NoteNiks: Healthy Eating & Exercise
© 2006 Sound Advice, Inc.
This CD-ROM is very easy to use on Windows and Mac OSX computers, and it covers an important topic in a shallow way. The design is limited, however, which lowers the ratings. After a 200 MB installation, children can choose from five activities that ask them to pick the fruits and veggies from the 'junk' food, like pizza and hamburgers. We question the simplicity of these categorizations. Other activities are a game of concentration (match the good foods), a maze (find the fruits) and a basket sorting game (catch the apples). After each activity, a food fact is provided, both in print and narrated. There's no leveling, and records are not kept. Also, the activities are not integrated in any way (the high scores are meaningless). Finally, it is easy for a child to click on an option in the main menu that leads to an Internet site. The CD contains a variety of additional lesson plans. The CD was published by VendorNation North for SoundAdvice, and the activities are designed in Flash.
$30, Windows XP, Mac OSX
Teaches: healthy eating & exercise
CTR Rating: 60%