JumpStart Baby 2000
© 2000 Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
We are pleased to announce that the original JumpStart Baby has been completely reworked and is now much better. There's no waiting required in this version— any time a baby "bops" (that's what they call what a baby does to a keyboard), something changes onscreen. Parents are supposed to let the baby sit in their laps and bang on the keyboard. The mouse should be set aside for parental use only. "Bopping" gets the child into nine bright and playful games, hosted by a teddy bear. There's a peek-a-boo game, a telephone activity, a music box and a picture making area. There's also a weird fingerplay game, whose main character— a 3D baby— reminds us grown-ups of the dancing baby on Ally McBeal! For three of the games, parents can import their own pictures, sounds and video into the action. Also on the CD are Internet activities (J*Mail, etc.), but we had difficulty setting these items up. Better is the Baby Book option which lets parents easily import baby pictures into a keepsake book. All in all, this is an engaging program that offers babies a lot to do. Weaknesses include overly loud sound effects that drown out narration. Also keep in mind that this is, in all actuality, an expensive "busy box." Babies will be entertained, though, and that is worth a lot.
$20, Win, Mac OS (CD-ROM)
Teaches: music, cause and effect, social skills