Sammy’s Science House

Sammy’s House

A Review of Sammy’s Science House

Ellen Adams

Sammy’s Science House is an excellent way to introduce children to the

exciting world of science. Tailored to kids three to six, it features five

activities to build sequential ordering, classification, and vocabulary

skills.

Hosted by Sammy the Snake, a gender-neutral reptile, the

package is easy to navigate with just a few clicks of the mouse. Activities

are indicated by furnishings in the Science House, and children simply click

on a sorting bin, weather machine, or movie projector, to get started.

Yates, my four-year-old, was especially fond of the “Make A Movie” feature,

which lets him arrange frames in a film and replay the movie he has created.

He is shown a number of scenes, which he selects with a mouse, placing them

in the film in sequence. When he makes a wrong move, the Rabbit manning the

projector simply says, “Please try another order.” When all the panes are in

sequence, the system moves to the auditorium, where the movie plays for a

crowd of popcorn-munching zoo animals. Yates would make a movie, and then

giggle as he replayed it, backwards.

The Sorting Station presented some

challenges for Yates, and acquainted him with the proper names of a variety

of plants and animals. He especially enjoyed the animated sorting bins, who

clapped, blew bubbles or shouted words of encouragement as he distributed the

objects into their bins.

The Acorn Pond activity let Yates show off a

bit, as he accurately predicted the characteristics of some of the ponds

animal population. Here Yates could change the Acorn Pond display according

to the four different seasons, and explore the field notebook to look for

more facts about the pond denizens.

The only Sammy’s Science House

activity that seem to disappoint Yates was the Weather Machine, which, while

it gave him control of certain aspects of the weather, and presented some

amusing animations, did not seem as well executed as the other activities.

The weather machine concentrated on wind intensity, temperature and

precipitation, but did not incorporate barometric pressure, humidity or

climate. Cloud types, fronts and storm types would be exciting elements to

add to a future release.

Yates particularly enjoyed building toys and

machines in the Sammy’s Science House Workshop. When he finished a creation,

he was rewarded with an animation, and he’d frequently clap along with the

helpful little bumblebee, keeper of the blueprints.

Sammy’s Science House offers lots of choices for the user. Users can adjust activity levels

up or down, and each activity can be guided, or self-navigated,. It’s the

constant encouragement, though, as the characters shout “try another” or

“good job,” which truly makes learning fun.

School House Scorecard

Product:	Sammy’s Science House
Company:	Not Available
Cost:	Not Available

System Requirements:

Not Available

Breakdown:

Ease of Use 3
Learning Value 3
Entertainment Value 3
Graphics 3
Sound 3

Overall Score: