| | Click on Product Listings for Details!
The Editors Desk:
It's Clifford the Big Red Dog's birthday, and Emily Elizabeth has a long list of tasks to accomplish before she can throw a party for her colossal canine pal. As the original "big dog" wreaks havoc--then comes to the rescue--throughout this program, it's easy to see why the affable Clifford has been a hit with early readers for nearly four decades. Kids strengthen recall, problem-solving, and creativity skills as they travel through town with Emily Elizabeth and Clifford, getting ready for the party. The program begins with the efficient Emily Elizabeth explaining all that needs to be done to prepare for the party: groom Clifford, decorate a birthday cake, pick up a present from the post office, build a birthday-dog collar, and clean up the backyard. As the duo sets out to accomplish these tasks, guided by your child, unplanned events and Clifford-caused accidents throw them off task, giving them additional problems to solve. A knocked-over grocery display case must be put back together before decorating the birthday cake, the needed package isn't at the post office, and the only dog groomer in town refuses to service the gigantic specimen. This program does a great job of encouraging the nonlinear thinking that's sometimes necessary to get through real life. There are seven places to visit and explore in town, ranging from the beach to the home of the crotchety Bleakmans, elderly neighbors with a large swimming pool (hint, hint). In addition to the overall task of figuring out how to get ready for the big bash, there are also eight activities that can be played using three difficulty levels. One of the standouts is a game in which Clifford must deliver cars safely home after causing a traffic jam; it teaches spatial reasoning and how to follow directions, and there's just something delightful about seeing Clifford with a minivan in his mouth. Other activities range from purely creative (decorating the cake, grooming Clifford) to the game-like (helping Clifford dodge seaweed and refuel by eating fish sticks as he swims out to sea to rescue a doggy pal). The overall concept of the program is stronger than the individual games--a 6-year-old game whiz may find that Clifford moves a bit too slowly. We think disciples of the Big Red Dog will love it, as it features everything from Clifford's helpful heroism to Emily Elizabeth's odd circular kneecaps. (Ages 4 to 6) --Anne Erickson
Avg. Customer Review: 
 Best Game so far...
I've have about 10 computer games for my 2½ year old grand-daughter and out of them all, this is the one she likes the best and begs to play everytime she comes over. She has it mastered on the easy level. She loves looking for the jewels and finding the ladder to save the groomer. Digging in Clifford's back yard to find the matching objects, and putting the groceries back on the shelf that Clifford has knocked over are other favorites. She loves decorating the cake and giving Clifford a bath and will sometimes go back and do it a second time in the same game. She has learned to hit the "ESCAPE" button to quicken the game along and skip all the talking to get playing the games! I like the fact that it is different every time. I would highly recommend this game and think she will be playing it for quite some time.
Great way to keep kids busy!
I bought this CD for my 3.5 year old daughter, and she loved it from the first day. I just gave her the basic instructions to get her started on it and then she wanted to do it independently. Mostly she figured out what to do even before I could! The game starts with Emily Elizabeth planning for Clifford's birthday party for which she must get certain tasks done, like tidying up the yard by matching pairs of objects or icing the birthday cake. Clifford gets into trouble at times and at others he rescues others from trouble. It prompts the child to think logically and develops reasoning power and is great fun at the same time. My daughter got so hooked on it that she would play it non stop for 6 hours at a stretch and beg me to let her play when I tried to stop her. We also bought her head phones and if we wanted to watch a movie in peace on a Sunday afternoon, we would just put on her CD and give her the headphones! By age 4 she had played about 400-500 games at the hardest level. Even now, at age 4.5 she pulls it out once in a while.
Surprised and very pleased.
This is my very first childs software game. I was quite amazed with it. Our 4 yr had never touched a mouse before, yet she (faked) a cry when she had to stop playing after her first 40 minutes. She needed only occasional help learning the game and of course it's even more fun if your nearby to share her excitment at the many surprises presented.
| |
shopping cart
Enlarge View
