Customer Reviews

Stuart Little Learning Adventures

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of all the educational software my girls (currently in kindergarten) have played, this is easily my favorite - and theirs too. Much more engaging than similar titles in the JumpStart and Reader Rabbit series.

First, there is more variety in the two CDs in this package than in similar educational software for this age. And the activities are more compelling and less repetitive. My girls are sticking with each activity for a long time rather than always moving on to the next one because the current one gets boring quickly.

Also, this software has competitive games that can be played with the computer or with another player (a child or a parent.) So I get to play. And some of these games actually involve some strategy. For example, in one game, each player controls two pieces that have to move from the start to the finish. The player has to determine which piece should be moved since different actions will result after the move is made. Also, this game uses two dice, so the child gets used to quickly adding two numbers (shown as dots) instead of relying on a spinner pointing to a single number.

Next, the production quality is very high. The games and activities use a 3D environment, and are always interesting to look at. My kids frequently say "Cool" when they see the special effects.

One more item: This game uses the metaphor of Stuart Little's "brainpower" (visually filling in areas of his 'brain') to keep track of what activities have been played and how much more is needed to get a special reward. My kinds understand this, and it motivates them.

I think this is a great kids title. My kids do too.

As parents of three we have run through enough educational software to fill a room in our house. But these learning adventures of Stuart Little are definitely the best thing we or our children have seen. The games teach, the motivational structure works (we eventually had to set a time limit), the graphics are spectacular, and the music is great -- children's songs from around the world. There is even a copy of a state cirriculum for the age groups where you can scroll along and jump directly into any game or activity by selecting the topic you want to cover. We also noticed that the children's software review (also posted on this site) contains some misinformation. We noticed that children are not always forced to go through long instructions or videos, although they are exposed to the instructions the first time only. Also, after a few trips they can click out of the videos, but our children seldom do. If you are used to the typical kind of educational software we have been buying, then you will have to see this one to believe it!

This set of learning games is probably the best that I have ever seen. I was amazed to see my kids fight over who got to play. Each game is designed to engage kids and keep them entertained, all while they are learning. I definately recommend this game!

If there were academy awards for children's educational software, Stuart's Learning Adventures would win all the Oscars -- for best educational content, for best graphics, for cleverest characters, for best motivation for kids, for best music. This was a spectacular surprise.

My son recieved this for his 3rd birthday, and though it is a well designed entertaining educational game, it is too hard for a 3 year old. There is a lot to do and there are 2 cds 1 is language and 1 is math. But it is way over my 3 year olds head. He is bright and does great on the computer and can play other games very well. There is no beginner, average, advanced setting and my son does not have the letter, number recognition let alone the need to understand basic subtraction/addition and word sounds/blends.

We play it together, but he gets board because he can't do it himself and he doesn't understand it. Considering the extensiveness of the games and the large number of games and fun stuff on the cd's it is definitely a good deal for the money. But I think 5 - 7 years old would be a better age range to advertise this product.

This is the best value in computer software to date. The games never end and are incredibly educational. But your kid will never know it! The games include board games, dot to dot, matching, tetris-like adding game, crosswords and more. My daughter can't get enough of it. We read the reviews and yes, I'll agree it is advanced for a 3 yr old. My daughter is 4 and recognizes her letter (but doesn't yet know their sounds) and knows numbers by sight up to 10. If your child doesnt know their numbers or letters you'll have to play with them. But isn't that fun, too?! Really, this is a great game.

Even though our family has only had time to explore a little of the Numberland disc 1, I had to review this before Christmas so that other parents would be encouraged to buy this for their kids.

Aside from the quality graphics and animation sequences, this is a fantastic introduction to computer skills. Our son received Stuart Little Learning Adventures for his 4th birthday in October, and had never used a computer before. Now he asks to "Paint the mushroom house" constantly (the intuitive painting program is the first part of Disc 1). His counting and mouse coordination skills are built on and fine-tuned with each session. When he completes a section of the painting, a map of the human brain appears to highlight which section of the brain he just developed.

My son is average developmentally (although of course a star to me!), and I believe he could have handled this at age 3 just fine. I can't wait to see the other 28 activities available on this two-disc set! But, even if this was all he ever got out of Stuart Little Learning Adventures, it would have been money and time well spent.

As parents of three we have run through enough educational software to fill a room in our house. But these learning adventures of Stuart Little are definitely the best thing we or our children have ever seen. The games teach, the motivational structure works (we eventually had to set a time limit), the graphics are spectacular, and the music is the great -- children's songs from around the world. There is even a copy of a state curriculum for the age groups where you can scroll along and jump directly into any game or activiey by selecting the topic you want to cover -- a kind of reverse look up. We also noticed that the children's software review (also posted on this site) contains some misinformation -- we noticed that children are not aways forced to go through long instructions or videos, although they are exposed to the instructions the first time only. Also, after a few trips they can click out of the videos too, but our children seldom do so. If you are used to the typical kind of educational software we have all been buying, then you will have to see this one to believe it!

Difficult to install, and then it won't run. I had to startup in safe mode just to get the install to work. The intro runs fine( which you can't bypass by the way), but the game freezes as soon as the intro is over. No fixes available on their website other than to update DirectX and your other drivers, and i already had all the latest drivers. The best tip of all from their user guide and website: "if the above doesn't work then the program will not run on your computer." Well that's a great help. Perhaps if you are still running Windows 98 or ME this might work for you. Otherwise stay away.

I recently bought this game for my 4.5 yr old due to positive reviews on Amazon. She has good reading skills, but I wanted to get her something to boost her math skills without being pushy and by making it fun. This game absolutely does the job. It stretches her just enough, while keeping it simple enough to build her confidence. After a two or three goes (we only let her play for half to one-hour at a time, and not every day) she was already practising counting backward from 20 and I could see and hear her math skills improve in her everyday life and play. The other day, when I came home from work, she was busy on the 'memory/matching' game and she looked up and said, 'I love this, Mommy. Thank you so much!' What more could I ask for. We have loads more levels to go, but it is off to a very propitious start!

The only minor downside (and the reason I didn't give it 5 stars) is that it is a little bit sensitive on our XP machine and occasionally crashes. I was aware of this potential problem from an earlier review, and while the version I bought is supposed to run on XP and 2000, it does sometimes freeze and need to be restarted (the good thing is that usually restarts where it froze). It really isn't a big deal. For the amount of learning and enjoyment my daughter gets from this game, I highly recommend it, and in fact am going to get a couple of copies for Christmas presents for friends.