Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration
© 2009 2K Play
Full of fun things to do, but loaded with instructions, plus a few clumsy bottlenecks, this is a collection of activities embedded in a story that features characters from the Nickelodeon TV show. In this game you join Kai-Lan, YeYe and friends as you help them prepare for the Chinese New Year. This involves creating colorful lanterns, cooking dumplings and matching colors and shapes to help the dragon parade. Some of the activities are innovative, and effective at pulling you into the story. You light candles by filling in their striped pattern, one at a time, or blow into the DS microphone to dry dinner dishes. You shop by tapping on target items as they scroll by on the screen, before time runs out. Missed items are highlighted, making success possible; even for younger preschoolers. There are three game save slots that bookmark your progress in the game. This title is far from perfect. It is loaded with sugary narration and excessive dumbed-down instructions, and the looping background music could easily drive the family mini-van into a ditch. But it is offset by the variety of things to do and a logical storyline, making this a nice, pocket-sized extension of the TV show. Our recommendation is to borrow, or buy it (with earplugs).
$30, Nintendo DS
Teaches: matching, colors, fine motor coordination
CTR Rating: 86%