Zoodles is an Adobe-air based app that is designed to put pre-selected materials at your child’s fingertips; while keeping everything else out. The idea is to provide a safe, virtual playground that can be adjusted to your child’s age and skills. Once it’s installed on your Mac or Windows computer, your child sees games from popular children’s sites like PBS Kids and Starfall.com, stripped of any advertising content. The service is free for the basic service; the Premium Membership is $6/month. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
We tried the PS3 version of this game (with a load time of nearly 10 minutes!) and found the game to deliver on the kinds of battles you’d expect to find in a Transformers game. In the story, your goal is become the ultimate weapon as a Transformers character in the final, epic war that will determine the survival of their entire race. Features include a variety of weapons, and the ability to convert from robot to vehicle at any time for air or land battles. There are different multiplayer modes and you can play through story missions, using the drop in/drop out online co-op play. Prices are $60 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and $40 for PC. There are also two versions available for the Nintendo DS — Transformers: War for Cybertron Autobots and Transformers: War for Cybertron Decepticons, rated E10+ and priced at $30 each. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Seek Your Own Proof is a web-delivered detective adventure that follows the story of three investigative siblings – Aidan, Milanie, and Heiko Munro on a series of missions. Each Flash-based mission is sold for $4 (the first one is free, after you register); or you can buy ten for $20. Created by Canadian-based Rocketfuel Productions, in partnership with Discovery Kids. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The size of a typical door mat, this folding cardboard map of the United States has been coded to work with the $50 Tag Reading System — Leapfrog’s fat, talking stylus which has been out for several years. The stylus is not included in the $20 price of the map, and using the interactive features requires downloading and installing Leapfrog’s free, 50 MB or so “Leapfrog Connect” software utility on your Mac or Windows computer. This is required, along with a USB connection to transfer the audio files to your Tag. This process takes about 30 minutes, and only has to be done once. The map has two sides — each with two modes of play and several hide-and-seek types of games. One side deals more with state identification and the capitals, and the other has cultural highlights, with snippets of state related trivia, and music. Both sides feature a racing game, where you try to touch as many states or capitals before the music runs out. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Fresh from Disney, a children’s virtual world based on the movie Cars, making it possible to drive into Radiator Springs, chat with other car avatars, enter races, or just explore. If you have a Mac or Windows computer, you can have a car up and running by the time you finish this article by visiting www.worldofcars.com. There are three areas to explore, each with a different theme, stores and four player racetrack. Features include two types of chat, the ability to make friends and have private chat sessions, and subscription access to special areas of the world. In addition, Mattel is selling a set of die cast vehicles that come with special race codes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In this game, you play as Buzz, Woody or Jessie as you run, ride and fly through scenes inspired by the film. For example, in one scene, you jump along the cars of a moving train, ducking under low poles or swinging buckets, and navigating across train cars with moving logs. You can complete missions to earn rewards such as gold and new customizations, and purchase new toys with your virtual earnings. Or you can customize new buildings, and then change how they look with paint and accessories. A “Toy Box” mode lets you add new characters and game elements. Developed by Avalanche Software for Disney Interactive. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This action-arcade racing game is set within a reality TV show, in a made-for-TV city. As you race, you try to collide with other vehicles to send them off the track, in order to trigger events that change the race. The game features a variety of game modes in 2-player split screen, along with online racing for up to eight players. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Kung Fu Panda World (KFPW) is a richly animated Flash-10 based online destination for children aged 8-up that is free to register and play, or available as a subscription for $6/month sans commercials. In many ways, the site resembles a “design your own avatar, explore a movie-themed world” type of experience.
After you register, you can design your own avatar and start exploring the first levels of the game. A sponsored play game model lets you play for free, as long as you watch a commercial for a “kid friendly” sponsor like McDonalds. If you subscribe, you can skip the commercial and reach the highest levels of the game. There is no in-game commercial content. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In Avatar The Game, you either fight with the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people, or against them, as a soldier of the RDA Corporation, using customizable weapons or clan-specific skills. As you unlock levels, you acquire new skills. You can also create your own character, drive the vehicles and ride the animals of Pandora. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Named after the main character in “Alice in Wonderland”, Alice has recently been upgraded.
Like MIT’s Scratch and Alan Kay’s Squeak, Alice is a free programming language for children that can be downloaded and installed on a Macintosh, Windows or Linux computer. It is designed to turn programming into a drag-and-drop process. Alice was funded by Electronic Arts, Sun Microsystems, DARPA, Intel, Microsoft, NSF, and ONR. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Easy and fun to play, Pony Friends 2 gives you what you’d hope for in a virtual horse game. After you customize and name your pony, you can earn points with good care, love, and winning at contests. In the Wii version, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk become the reins. Lift one higher to turn, or pull back to stop. We did not test the PC or DS versions, although we did notice that the DS version lets you talk to your horse using the microphone. Created by Tantalus and Eidos for Square Enix. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Fantage, or “fantastic age” is a responsive, safe and no-fail MMO that resembles Club Penguin back in the good old days, minus the penguins. The Fantage theme is a bit like Disneyland with nine-themed areas, including a castle, a forest, a lighthouse, uptown, downtown and others. In each you can chat (freely but filtered) with others, invite others to become friends, decorate your room, or play 11 Flash-based games. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
As in many scavenger hunt types of games, you explore, earning points and health by smashing statues, park benches, and hedges as you try to find your way to the next level. You can also become one of five Alice in Wonderland characters; each with different attributes. Note that the DS version has a very different design than the Wii version. It requires reading, and uses a different animation style; not like the movie. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Zon is a free (registration required) virtual world — or MMOG — designed to teach English speakers Chinese language and culture through games and chat. There are five levels of play. First, you design your avatar, and then become a tourist at the Beijing Airport. You must pass through customs and get to your hotel, while completing challenges designed to accomplish various tasks.
You start by exploring to learn about myths and legends, investigating famous temples or shopping in public markets. Players can advance to rent apartments, buy a car, or own their own business. The site was funded by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) and Michigan State University. Disclaimer: I (Warren Buckleitner) went to this graduate school; one of the principle designers was on my doctoral committee. Learn more at www.enterzon.com. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Great science and ecology content is combined with low levels of interactivity and a didactic presentation in Wonder Rotunda (www.wonderrotunda.com), a subscription-based ($45/year) web delivered service first released in the summer of 2009. In order to make the site work, you need a Flash-enabled browser and a credit card. No other software or downloads are required. We evaluated the service using a complimentary password provided by the publisher.
After you create a male or female character to represent yourself in the game show portion of the experience, you see a map representing 11 topics including: orchestra, rain forest, great barrier reef, American government, digestive system, Apollo 11, planet earth, kangaroos, healthy eating, the Serengeti and business adventure. By clicking on an area of the map, you launch a 20 minute or so animated adventure, in which pop-up facts appear. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
One of the more interesting things I spotted at CES 2010 was a keyboard made of light, formed by a red projected laser. At first I was a skeptic, so I put down my camera to give it a try. Yes, it does work, but it takes some getting used to. For one, I had to separate my letters, because it seemed that my fingers were casting shadows. Compared to my texting ability, however, my Laserkey typing was much faster. Clearly there’s some validity to this concept. The red laser diode keyboard comes in four languages (English, German, French, Korean) and is regular sized. It requires an opaque (not clear) surface, so don’t think of using it on a glass table or anything with a reflective surface. If a laser mouse will work, so will the keyboard. It is powered from your USB port, or an optional battery; and is designed to work with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, Palm OS 5.x, RIM OS (for the Blackberry), Windows, and Symbian OS s60 3rd Edition (for Nokia). Besides having some implications for student desktops or library tables, this type of device could have obvious use with a portable device or perhaps a living room. Teaches: a laser projected keyboard. Celluon. http://www.celluon.com/index.html, $190.
Best described as a work in progress, Kidos, or “Kid Operated System” is an Adobe Air application that makes it possible to design your own desktop for your child (or children) by mixing parent-and expert selected videos, music, pictures and websites with a iTunes-like store. The store is how the service makes money, by making it easy for a parent to soup up the experience for a child, with a picture of a cute dog ($.50), a non-interactive storybook for $2 each, or a $10 musical album. The store uses a shopping cart model, and your credit card is billed automatically, iTunes style. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A procedure in progress
MEET Ellen, a 59 year-old woman with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, waiting for you at http://www.edheads.org/activities/brain_stimulation/. She’s the patient, you’re the surgeon. During a 20 minute or so procedure, your mouse becomes a shaver, scalpel, drill and swab, as you work through each step of Ellen’s brain surgery. At the end, you can get a happy patient and a deeper understanding for what a real neurosurgeon does.
This construction game for Windows, Mac and Wii lets you drag-and-drop sticky blobs to construct structures that look a bit like carbon molecules. You quickly learn which structures work best to solve a particular problem. On one puzzle, you must construct the highest tower using the fewest possible parts. Another presents you with a spinning set of teeth that requires a curved structure.
There’s a lot of different ways to solve the same problem, making this game addicting. Content includes 15 different varieties of blobs, each with different properties; enough to keep things interesting. Note that a Wii-Ware version is available, as a download. This is a fun way to introduce building dynamics to young science students. Created by 2D Boy (www.2dboy.com) for Brighter Minds Media. Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. Teaches: science, creativity, building, physics, forces, potential energy. Brighter Minds Media, Inc. www.brightermindsmedia.com, $20. Best for ages 7-up.
Rating: 
or .96%
This mostly one player Wii game puts you in the role of a zookeeper, in which you take care of as many as 90 species of animals. The more you care for your virtual animals, the more you learn their habits and gain their trust, earning you hearts. Content includes 20 exhibits to unlock. A free-form mode allows you to interact with the animals you like best and you can also compete in goal-oriented and co-op challenges. There are also minigames to earn awards and gain access to unlockable content. Developed by Blue Fang, creators of the Zoo Tycoon series. See also SimAnimals. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Following the tried-and-true “buy a toy, get a password” business model, Smiley Central Studio consists of a set of $10 smiley toys, each with a password to a creativity studio, found at www.smileycentralstudio.com.
There are five types of toys, including a key chain, plush toy, a collection of figurines and charms. First you log onto www.smileycentralstudio.com where you must register and type in your 13 digit code. This process is hardly child-friendly, but fortunately is only required once. There are no credit cards or subscriptions to worry about. Next, you see your toy surrounded by sets of stamps, clothing items and paint buckets. You can then modify your Smiley by decorating the smile face. Finished work can be saved online for later viewing. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Inspired by the animated film, this game includes 25 mini-games that include moving to the music, cooking, and dressing Tiana. You can also collect Mardi Gras beads to trade for new dresses, fabrics, ingredients and recipes, as well as explore quest hubs with drop-in/drop-out multiplayer. The game features seven playable characters.
The DS version is a platforming side scrolling game, that lets you play as Tiana and Ray as you jump, swing and soar in order to collect ingredients and recipes, and cook dishes. You can also perform music with 1-4 players using wireless DS multi-card play and save your tunes in the game’s jukebox. Designed by Griptonite Games. Prices are $40 for the Wii version, $30 for the DS, and $20 for the PC version. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Created by Canadian developer Core Learning, the interface is based on the Basic and Junior Levels of Core Learning’s corefx (see review). Children can choose form 12 art tools, including tempera paint, acrylic paint, watercolor, chalk, crayon, oil pastel, colored pencil and so on. The clip art library includes hundreds of project ideas, for example, you create your own dog by dragging and dropping parts into place. Other features include progressive undo and redo features to allow for experimentation and a basic drawing tutorial. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Easy to use but limited in quality and storage, Disney’s In Scene Video Camera looks like a standard flip camera, that comes with a small tripod, creating your child’s first pocket sized movie making studio. It comes in either boy/girl themes (we reviewed the pink princess model). The camera works with your Windows computer, which is required to charge the battery and download the video. Mac users are out of luck. The $80 kit includes a CD containing a software editing package (Disney Flix) as well as a large blue curtain for movie making. When you aim the camera at the blue screen, you see a checkered background; and this lets you put yourself inside of Disney themed movie sets, with different music and clip art options. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Looking for a bare-bones video editor that a child as young as four years of age could use independently? Classroom Video Editor is designed to meet that need. After you install the program, you need to find an existing QuickTime (.mov) or .avi movie. Once it is imported, the over-sized, simplified editing tools make it easy to cut out a section of the video, add a title and paste on some scrolling credits at the end. You can also import a sound track or background photo for the credits. Once you are done, your movie can be exported in QuickTime. A handy teacher’s guide contains ideas on how to use videos in a preschool, kindergarten, or early elementary classroom. Prices are $40 for a single user, $190 for a lab pack of 6 users, and $890 for a network site license. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A sample interaction between two characters
Rereleased in 2008 and sold at retail, this cartoonish scavenger hunt-style program lets you drive Putt-Putt (a car) around the paths in three zoo regions (the jungle, the arctic and the grasslands) in search of six missing baby animals. As you explore, you find special items necessary to help the animals. For example, a rope found in an arctic snow bank must be taken into the jungle and lowered down a waterfall to rescue a trapped lion cub. Freeing a stranded hippo requires building a bridge of uniquely shaped icebergs and finding a shovel to clear away an avalanche. Unless the necessary special items are found, the animals remain lost and the zoo cannot open. Testers aged three and four became frustrated in their first few plays, and required adult assistance. Older children (and adults) loved the program.
Especially enjoyable are the multilevel activities found around the zoo. In Animal Tag, kids must pay attention to detail as they match special animals that pop up at random from the Savannah. Other activities include six different information stations offering interesting animal facts like “hippos eat 100 pounds of grass for five hours each night”. There’s also a water-slide maze game that’s just for fun and a camera option for printing out pictures of each animal. The program was first released in 1995, setting a new standard for excellence in interactive design. Today, this game still makes a welcome addition to any home library. Note that the graphics can look grainy on large screens. Teaches: problem solving, logical thinking, animal facts, shapes. Humongous Inc. www.backyardsports.com, $18. Best for ages 3-7.
Image provided by Intel PR
What do the PeeWeePC, the CLT 2Go Classmate PC, and the Intel Powered Classmate Convertible PC all have in common? They’re the same thing; a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom-powered Windows XP tablet, that is just slightly larger than a typical netbook. Rest assured, this computer is not a ‘peewee’. For the first time, you can put into a child’s hands a computer that would be the envy of any accountant or graduate student.
At the heart of this device is the Intel Atom. Released last spring, the penny-sized CPU was designed to bring desktop power to mobile devices, while just sipping on your battery.
According to Jeff Galinovsky, a Regional Manager for the Intel Classmate team, the computer we tested was originally designed to be purchased in lots of 1000, by schools who want a low price and a say in how they are configured. One such customer was Portugal (the country). For example, you can have Linex pre-installed, required for the mesh computing feature, or individualize a desktop with your school logo and your own software choices. Other software choices include teacher/student file sharing, video streaming and group management functions, as well as a theft deterrent feature which we fortunately didn’t need to test.
Note that this computer has no relationship with the XO Computer, which is a central part of the One Laptop Per Computer (OLPC) initiative, started at the MIT Media Lab. Intel calls it “one-to-one computing.” Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Looking for a baby or toddler’s ideal first computer experience? Available as a $20 download from www.giggles.net (think of it as an App for your computer), for Macintosh or Windows, Giggle’s: Computer Funtime for Baby My Musical World expands on Leveractive’s library of baby/toddler selections. This title, with a musical focus, succeeds in letting your busy child freely explore a standard mouse/keyboard interface, sans worry. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
- Reading: “SMART Table in my Classroom – My Conclusions | ICT in my Classroom” ( http://bit.ly/8sFzey ) #
- Watching: By way of Dave Maki, the video I just showed Ned Davis for NJECC (Sweet Georgia Brown & traktor http://bit.ly/6PmO7s ) #
This third title in the Didi & Ditto series features the same film-quality animation that has become a trademark of the Canadian developer Kutoka Interactive, mixed with 16 games.
In the story, Didi & Ditto (young brother and sister beavers) are preparing for a visit from Mother Nature, but a sneaky wolf has been hiding the musical instruments and the food. After they sign in (to save games), children can choose to play in the adventure mode, or jump directly to one of the games, where they can sort letters, construct short words or match numerals with quantities.
The hybrid game comes on one disk that can be installed on either Macintosh or Windows computers. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Can you create a cell phone your grandparents could easily use, and would purchase? That’s the c
hallenge behind this free, Flash based simulation from Edheads, a group that has become known for bringing abstract ideas to life (see also Virtual Knee Surgery) by putting the learner in the role of decision maker and inventor.
First, you review the market surveys, a good exercise in reading graphics and interpreting information. Next, you go to the lab, and try out different screen sizes, batteries, key layouts and so on. You learn that extra features cost money, which increases the price and can reduce sales. Finally, you take your design to the test group, who give you feedback. While the number of responses is limited, you learn through trial and error how to get the most sales. This simulation was created by Clearly Trained, with support from Ohio State University, with support by the Motorola Foundation. It was released on June 15, 2009. Rating: 
Based on a real surgical procedure, this step-by-step simulation teaches you how to implant a small electrode in the center of a patient’s brain. The process, called Deep Brain Stimulation, is used to remedy the effects of nerve disorders such as those
caused by Parkinson’s Disease.
Your patient is a 59 year old women named Ellen, and you are provided with a case history before the procedure, which takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. You control each step — from putting the six small screws (called fiducials) into the skull by clicking on each marked spot, to inserting the electrical probe at exactly the right depth, by dragging your cursor over a lever. Later, you put in the battery packs and adjust the charge.
At various points, you’re given a multiple choice quiz asking you to justify your actions. If you make a mistake? No worries and no malpractice. The computer gently moves you to the next step.
This title was created by Clearly Trained and published by Edheads with funding from the Ohio State University Medical Center Department of Neurosurgery. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Create on Disney.com (http://disney.go.com/create) is a suite of four open-ended activities that pushes the envelope for
Digital Painter
web-delivered creativity tools. Because it uses raster graphics (vs. bitmapped graphics), you can zoom way in with no reduction in resolution. You can also resize or rotate objects for just about any effect. At the core of Create is Digital Painter, with features that Photoshop users used to dream about: unlimited undo or redo, layers that can be moved after they’re placed, and no limits to the number of objects that can be stamped on the screen. Basic drawing tools let you highlight, sketch or blob on watercolors, with an innovative color palette that can be programmed with your favorite colors.
Besides the Digital Painter, three other activities include: Animods, for creating animated creatures; Comic Creator, with white blank panels waiting to be filled in with graphics and text, and Disney clip art; and Photo Mashups, an open-ended celebration of Disney celebrity, where you can drag-and-drop the Jonas Bros. and compose a room poster. Projects can be tagged and stored on the Disney site, after it’s been approved by a panel of screeners based in Disney’s Kerpoof Studios, in Bolder, CO.
So what’s the catch? Besides the ads — images of Toaster Strudel will flash as you draw — you learn that you can’t save your work unless you become a Disney Guest. This means giving up a bit of your identity, specifically, your birthday and email. You also can’t upload your own images, or export your work as a graphics file; an important feature that currently has a “coming soon” sign on it. You can print at any time however. Once you join, your work is saved in your portfolio — your own little corner of the virtual magical kingdom. Rating:
It looks like the VTech or Fisher-Price camera, and even has facts about photography inventor George Eastman on the packaging, 
but don’t be fooled. This $40 camera is really a poor-quality webcam (from Mars Semiconductor) disguised as a child’s camera. Features include 16MB of internal memory storage and a carrying strap, with molded grips. The camera can hold up to 120 still photos (640×480) or about 50 seconds of silent AVI videos, if you can figure out how to switch the camera into video mode (press the power key twice). The package includes a button cell battery, a USB cable and a 3 inch disk for the webcam mode. We were able to import the photos into Windows, which auto recognized the device as a webcam, but our Macintosh did not recognize camera. Requires 4 “AA” batteries (not included). Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
It’s Batman vs. Joker in this beautiful one-player brawling game, set inside the insane asylum of Gotham City, also known as Arkham Asylum. You control Batman, as you attempt to stop the Joker and his helpers from taking over the prison.
Our testers hoped that Batman would come equipped with gadgets, and this game met their expectations. You can toggle between Batarangs, the Batclaw or explosive gel aerosol, and solve puzzles using x-ray scanning, fingerprint scans, Amido Black spray and a pheromone tracker. 
There are four game save slots, and three challenge levels. Exclusive to the PS3 version is the ability to play as The Joker in eight Challenge Maps that are available for download at no cost through PlayStation Network, and the Batcave Outpost Apartment which features the Batsuit, the Batmobile, the Batwing and other selected gadgets. Created by Rocksteady Sudios, who worked with Eidos, for Warner Bros. Entertainment. Visit the website at http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/start. Prices are $60 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, and $50 for the PC. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.