Customer Reviews

School Zone Alphabet Express Preschool

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My son who is just over two got this for Christmas and he loves it. There are so many different activities in it that he can be occupied for 20-30 minutes - amazing for a 2-year-old boy. His favorite thing is to "paint" the different pictures. They are so detailed and well animated and there are lots of colors - not just the typical 4 or 5 in some programs. He's not quite ready for some of the more advanced activities that ask you to match letters with pictures of objects that start with that letter. But this just means he'll have plenty to grow into. It's a really good choice.

My four year old daughter is attending a pre-school where they learn a new letter every week. I bought this for her to reinforce what they are doing at school.

I taught Kindergarten for a short while and I can tell you without a doubt that this program is excellent for very beginning alphabet awareness.
The program won't teach them if they don't know anything, but with a little help or with a little knowledge of a few letters they can really get going. I love it.

There are several games to play from mazes, to matching letters with pictures. These games are a little more advanced, so even Kindergarteners and first graders should have some fun with it.

The part my daughter is working on right now is the very basic core of the program. Each letter has a picture loaded with clickables. Each clickable starts with the letter you are focusing on. It will even say the name of the thing you click on so you can hear the sound. My daughter is beginning to associate the things she clicks on with that letter and she is putting nouns that start with the same letter together in categories. She'll say, "I want the one with the bear and the boy and baseball."

After the clickables, there is also several paint pictures they can play with which are great. All the nouns that start with that letter are on the page and they can use the paint brush on the screen to paint everything. Using the mouse is something else my daughter has had some problems with and this is really giving her practice and she is really improving.

There is also another game where they match pictures of things to the letter that you are working on. It's pretty amusing to watch. When you get something right, a fireman dog climbs a ladder and pulls an elephant's tail to make him put out a fire. The elephant puts the fire out a different way each time.

I also love the fact that the little letter is used and referred to as well as the big letter. Even the matching games use both the big and little letters - separately even, so it reinforces the knowledge that they are different letters with the same sound and not just two letters stuck together.

We have really enjoyed this game and I can see us getting a lot of use out of it. I walked my daughter throught it once together and then after that she was plaing on her own.

We got this for my 3 year old's birthday present and he loves it. It was unbelieveable how fast he mastered the mouse. He is able to play on his own but it is fun to play with him too. He has learned a lot from this game. We also stocked up on cheaper games, but they are worthless - this is definitely worth the $20.

I bought this for my 3.5 year old and he still has trouble recognizing his letters (hence, the purchase). He enjoys the mazes and with help really likes the game, but he does need quite a bit of help to be able to play. We have not explored all the aspects of it yet (there is quite a bit to do), so I think that it is well worth the money. I have to push him to play this however - it is not his favorite....

I really can't give this product any stars . . . the system requirements say 7 or later, but later stops at OS9. This product is NOT OS X compatible, so please beware!

This software is excellent. My four year old would spend hours working with it if I let her. It is most imaginative and clever.

My four year old daughter loves to play Alphabet Express and has had no problems playing it on her own.

The train idea is really cute!

Alphabet Express is a wonderful learning tool for preschool children. My grandsons, ages 3.5 and 5, love it and are capable of using it without any help. They especially love the coloring.

Unlike one other commenter, we've enjoyed this game on three separate Macs. One running Panther (OS X 10.3), one running Tiger (OS X 10.4), and one running Leopard (OS X 10.5). Do not shy away from this game because one commenter couldn't seem to run it!

All three of our kids absolutely love this game! It certainly helped our two oldest learn to read before kindergarten (on their own mostly). Our youngest is now enthralled with the game, so we're hopeful he'll follow in his siblings' footsteps.

this was the first software program that my 2-3yo liked enough to play for any length of time and also could play by himself instead of having to have me sit next to him the whole time. He loved it. It only teaches letters and the words that begin with each said letter. Not much. but that it does pretty well. I will note that some of the words did not have the traditional beginning phonics sound, which could be confusing for kids that are learning the straight 26 phonics sounds only at the time. And it doesn't do much explaining. But I think that it still teaches through just doing it. And the rewards of finding the correct items that begin with the chosen letter is a fun animated thing that keeps kids wanting more. the animated reward is much better than reader rabbit's. My "almost 3yo" would say the letter sounds while trying to find the appropriate items on the page, like he was actually thinking it through. Granted, I had begun teaching him letter sounds with LeapFrogs letter factory and on my own, but this helped sink it in. once again, not much more to the software, but so worth it!