Let’s Start Learning!

Preschool In A Box!

A Review of Let’s Start Learning!

Tina Velgos

For less than $45.00, your child can independently learn preschool

fundamentals in reading, math, science and thinking at home without

enrolling in preschool! The Learning Company’s Let’s Start Learning!

software is the one learning program every parent of a preschool child

should have. It is like a virtual preschool without the usual expenses and

germs!

Of course, 4-year-old Timmy loves letters and numbers, shapes and pattern,

matching and sorting, early reading and early math. He was singing,

laughing and repeating wacky rhymes and songs with wonderful lyrics as he

played Let’s Start Learning! all afternoon. The concise narration with

life-like speech of preschoolers is an excellent feature. Kids love

interacting with other kids, even their electronic counterparts.

You and your child will be humming to songs like The Counting Club Song,

The ABC Diner Song, The Shape Shack Song and dancing to The Jolly Jamboree.

You’ll love meeting Reader Rabbit, Mat the Mouse, Ali the Counting Cat, Ed

the Dog, Ben the Ant, and Mit the Monkey. In addition, you can play the

CD-ROM on an audio CD player (Tracks 2-6).

Kids will learn motor skills, visual perception, auditory discrimination,

visual and auditory memory, comprehension and contentration with this

software. Have loads of fun exploring five different playworlds: Counting

Club, ABC Diner, Shape Shack, Pattern Parade and The Carousel. The

entrance to each activity has many hidden clickables and an animated

character who sings about what you will find when you click on the entrance

door. If kids need help while playing, they can click on the character for

a hint.

Meet Ali the Counting Cat in the Counting Club. Ali reminded me of a perky

aerobics instructor while she enthusiastically instructed kids to match

numbers, practice counting and to start adding and subtracting. As Timmy

clicked on a window or door to open it, the forest animals jumped out on

the screen, then twisted and stretched to the energizing music. Ali

encouraged Timmy to say the numbers out loud while he counted and to join

Ali in some stretching exercises while he played this activity.

ABC Diner was a hilarious interactive cartoon, which helped kids learn the

names, shapes and sounds of letters. We went inside the ABC Diner and

found Ed the Dog and Reader Rabbit busy in the kitchen. Reader Rabbit

played being the waiter, while Ed the Dog was busy with his power mixer

whipping up culinary treats for his guests. Kids helped the characters put

zany ingredients into recipes, while they clicked on cabinet doors to open

and close them. Although Timmy found Level 1 extremely easy (matching

letters to the ingredients in the cabinets), he still had loads of fun with

it. Level 2 was more challenging since Timmy had to match the letter sound

to the letters and ingredients in the cabinets. Timmy liked Level 3 the

best, though. In Level 3, he matched verbalized letters with the food that

began with the same letter.

Everything you’ve ever wanted your preschool child to learn about

distinguishing shapes, colors, and sounds can be found in the Shape Shack

activity. Timmy loved sorting Mit the Monkey’s toys. He quickly found that

there were three different ways to sort toys in Level 3 and 4. For hints,

you can click on a toy to hear its name or sound or click on a flag to find

out what toys to match. This was a great activity which I intend to put to

good practical use. Here’s the scenario. Upon observing Timmy’s messy

room, I will ask Tim to put his toys away in the toy containers. Tim will

probably shake his head and mumble he doesn’t want to pick up toys, and

then insist that he has to play on the computer. I’ll (ever so gently)

remind him that if he can sort Mit the Monkey’s toys in Shape Shack, he can

sort toys in his room! Of course, I win the argument hands down, right?

(Either that or he loses computer privileges for a few hours).

Everybody loves a parade! In Pattern Parade, Ben the Ant helps kids learn

to identify, complete and create patterns based on color, size and sound.

The audio is really boffo. Timmy enjoyed clicking on the different

marching animals to hear the different instruments they played. Level 4

was a great adventure which let Tim make his own parade!

Kids can play four different challenge levels in Let’s Start Learning!

There is also an option for parents to customize the levels for kids (an

older child would find Level 4 more challenging than Level 1), monitor the

progress of their child, change text from upper case to lower case and

control the sound levels, an important feature for any game.

In The Carousel, golden keys appear on key rings, which unlock the Carousel

pony and take the kids to the Learning Kingdom. Kids are urged to collect

the keys, since each activity key ring helps the child complete a different

part of the pony: the head, front lets, back legs or tail. When ALL of the

keys have been collected, kids can mix and match the different parts of the

pony until they find the right pony who will take them to the gates of The

Learning Kingdom.

Earning keys by finishing activities quickly became the object of the game.

It is very time consuming (read: HOURS and HOURS!!) to collect ALL the

keys. I would rather see kids enjoying the interactive activities than

being intent on collecting ALL the keys. Once the keys are all collected,

it is a little disappointing, since the pony quickly transforms and leads

the kids to an animated Learning Kingdom (with sparkling gates) and the

game is over. It would have been a better idea to provide kids with another

game, instead. The concept is that Let’s Start Learning! is the first in

the Reader Rabbit Series and is the entry point to other titles of The

Learning Company’s software (hence, the Learning Kingdom) like Reader

Rabbit’s Interactive Reading Journey and Reader Rabbit 1, Reader Rabbit 2

and Math Rabbit.

School House Scorecard

Product:	Let’s Start Learning!
Company:	The Learning Company 6493 Kaiser Drive Fremont, CA 94555 Phone: 1-800-852-2255

Cost:

$45.00

Windows:
IBM PC or compatible, 386DX/33 MHz processor, 4 MB RAM,
Hard disk with 2 MB free disk space, SVGA color monitor,
256 colors at 640 x 480 resolution,
Windows 3.1 or higher (including Windows 95),
Mouse or other Windows-compatible pointing device,
Double speed or faster CD-ROM drive
and a Windows-compatible sound card.

Macintosh:
Apple Macintosh 68030/15 MHz or better,
including: Centris, Quadra, Power Macintosh, Color PowerBook,
Performa 400 or greater, LC!! or greater, IIx and IIcx or greater,
and Color Classic. System 7.0.1 or later, 4 MB RAM,
256 colors at 640 x 480 resolution or higher
and a double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive.