Casper Animated Early Reader

Copyright: KBkids.com

What would a movie release be these days without a correlating software program? Hot on the heels of Casper and Wendy, comes Casper Animated Early Reader. Fortunately for parents, this program fares much better than Casper's Brainy Book. This is not an animated storybook, but an actual educational product. Perhaps not ground-breaking in it's content, but not bad either.

Children are rewarded with one dozen movie clips. These movie clips must be 'earned' by playing educational games. The clips cost anywhere from five to fifteen points. Because they vary in price, your children will be able to watch video clips regardless of their skill level, unless this program is far beyond their ability. Three skill levels make this program appropriate for the advanced kindergarten child, through mid to upper second grade. Because it is not labeled with a particular graded title, and due to it's overall appeal, this program would also work well as remediation for an older child. Changing skill levels is cumbersome, as you must exit to the sign in screen to make the needed adjustments. It would have been nice if you could adjust these levels from within each game.

Eight learning activities are found here. They are not any more innovative than a good workbook, but a lot more fun if you have a child who needs some extra practice. Your child can access any one of the following activities freely:

Fatso's Spelling Surprise- Here your child will play a variation on the game hang man. If they loose, poor Wendy gets slimed. If they win, Fatso gets his just reward! The Ghostly Trio's Funny Sentences- This is reminiscent of the sentence building activities in the earlier Edmark products, only more 'disgusting.' Your child will build sentences such as "Stinkie burps over the mirror" then to see them animated on the screen.

Casper's Creature Crossword- This animated crossword puzzle is much easier than most. Your child must place the words in the correct spot, according to picture clues. They are then rewarded with animated characters crawling around their crossword. Not the most educational activity included.

Stretch's Soul Train- This activity includes alphabetic order, and noun/verb exercises. Stretch needs your child's help constructing a train. Sometimes the words must be placed in the correct order to build a sentence, and sometimes they must be placed in alphabetic order. This begins to teach nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Casper and Wendy's Word Find- A fun variation on the ever popular word find activity. Instead of finding words on a list, your child must find words which describe words on a list. This is a fun adjective activity.

Stinkie's Rancid Mansion- No game, it seems, would be complete without a concentration game these days. This one includes beginning letter sounds and more noun, verb, adjective practice.

Wendy's Haunted Maze- This virtual maze teaches rhyming words. If your child is right, they watch the camera move successfully through the spooky hallways. If they are wrong, they will find a dead-end, and a ghostly surprise.

Bottom Line- Nothing terribly innovative. Good solid practice on items children often need help with. A lot more fun than practicing these items with a workbook.

Ratings: (based on KBkids.com's 4 star rating system)

Overall- 3

BrainGain- 3

FunFactor- 3

EasePlease- 3 1/2

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