Arthur's Reading Round-Up

Copyright: KBkids.com

Actimates D.W and Arthur dolls are the latest to join the ranks of such famous interactive dolls as Barbie and Barney. You do not need to own the interactive doll in order to run Reading Round Up, Math Carnival, or Brainteasers. If you purchase the doll, you can buy what is called a PCPack. This includes the doll and a CD which has some learning activities. It does not include any of the three titles mentioned. These titles must be purchased separately, and can be run with or without the doll.

Reading Round Up was tested without the interactive doll. Children would have never noticed had they not seen the television commercials. Arthur appears on your screen and makes comments throughout the program. These comments at times seemed stiff and awkward compared to the other characters in the program. That is because these comments would normally be coming from the doll in way of encouragement to your child. Young testers also commented that "that doesn't really sound like Arthur." The doll also gives hints and other comments if you squeeze his or her hand, ear, watch, or toe. If you own the doll, an activity called Dance Theater will also be available. This activity does not load to your computer if you do not have the doll. If your children are Arthur fans, they will love having the interactive doll. If that is not an option in your household, the computer programs are still enjoyable without the doll.

Reading Round Up finds your child in the library with Arthur and his friends. By clicking on each character, your child will be transported to a different learning activity.

Mr Ratburn- Join Arthur's school teacher for a Spell-a-Thon. Mr. Ratburn says a word and each character attempts to spell it. Your child must select the correct spelling. Does not give your child the chance to spell, but helps with visual recognition skills. Level one words are three letter words, while level five words are seven and eight letter words.

Francine- Help her with her new Word-o-Matic machine. Your child must find the beginning and ending portions of words which Francine says aloud. Testers fumbled with the controls here and only found out how to work the machine accidentally. You must pull a lever on the top of the machine to display the second half of the word. Here again, the words increase in length as the levels are adjusted.

Muffy- Muffy's video wall is a straight forward concentration game. Beginning levels include pictures, lower to uppper case letter matching and more, while the highest level includes rhyming words to match.

Buster- Buster's do it yourself storybook is much like the old Mad Libs activities. On level one your child must only select pictures for the story. By level five, they are selecting nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Buster does not really 'teach' these concepts, however.

D.W.- D.W. shares a variation of Hang Man with your child. At the lowest level the words only contain three levels. By level five, your child will be guessing seven and eight letter words.

This may not be the greatest reading program around, but it is quite good. The level adjustments are easy, and contain a wide range of reading skills. Arthur and his friends may also make a hesitant child feel 'safe.' The program in not intimidating, and the characters are very familiar to most children. Use this as reinforcement and not a complete reading package.

Bottom Line: A decent reading program with a wide range of skill levels. Arthur characters will be a hit with any Arthur fan.

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

Overall: 3

BrainGain: 3

FunFactor: 3

EasePlease: 4

Microsoft no longer makes this program, but here are some other Arthur programs you might like at Amazon!