Jump Ahead Frankie Pet Friends Preschool by Knowledge Adventure

Description

Join Frankie and friends in Frankie Pet Friends, which includes lots of activities, all aimed at making learning fun. Intended for use with pre-school children (aged three to five years), the CD-ROM could also be successfully used with older children needing to practice certain skills.

Parental help and guidance will obviously be needed for the target age range, and it is strongly recommended that parents read the excellent information contained in the manual on the CD-ROM before beginning—it's straightforward, comprehensive and very easy to follow. There's the opportunity to take part in an assessment test, to predetermine a child's skill level. On completion, a diagram of results is shown, indicating skill levels in letter recognition, phonics, colours and shapes, spatial awareness, sizes and patterns, number recognition, counting and quantities, and prereading rhymes, which are all subsequently practiced in the games with Frankie and his friends. Parents can also adjust volumes, view progress, and set curriculum levels.

Children are asked various questions and dependant on the choices made and their learning style, they can be helped to learn using the unique talents of either the Word Smith, the Artist, the Athlete, the Musician, the Maths Whizz, the People Person or the Explorer.

Homeless pets have been rounded up–let your child choose the pet he wants to help, then earn rewards for the pets such as food, toys, songs and brushes, as you play. Get the pet all ready for adoption, and when it has been fully cared for, join Frankie on the Hot Air Balloon, and look for a new home for your charge. The games are accessed in the pre-school classroom, and include picking a pet, playing with magic chalk, making bubbles pop, playing at shape tag, taking perfect pictures, making balloon animals and animal masks, making music, hearing rhymes, playing with the pets in their playroom, and playing in the cloud maze. These enhance phonics and listening skills, upper- and lower-case letter recognition, following directions, spatial awareness, colour and shape recognition, sorting and sizing, classification, patterns, number recognition, visual discrimination, counting one to 10, quantity recognition, early PC graphic and mouse skills, musical appreciation and composition, rhymes, pre-reading skills, all of which are necessary for overall development in later years.

This is an excellent program that is extremely well thought out and easy to install. The games are stimulating, the graphics bright and clear, the music catchy, the instructions are easy to understand and the variety is endless. At times, it was a little slow to respond (tested on a standard home PC) but, all in all, it works well and makes discoveries exciting and learning fun. —Susan Naylor

Platforms

Mac, Windows