Customer Reviews

Clifford The Big Red Dog Reading

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

This is the best software out there! My daughter was just shy of 3 when we bought it and I feared she may have trouble with it but I was wrong. It has a nice variation in its different levels of play which can challenge her for a long time. The program uses a wonderful mix of phonics and sight reading skills that blend nicely to maintain her interests. (Face it! Phonics OR memorizing words alone can be very boring!) The reward system is top notch-she earns tickets along the way and after 6 tickets she gets a prize. The prize machine looks like one of those at the carnival gizmos with an arm which decends upon a wrapped mystery gift. (A fun game in and of itself.) Then, at seemingly unpredictible times, she is also rewarded with a new Clifford book which she can color and print if desired. The book uses only those words which she has been working with. SHE read the very first one to ME! I was floored! The best part? She can read the book into the computer via microphone and play it back to herself. (Do I have to describe what a hit that was?) Activities have such variety as pick the missing letter, the correct word or spell your own word. Only drawback we can find is that when spelling your own word, you are limited to four letters and Jaclynn's curiosity is not limited to four letters. (Mommy, how do you spell supercalifrajilisticexpialidocious?)

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!

My daughter loves this game. She's just over 4 years old and had very little reading experience. This game, however, is teaching her to read. She's learning sight words and sounding out words all from playing this game. She loves getting the rewards that come with this game and looks forward to printing out the "books" Emily Elizabeth "rewards" her with. The only drawback is the amount of ink I am using with my printer as she prints up all the books in full color. She takes the printed books to bed with her and rereads them to herself. All the while, she's learning. This is one of the best investments I have made for her as she learns to read.

My husband bought this software for our 3.5-year old, but even my 2.5-year old loved playing with it (and she doesn't sit still long enough to get through her favorite videos!). I can actually get housework done while the two of them sit at the computer playing with Clifford and Emily Elizabeth (we set a timer so they take turns), but the best part is they're learning. My younger daughter's now 3 but she already knows how to sound out letters and spell words. The program is a perfect blend of phonics and fun. We own about 20 different educational software programs for Pre-K/K, but this is by far the one we've been happiest with. I can see my children's progress -- and this is the program the girls always come back to after playing some of the other programs. I highly recommend it.

I bought this for my niece, Amanda, who is 4 and she loves to play with it. It helped her start to learn to read. We liked the pace of the interaction of the software. The kids are crazy about the giant red dog these days.

My son has had this since he was about 2 1/2. It is by far his favorite and has its pluses and minus'. Positive: Easy to follow directions for young learners. Negative: Some games are a little too advanced, especially compared to the others. "Pop the balloon with the word Cat on it." It's hard enough for a three year old to find the word Cat let alone click on it with a mouse as it flies across the screen. Positive: He likes to "Earn a ticket" so it motivates him to do well. (With enough tickets you get a prize...like a maze or paper airplane you can print out). Negative: He, at three, learned to work the system and likes two of the easier games that earn tickets quickly with less work. Positive: I like the letter recognition of the t-shirt printing game. He has learned a pretty good letter to phonic association. Negative: Not a large enough vocabulary.
Overall, compared to other children's software we have used (Jump Start & Sesame Street) it is the best. My son enjoys it as long as there is someone to help him when he gets frustrated with the mouse or is unable to complete a task. I am actually shopping online for the next version.

Just an FYI...the program is OK but I find that the actual characters do not look exactly like the ones that are on the PBS TV show (except for Clifford himself). Somewhat disappointed. I bought another Clifford program (Clifford Learning Activities) and it contains all the characters that are on the show and they look and sound just like the TV show. My daughter likes Clifford Learning Activities better.

I would like to say my daughter loved this program. She sure wanted to play. But it seemed incompatible with my MAC, OS9, G3. I tried every route for their tech support, but ran into brick walls. Website offered only FAQs. Phone number was a recording, telling me to check the website or e-mail them. And my multiple e-mails went unanswered. I returned the product to the manufacturer for an exchange of books. Hope others have better luck.

I must say that this is one of the better games we own. It's very engaging, fun, and a good learning tool to boot. I can't say enough about the game and the way it runs. Nearly no tech support would be needed. and, the directions are given pretty clearly throughout the game so the child doesn't feel lost, nor do I as the parent for that matter. It's a fun game and I feel my son gets alot out of it.