Description:
Playhouse Disney's Stanley Tiger Tales is a bright program that manages to emulate the magical seamlessness of a young child's thought process. One moment Stanley is jabbering with his goldfish, the next instant he's looking for his hat to take to the beach, then whammo!--a cardboard tube triggers a flight of fancy and Stanley briefly becomes an aardvark. The program begins with Stanley's mom asking him to round up his sunscreen, float toy, and some other items for a trip to the beach. It's a small thing, but most beleaguered parents will appreciate the good modeling here: Stanley's mom isn't frantically gathering this stuff up for her son. Instead, she assumes he's big enough to do a bit of problem solving. Amen. Stanley solves this happy problem with your child's help, and there are plenty of safaris, mouse whiskers, and monkey dances along the way to keep it engaging. This program is designed to work with a wide range of early computer skills. Beginners will get a response from objects in a room if they sweep the cursor over them. Kids who have connected to clicking are richly rewarded: objects become games, change color, or reveal an animal factoid. Kids must find Stanley's beach gear and keep an eye out for stamps to paste into an informative tome called The Great Big Book of Everything. There are five minigames in Stanley's bedroom, four more in his backyard, and the rest of the house has plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. The games all self-adjust to your child's skill level. We enjoyed one that involved Stanley, clad in tiger pajamas, stalking an antelope. Timing, forethought, and observation are required to move Stanley from hiding place to hiding place while avoiding the alert gaze of the antelope. Another good one was Stanley's monkey dance, where players "program" Stanley to mimic the moves a monkey makes. All of these games have a certain relentlessness that some parents will love, some will hate. They're timed, they're scored, and a wrong move wipes out the existing game, causing players to have to start all over. It all happens in a friendly manner, of course, but mistakes are penalized here. We didn't mind this approach to the games, since they're all brief enough a mistake doesn't erase hours of work. Finally, this nimble program also has a "Parents' Area" in case you want to check your child's antelope-stalking progress. Stanley Tiger Tales is a well-executed delight that will appeal to any younger child, especially one who is fascinated by animals. (Ages 3 to 6) --Anne Erickson
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