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Summary: Reader Rabbit Toddler
Review: After a bit of research, we bought this as the first computer software for our 1 year old daughter, and she just loves it. It keeps her occupied and laughing for long periods. First she was fascinated by the keyboard banging and the reactions she could cause. By 16 months she had mastered the concepts of mouse clicking and dragging objects and moving around. By 20 months she was an expert in all the games, starts and stops the program herself, and navigates to where she wants to play. This program is also educational as well as fun. She learned her numbers, colors, shapes, animal sounds, songs in large part through this software. While she is now 22 months and has moved on to a bit more advanced programs, she still goes back and enjoys playing these games quite frequently. This was a most excellent purchase. It was a very positive experience for her, not much frustration, in fact she kept pushing us away when we tried to help and show her things, she wanted to figure them out on her own. The computer has easily become her favorite toy, and the family has to fight with her just to get time of their own. I recommend this without hesitation, it is better by far than anything else I've seen for a baby/toddler starter program.
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Summary: The BEST first software program
Review: After trying several different software programs for toddlers (including JumpStart Toddlers), I really believe this is the only way to go for the first program. The games are controlled by keyboard and mouse, so children who don't yet understand mouse movement can make the game work. When using the mouse, simply rolling over the correct part of the screen will activate the game. There are a variety of games that will improve computer skills gradually. Even after learning to point, click, and drag, my son still loves this game. My only complaint about the game is that I wish the star "button" which takes you back to the main menu is at the bottom right corner of the screen and too close to other pieces on many games. The fact that you only have to pause over the star, not click it, to return to the main menu meant that, until his mouse skills improved, my son was constantly accidently exiting a game in progress. I'd move the star to the upper right or left corner. But that is my only complaint. This is a fantastic product.
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Summary: Sparks the Fire to Learn!!!
Review: As children's software goes the Reader Rabbit series is one of my favorites. Reader Rabbit's 1st Grade "Capers on Cloud Nine" captured my daughter's attention so well that she would not stop until she had finished the entire game! That says a lot since she hasn't previously been terribly interested in the computer as her older siblings have. The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five is because she was able to complete it in one afternoon. How I wish it could have gone on a little bit longer! Now the hunt is on for more...but what a great start. Still, it was definately worth the money and I would do it again as it sparked the fire!
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Summary: Not horrible, but far from great
Review: First, I loved Reader Rabbit Toddler -- I thought it was cute, suited a large range of (toddler) skills and interests, fast paced and not annoying. I can't say the same for Reader Rabbit Preschool. My 2 1/2 yr old likes the three minute music videos lauding the joys of "Spark-a-lot" -- I think they're insipid, annoying, and pointless. They're not given as a reward for completing an activity and they don't reinforce anything but the storyline. As for the storyline -- winning a complete set of brillites in order to start a fountain, rescue a ship and save the stars -- was way beyond my 2 1/2 year old.Game play is confusing -- both for me and my son. It's very dependent on being able to listen to the directions upfront. As a parent being called in to rescue a frustrated child, I had a hard time figuring out what the goal of the game was at times. I also still haven't gotten my son to sit and listen to the directions by himself -- he just likes the games where he's already learned the set instructions like the mining game where you have to match gems of a certain shape and color. Some of the games were just too long, and most of them got old fast. I just don't see the point of counting out a set number of astronauts twenty times just so you can win a brillite. Again, if you're child already knows the skill -- counting, letters, matching colors and shapes -- then they can practice. If they don't know the skill, the game won't teach it. As is mentioned in other reviews, the game won't remove extra choices or highlight the right answer to help, it just keeps repeating the same instructions. So if your child needs more than: "You need a blue brillite." "That's not a triangle." or "Try again." than get ready to do a *lot* of helping. As for winning the game, there didn't really seem to be a rhyme or reason to the winning of brillites and I had a hard time figuring out what they were for. One set of colors started a fountain; another color set was needed to free the ship; and I never quite figured out what the third did -- some areas of the game allowed you to use them, but I'm still not sure if the rat popping up for a couple of seconds was the sole reward. Trying to get complete sets can be frustrating as you're never told what you need to do to get them. I also don't see the point of a game you can win for preschoolers -- it's just too long of a reward delay for young, and seems to be used in place of greater variety. It's not a horrible game or anything -- just not particularly great.
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Summary: Good but...
Review: I bought reader rabbit toddler for my 2 year old. (She turned two in sept). It was the first game she was permitted to play, her first real exposure to using the computer. On the plus side, it did a great job teaching her to use the mouse. All of the activities can be accessed without needing to coordinate clicking. That's good because it's pretty tough for little hands to do that sometimes. The little games are okay. There are 3 that are mainly practicing mouse movements, 1 just fun one, 2 straight matching, and 2 matching with strategy. She had a hard time getting the baby basket bingo game where you match a baby animal (hidden in a basket) to its mother or father, based solely on the sound it makes. She knew which animal made which sound, but she didn't seem to realize that a baby cow can only belong to a mommy cow. (and not a mommy duck for example). She really loved this game. She wanted to play it non stop for a few weeks...Maybe 3. And then she mastered it. She still likes to play it every day, but it only takes 10-20 minutes of it for her to get bored. For some 2 year olds 10-20 minutes is a lot, but not mine. She'll happily sit through a feature length movie, or read book after book after book, just so you get an idea. There is a second CD that comes with it but all the activities except one are way too old for toddlers. Activities that involve actual math (adding 2 digit numbers, etc). So that's not real useful. There are a few annoying things, but they are small. For example in the letter matching/phonics activity their example of an "S" word is shoe. True, it does start with an s, why not use a word that is not an exception to the "S sound" rule. Sock or soup or something... Also, there's no way to turn of the instructions for each game. Ellen gets frustrated as she has to sit there listening to them again and again. Also, in the bubble castle activity, there are always 5 animals, so they are always counting to 5. Some variety might have been better for teaching the kids counting. And lastly, you HAVE to use the CD to run the game. My husband (a computer science ph.D student) tried several ways to just run it from the hard drive, but it is impossible. So we have the problem of the 2 year old who wants to take the disk in and out of the drive to play her game. Anyway...Bottom line, your kid will like it. Your kid will learn to use the mouse. Your kid will probably outgrow it quickly. Try to find it on sale.
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Summary: It's too frustrating for a youngster!!!!
Review: I bought the French Reader Rabbit for reading for my daughter and they were great. I figured that I would try the English version of the kidergarten program for my 3.5 year old son. All the games have a lot of repetitions in them. My son found the pace very slow and soon got very tired of the fact that one has to do all the exercises to get the instruemnt pieces. He played it once and did not want to do it again. Don't bother if your child is about average intelligence. I have some old Curious George and Dr. Suess CD's that does not work with XP. My son had a go with them before I got the new operating system and I will certainly try to get updated versions of those for him instead.
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Summary: No regrets on this purchase!
Review: I bought this software based on others' reviews here. What a great buy! Our son turned 2 last month. We have an old iMac we gave him, and we thought we'd buy him Reader Rabbit to introduce him to computer use since he's taken an unhealthy interest in ours. The software installed easily, and by default makes itself start up when the computer turns on to save children from having to navigate program menus. The first time we sat our son in front of it he laughed and squealed and couldn't get enough of it. Since the software can be operated without a keyboard, we removed it (he was banging on it pretty hard), and he just navigates his way through everything with just the mouse. His favorite games are the Bubble Castle and the Fingerplay Theatre. Our son is behind in his language skills, and at the end of the first day (thanks to bubble castle) he could count to five! The best part though is the overwhelming cuteness of Fingerplay Theatre. He clicks a song, such as Twinkle-twinkle, and follows the rabbit's hand motions on the screen and then goes wild at the end clapping his hands and screaming YAY. I really could go on and on here, but let me summarize by saying after one week of Reader Rabbit, he knows more about colors, counting, alphabet and songs than he's learned in months of baby einstein videos. Best twenty bucks I've ever spent. Two technical shortcomings, but I'm reaching: There should be a "sleep" mode when he walks away from it and leaves it on, and possibly a way to disable the exit star (he sometimes clicks it by accident and inadvertently leaves the program).
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Summary: Reader Rabbit Kindergarten v1.1
Review: I couldn't get this to run on my XP machine. The technical support on the web site was useless, and there is no human technical support available for this product. My 5-year-old (who loved RR Baby and Toddler) called it a piece of junk.
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Summary: Very Educational
Review: I got this for my four and a half year old daughter. It is very educational. You earn instrument pieces along the way so that makes it exciting. It takes a long time to earn all the instruments and you start off where you left off each time. Sometimes she gets frustrated and I have to help her along. All in all it is very fun. She asks to play it. It also has a section for art activities and music activities.
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Summary: Too much advertisement and lacks parental controls
Review: I had previously purchased Reader Rabbit for baby and toddler and was thrilled with the product. However, I cannot say the same of the Reader Rabbit Preschool. This CD launches with a page that gives my [child] 6 choices of where to go. Only one is the educational program. The others are advertisements for Star Flyers, Clue Finders, Zoombinis, the Oregan Trail, and Carmen Sandiego. Each of these plays a short movie and gives my [child] the option of launching the internet to download more. I certainly do not want my child on the internet, and I did not purchase the CD so that the Learning Company could target my ...child with advertisement. I wanted him to learn something. It quickly became a fight to keep him in the educational portion of the CD. I called Broderbund, and after waiting 25 minutes to speak with a technician, was told that there was nothing that could be done. There are no parental controls. I asked to speak with a supervisor to discuss my concerns, and was told I could go to the web site and e-mail them. I would not recommend this CD.
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