Pencil-Pal Preschool
© 2002 School Zone Publishing
This is a CD/workbook combo. In the CD component, preschoolers explore a colorful barn scene where they'll find letter (upper and lower case) and number dot-to-dots, an art studio, a sorting activity and 12 movie clips. Though we wished for more, the four activities on the CD are solid. Tester favorites were the art and dot-to-dot areas. The art studio has both pages to fill and tools for open-ended use, and has a simple design that is unusually preschooler-friendly. The dot-to-dots were also popular with testers, with bright, clear pages of letter and number dot-to-dot puzzles that animate when completed. The sorting activity is more clunky than the other games, asking kids to identify objects that are same and different according to color, type or shape. The graphics are relatively crude in this one, and the questions seemed thrown together. Children thoroughly enjoyed the low-res movie clips, which are lengthy and generally interesting. Knock-knock jokes add to the fun, as do printable activities, and the workbook is of high quality.
$19.95, Win, Mac
Teaches: logic, letters, number, art