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The Editors Desk:
Really good children's software is fun to play with, encourages exploration of the program, is forgiving, and teaches something. JumpStart Artist is all of those things, and more. As one might expect from JumpStart (a quality series if ever there was one), JumpStart Artist helps children become comfortable with their own creative skills, while at the same time teaching a little bit about art history and artistic styles. The CD-ROM revolves around a handful of activities, ranging from freeform painting to virtual puppet making to a matchmaking game that introduces historical pieces of classic art. At any point in the game, the animation is lively and helpful, and accompanied by a friendly soundtrack. Don't think that this isn't enough to do--there is plenty of material here for any little artist to explore. Our favorite feature of the program is the variety of artwork presented in the matchmaking game. Broken down into five categories, there are examples ranging from Seurat's Sunday in the Park to Tanner's The Banjo Lesson, and even Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can. The purpose here is teach kids that art comes in a variety of styles, and that not all art looks like Mona Lisa. Not only is each piece pictured, but there is a series of buttons on the side that describes the style of painting, how it was done, and other interesting details. Also, the name of each painting and the artist is pronounced audibly by the narrator, teaching children the proper pronunciation of such names as Matisse and Seurat. This is a fun and educational CD-ROM, with plenty of depth to keep the blossoming artist involved and interested. --Mike Caputo
Avg. Customer Review: 
more that a kids software
This is one of our favorite jump start programs. I was not sure who likes it the best: my eight year old, the five year old who has all ready build an amusement park.(you earn parts for this as you play), grandma(she bought this one), or me who was able to create my very own piture that as became my wall paper. This art program was bought for my five year old who is into scrapebooking with grandma. There are some sections that I find somewhat hard like the make a quilt. There are other sections that are for everyone in the house to do like make your own piture or Frankie's tent where you can make pitures that will go into a story/song/movie that is where most of our ride piece have come from. There is a tent that your child will learn about shapes and mixing paints. You also will learn difern kinds of art and even a mini game where you play with CJ and Edison. My age range 4 to 100.
Fun, entertaining, different
My son really liked this artist program. We first rented it from the library, and then he liked it so well we bought it. This program is different from a lot of the other artist programs out there becaue it teaches art fundamentals (i.e. what is texture, introduces kids to the color wheel, asks kids to re-create a pictures that are already drawn by causing them to match patterns, introduces them to mixing colors, etc.) It has a movie area where the pre-drawn pictures you color come to life in a movie.It teaches foreign language. One of the movies is about a pinata, and it teaches the Spanish words for big and small. It is extremely enjoyable for preschoolers (age 4), yet it is complex enough that a young grade school child would not think it was too easy or too young for them.
Fun & Creative
I bought this for my daughter when she was 4. She is now 5. From the start this was one of her favorites and she still plays with it once or twice a week. She likes the colors and textures and variety. I like the fact that it is a creative toy that captures her imagination and it does not contain people or situations that I feel are inappropriate for small children.
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