Customer Reviews

Sesame Street First Steps [Old Version]

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

 

 

There are lots of good computer programs for young children out there. Those programs have clearly been tested with actual children and parents and even educators have been consulted on what works and what doesn't.

Sesame Street: First Steps is not one of those programs.

This is a slapped-together program done by a team that clearly has no parents on it, was quality checked by no one and pushed out onto a public that, unfortunately, trusts anything with the name Sesame Street on it.

THIS IS A TERRIBLE PROGRAM.

First, children are able to use only the mouse or the keyboard while a given section is running, not both. Why not both? Just because. Now, try and get a toddler to understand this -- I certainly don't.

Secondly, because apparently the programmers believe all children need constant orders being barked at them by pixelated Muppet drill sergeants, the on-screen characters tell children what to do at any time there's not keyboard input.

"Remember how to play Silly Songs? Press the keyboard," Zoe orders. Without pausing for breath, she immediately repeats this until a child presses a button. "Remember how to play Silly Songs? Press the keyboard. Remember how to play Silly Songs? Press the keyboard. Remember how to play Silly Songs? Press the keyboard. Remember how to play Silly Songs? Press the keyboard."

The moment the child stops pressing the keyboard, she starts back up again. This continues until the parent quits the program in disgust. All the other "games" work in an identical fashion.

And Zoe? The songs aren't silly and pressing the key during, say, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" just puts up one of three identical graphics in the sky, none of which are silly or even amusing to small children.

Now, if you want a program that will let your kid play on the computer and get hand/eye coordination going (especially with the mouse, which is an abstract concept for kids at first), get some genuinely silly things going on, do it at a child's pace (and allowing for things happening away from the keyboard without some cartoon harridan going ballistic) and even lock down the computer with a screensaver to protect parents' programs and data, the Giggles Fun Time for Babies programs do all that. There's still more chatter from the on-screen cartoon dog than I'd prefer, but it's not a constant refrain when other things might be going on in the house (and bearing in mind a young child's attention span).

Do NOT get this program. I cannot imagine what prompted other people to give this good reviews, but this is honestly the worst "toy" I've come across in my child's lifetime.

It's a great concept and was a promising start... When my little girl started playing it she was delighted with the Elmo 'peek a boo' game, but after a couple of turns, it flicks over to Big Bird and then Zowie. That was really annoying when she just wanted to play with Elmo. And I could see her getting frustrated with having to wait for the sound files to run. After every peek a boo there is a comment that runs too long. In general this game is really clunky!! Too many sound files holding up the game. My kid presses the keyboard keys 10 or 15 times before the game reacts, and it reacts with jumpy staggered playing because of all the key strokes. I have to try and keep her hands away from the keyboard while the game continually loads and chokes. I haven't had the game for a week and I think she is already bored with it. I have it installed on both Windows and a Mac machine and it it just chokes and splutters... on the Windows machine, if she presses the Windows logo key it opens the start menu and the game doesn't run. Also when that happens,if I'm not quick enough to keep her hands away she opens some other program or window!! She is only 1 1/2 but some of the games require she hit the numbers keys! The letters don't work.. nice try, but a very disappointing result.

I bought this for my 20 month old daughter in hopes of finding a simple, engaging program. Sesame Street's First Steps exceeded my expectations. The features that I especially like are the Parent's initial choice between keyboard or mouse activities. My daughter gets to choose from 8 keyboard activities and four mouse activities. All of the activities have verbal prompts from: Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Baby Natasha. The graphics are better than the Reader Rabbit Toddler program. Now this is a very basic, cause and effect type program. The baby pushes a key or moves the mouse and they get immediate rewards. There is the option to repeat each or move on to another screen. My child especially likes the silly songs and "Do As I Do" activities. She gets to imitate hand motions to some of her favorite songs and learn new ones. I am very pleased with this program because my child ends computer time happy, she can follow the directions (with adult supervision) and successfully complete the activities.

Parent Bonus: Once the program is installed you don't have to put the CD in to use the software!

The only cons are that when in the keyboarding mode, the Windows key will bring up your start menu in the middle of the game window. But most of the other games out there do that too.
First Steps got it right--and I can see this being fun for a long time!

I received and installed this and Sesame Street Learn, Play and Grow on the the kid's computer a few days ago and my son doesn't want to stop playing with either of them. They both have lots of fun activities and both are helping him with his mouse skills. I highly recommend.

I started my child out with this at 18 months. He loved it! I liked the features of keyboard or mouse. He was banging on the keyboard then. He is now 2 and is starting to understand the concept that moving the mouse helps him get to what he wants. I would definitely recommend this!

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she can play this game for hours if I let her. She has figured out how to use a mouse thanks to this game. I highly recommend it.

My son is outside the designated age group (he is four and a half years old) but as we just moved to the U.S. and he is currently learning to speak English, I bought this game for him. He loves it, and he seems to have learned quite a bit of English for it.

This cd-rom is great for toddlers with no mouse skills, and it evolves for kids who learn mouse skills while playing. My only complaint is that about 80% of what is on this disc is available online at [...]

I bought this for my 18 month old from an Apple store. She loves it and starts laughing and jumping when the computer comes out for the game. Best part is the keyboard or mouse activities. Plenty of games to choose from. Highly recommend.

I just happened to notice this software on Amazon one day and thought since my niece already seems to be entrhalled by the computer, I would buy it for her to use with me at my house. My niece is only 20 months old, but she knows how to work the mouse. I also show her videos and such of various characters and she does know Sesame Street as well. I believe there are 4 different activities that can be done, but so far my niece and I have only done one of them, which was coloring a picture with the mouse. Ohhh boy did she just love doing this. She got so excited watching the colors fill in while she was moving the mouse! Of course her filling in is swooshing back and forth and up and down, but the program actually automatically fills in the rest of the picture after the child fills in about 1/2 or more. To children this young, though, it does not matter. She got a kick out of seeing it and then guessing what it was. Also, she did not want me to stop to check out the other activities yet, so we've not gotten that far for me to review them.
Overall, it's a very simple program and great one for a very young child to start learning the mouse. My niece LOVES it and loves identifying all the Sesame Street characters.