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Here’s an interactive storybook that will capture the hearts of everychild (ages 4 – 10) who has ever dreamed about spending hours and hours ina toy store. Where else can you make toys come to life with a click of themouse? In Corel Home’s “NN ‘n N” software title, that’s where!
This interactive storybook is about two pals, Nikolai and his toy cat,Neow-Neow. We quickly find out that Neow-Neow is one naughty cat! Kidshave the option of having the story read to them, as each word ishighlighted while it is pronounced. If a child who is learning to readneeds to have one of the words pronounced over again, just click on theword to hear its full pronounciation. The narration, in a boy’s voice, iswonderfully done.I also liked the volume control option which lets youcontrol or adjust the volume from within the story.
The story is original and the 11 pages of graphics are artistic andcreative renderings of colorful toys and imaginative characters. The lipsynching isn’t perfect, but it will not detract from the software from akid’s perspective.
The story tells kids about young entrepeneurs Nikolai and Neow-Neow andtheir adventures in the toy making business. They naturally set up theirbusiness in the North Pole, so that Santa Claus can be their steadycustomer and they can have the competitive edge over other stores!
Nikolai is a great little toy maker, since he makes his toys with diamondson them! We should be sooooo lucky!! Unfortunately, Neow-Neow, the cat, isnot as gifted at the toy making gig as Nikolai is. Neow-Neow turns outjunk!! His toys aren’t glued together properly, and they fall apart! Don’ttell Neow-Neow that, however. He takes great pride at churning out 250,000Neow-Neow toys a day from the Neow-Neow machine, of course!
Speaking of the Neow-Neow machine, this was one of 4-year-old Timmy’sfavorite activities! There are many buttons to select and gadgets to playwith on the Neow-Neow machine as kids create their own designer Neow-Neows!
Getting back to the story, Santa Claus makes a deal with Nikolai. He likesNikolai’s diamond-studded toys and he’ll give Nikolai a big bag full ofdiamonds for each bag of toys he makes for Santa. Sounds like a deal tome! Santa Claus also buys loads of those famous Neow-Neow toys fromNeow-Neow, the cat. But then, something quite awful happens to Neow-Neow.The elves mistake the real Neow-Neow for the toys, and throw Neow-Neow intothe sack of toy Neow-Neows! Needless to say, that naughty Neow-Neow getstransported to Santa’s workshop and hangs out for a year there. In thatyear, Neow-Neow manages to cause calamity in Santa’s workshop. SinceNikolai can only write to Santa once a year, he has to wait an entire yearto get Neow-Neow back. Santa, by this time, is certainly happy to get ridof that trouble-maker Neow-Neow and the story ends happily ever after!
There are tons of clickable activities to play in the “I’d Like to Explore”section. To the tune of over 20 clickables per page! Kids can scrollthrough the story, page by page, and click away at loads of colorfulgraphics, which spring to life! One disappointment for Timmy was that hehad to wait for the narration to end after each page in order to explorethe clickable items.
The “Flake Maker” is a artistic activity which lets kids design their ownsnowflakes.The opportunities are endless and there’s even an option to print the kids’creations.
The shopping activity involves purchasing toys at the toy store and ringingthe items up with a cash register. This was a very difficult and tryinggame for Timmy. Since the recommended age for this software is for kidsages 4 – 10, I think this particular activity would be more fun for olderkids 8 – 10 years old The math activity involved multiplication andcomplex addition, which was way over the head of my 4-year-old. Each timeyou select the wrong answer, the voice encourages you to try again andafter several tries, kids can click on the question mark icon for thecorrect answer. Timmy could not play this activity independently andstarted insisting that I tell him what the answer was! NOT my idea of anage-appropriate activity for a pre-school child.
Another great activity includes helping Nikolai write a letter to Santa.Kids can use their keyboard, or the keyboard on the screen by clicking themouse over each letter on the keyboard, and write their own letter toSanta. Tim really enjoyed this fun activity.
Other skills kids will practice by playing “NN ‘n N Toy Makers” are:learning compass directions, different temperature scales (Celsius andFahrenheit), months and seasons of the year and the value of money, bymaking smart toy purchases! Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t all toy purchasessmart??? Most software purchases ARE (if you read our WorldVillagesoftware reviews, that is!).
From a purchasing perspective, “NN ‘n N Toy Makers” is a great value. Asidefrom being available individually, “NN ‘n N Toy Makers” is included inCorel CD Home’s bundle pack, which consists of 10 different software titlesfor kids. The bundle pack sells for $49.99.
If you don’t mind your kids thinking of Christmas all year round, I thinkyou will appreciate the virtual toys concept this software provides. Ienjoyed watching Timmy click on the toys in the store, and playing withthem (the toys dance, sing, etc.) since I didn’t have to pick up a singletoy after he was done! Ho, ho, ho!!!
| Product: | NN’n N Toy Makers |
| Company: | Corel CD Home |
| Cost: | $21.99 |
Windows
IBM PC or compatible
486/33 MHz processor
Windows 3.1
8 MB RAM
SVGA color monitor, 256 colors at 640 x 480 resolution
Mouse or other Windows-compatible pointing device
Double speed CD-ROM drive
Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card
Macintosh
Apple Macintosh LCIII or higher
System 7.1 with Sound Manager 3.0
8 MB RAM
13″ or larger monitor, 256 colors at 640 x 480 resolution or higher
Double-speed CD-ROM drive
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
