computer experience yet. When she first began to play, she was very tempted to look at her fingers...I sat beside her and held a lg. piece of paper over her hands, which solved the problem. The first night she learned to type f,d,j and k. She liked to "shoot bugs" (by typing the correct letter) but mandatory pages of just letters was a bit frustrating for her. I think that this game should go a little slower and therefore be more of a game and less work. I rate this game a solid B. It seems that it would be perfect for an 8 or 9 year old.

Rating:
Summary: Great way to teach a child to type
Review: This is a great game/teaching tool which will help any youngster ages 4 - 15 to use a keyboard. It keeps your attention via interactive voice and animation as well as frequent games which test your skill. The scorecard reports on your progress as well as identifying where you need help. In one week, my children's typing skills increased 10 fold. I recommend this to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Time to give Mavis her walking papers!
Review: This is not one of those cutesy titles that only pretends to be about education. This is an extremely well-designed, well-thought-out program that effectively teaches typing (i.e., keyboarding). Anything even remotely associated with The Lion King may trigger the gag reflex in survivors of the whole Lion King blitzkrieg, but rest assured: Timon and Pumba do not have center stage here; the lessons do. Never sacrificing the functional for the cute or gimmicky, this program is structured, yet adaptive, and uses a gradual progression of exercises to provide just the right degree of challenge as the user progresses. In other words, the program captivates by providing variation (to keep things from getting dull) and by making the goal seem easy while maintaining just the right level of difficulty. Both my wife and nine-year-old were instantly hooked and have progressed dramatically. I do have a few minor complaints (for example, icons for navigating through the program could be more intuitive or--Heaven forbid--identified with actual words), but overall, this is a finely crafted tool that condenses a one-semester high school typing class (of yore) onto a single CD-ROM--but without the boring teacher.

Rating:
Summary: Disney's Adventures in Typing with Timon & Pumbaa
Review: This program has been the most successful program I have used with children who are early school age and who need to learn to type due to writing difficulties. It is very colorful and seems to hold the interest of the children. I recommend it to parents all the time and I am sorry that it is so hard to find.