Rating: 
Summary: Woof Woof!! Excellent For Kids, Fun For Adults, Too!
Review: Although Clifford's Thinking Adventures is rated for children ages 4-6, my 3 1/2 has been playing with it, loving it, and learning (without knowing it!) since we received it from Amazon a week ago. There are three difficulty levels, and even on the Easy setting I have been impressed with the level of thinking my daughter has shown in figuring out the puzzles and also in the long term goal of getting Clifford to his birthday party.When you play, you first choose 4 jewels for Clifford's collar, which show up along the way as you explore the game and work on the more difficult, multi-part tasks which must be completed before Clifford's birthday party may begin. These tasks involve your putting together various items you find in the game to solve problems. For instance, one of the tasks is for Clifford to get a bath and brush so he will look spiffy for the party. Fair enough, but this task cannot simply be accomplished by going to the dog groomer's shop (Clifford is too big to get through the door!). Later, as the game is played, you will find that the groomer, who previously closed his shop at the mere sight of the humongous Clifford, is taking a balloon ride in the park. What do you do when his balloon gets stuck in the tree and he can't get down? Think think think...how about using that rope ladder we saw earlier by the fire station? When the groomer gets down, he is so greatful that he gives Clifford a grooming kit he can use, if he can find enough water to bathe in. Where is there enough water? Think think think...was that a swimming pool I saw on the map?? There are plenty of games and puzzles along the way to the party as well. For instance, when Clifford accidentally knocks over the stand in front of the grocery store, you have to piece the broken sign back together (puzzle - spacial relationships) and put the grocery items back on the proper shelves in a certain order (following directions, counting). I have noticed that the games and item locations can change from game to game for repeat playability. The game is also automatically saved wherever you happen to be, even if you do not close out of the game properly. This is a nice feature for small kids. I have very few criticisms of the game. Actually moving Clifford around on the map in the game where you take people (and their cars) home according to their directions ("I live in the yellow house next to the three apple trees") can be a little bit tricky to master. Also, I first thought that it was a little annoying that the game does not give you a cursor to click until the characters in the scenes stop talking. I now think that this is a good idea, because it forces you to listen and to think about what the characters are saying instead of just clicking away as on an arcade game. I changed my sound card a few nights ago, and went into Clifford to test it after my daughter had gone to bed. I ended up playing an entire game myself using one of the more difficult modes. About halfway through my wife walked in and started giving her suggestions over my shoulder. Yes, we really enjoyed Clifford too!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Easily Bored With It
Review: I am surprised to see all the five star ratings for this game. This game is easily mastered and once mastered, it is boring. It took my three year old a day to master the game. It is Clifford's birthday and Emily and Clifford have to get ready for the party. So off they go to find jewels from his birthday collar that were lost, solve some problems, and complete some activities. The activities are varied working on a variety of skills: memory, problem solving, creativity, matching, eye hand skills and more. Some of the activities can even be made more difficult or easier depending on the ability of the child. The biggest problem I see with this software is that once you finish the game, it is over. Different levels don't equal different games just harder games. But overall, the game is the samend nothing changes. IT took my three year old a day to master the game. Now he is bored with it.
Rating:
Summary: Clifford the Big Red Dog: Phonics
Review: I bought this for my 3 year old daughter for Christmas this year. It was the first computer learning game she ever tried and it has been great in teaching her the basic mechanics for moving the cursor around the computer screen and using a mouse. But now, just 3 months later, I find that she is bored with the game. There are only a handful of games at the carnival to play. She seems more interested in decorating the float with the prizes she's won from these games instead.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and Educational
Review: I bought this for my 4 year old girl. She rarely watches Clifford so I took a chance with this one - but SHE LOVES IT! This game is a good solid tool for teaching and reinforcing reading and phonics. She now knows all the sounds each letter makes and can read more and more words. Only drawback, instead of wanting a kitty for a pet, she's now asking for a Big Red Dog - I tell her, "We'll See!" HA! Great game! Get it!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I bought this program for my 4.5 year old son, and we both just love it! This is the first program I've ever seen that had real, tangible rewards that you could print out and actually do something with. So far we've gotten finger puppets, a tick tack toe game and a connect the dots game. And the bonus "books" that are great self-confidence boosters. The program really makes fun work out of phonics. My son has already had some reading background, but this program is more fun for him than anything else we've ever done. His very favorite part is where you have to pop balloons of sight words and eventually Clifford get's dunked in the water. My son laughs and laughs over this and wants to keep doing it over and over. We've had lots of programs since he was two years old, but this one is really something different.
Rating: 
Summary: for the most resistant reader
Review: My 4.5 yr old son would much rather play nintendo than try to learn phonics, thanks to the influence of two older sibs. He received this game yesterday and already has spent countless hours on it playing the games and inadvertantly learning phonics. This game uses letter groupings as well as phonics, which is the method my other kids used with great success. This game definately requires parent participation in the early stages, but it's been fun watching him become more and more independant in his reading skills even though he is not aware of it. Only complaint is that the reward system is limited, so beware if your child is reward-oriented.
Rating:
Summary: Great for a six year old!
Review: My daughter has fallen in love with Clifford. Since we bought her this game she has not been able to stop playing it. The game is fun and educational. It actually does help teach thinking and problem solving skills. It's also well made with intuitive interfaces well geared for the intended age group. The box says 3-6 years old but I think any child that likes Clifford will enjoy this game. My daughter is almost seven and I can see that she will be playing it for quite a while. If you are familiar with the quality of the games from Humongous Entertainment (Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt, etc.) this game is in the same league. For me it was money well spent.
Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to computers
Review: My four-year-old daughter was not interested in using the computer at preschool so we bought this at the school's book fair. Well, now she is VERY interested in the computer. She too has spent countless hours playing this game. It was very simple for her to master her way around without little help from myself. It is not only a fun game but also a game that teaches word and picture recognition. I would highly recommend this software to other parents; in fact, I am going to put some more Clifford titles on her Christmas list!
Rating:
Summary: some reviews below refer to "Thinking Adventures"
Review: Note: Some of the reviews here (the 3-star one entitled "very easily bored with it" for instance) refer to a different product--"Clifford's Thinking Adventures". The Phonics title is a completely different game, released in July 2003. If the review says at the end "refers to an ALTERNATE VERSION" check the link--might be a review for the other game.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite of the kids
Review: Our kids have used many products. This became their favorite because of it's content as well as having Clifford which they knew from the books we have. This CD is pretty much what the title suggests - it's a thinking game. It gets them to remember items they saw on other screens and bring them to other screens to solve problems. I was pretty impressed at the success it had getting the kids to think - without our help. They sometimes play for hours till we tear them away. Both our 2 1/2 year old and 4 year old love it. I'd say that 3 year olds can probably start using it on their own if they are familiar with using programs of this type & the mouse. 2 year olds will need help solving some problems but love the graphics, painting and games. The box says ages 4-6.
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