Leapster Software: SpongeBob Squarepants Saves the Day
© 2004 LeapFrog
Spongebob and friends look and sound great in this set of four activities designed to span a wide age range, all contained on one Leapster cartridge. After signing in (the game can store progress for three players) children are asked to search Bikini Bottom to find ingredients for a new crabby patty sauce. Ingredients are earned by playing the games; the more you play, the more sauce you get. Games include Counting Claw where you count out the correct coins in order to use the claw. Problems range from 7 cents in pennies, to "Insert mixed coins that add up to 76 cents." Conveyor Chaos lets you move Patrick around a series of moving belts, in search of shapes. Musical Gardens is a confusing, somewhat fun game, and Bubble Scrubber deals with word parts, carried on swimming jellyfish. Once the ingredients are collected (required to finish the game), players can save the Krusty Crab. If a game is interrupted, it is automatically saved. All in all, this is a playful set of activities that reinforces math, logic and reading skills. Testers liked it better than the Dora cartridge.
$25, Leapster, Smart Toy
Teaches: money (from single coins to comparing quantities), sorting, pitch and rhythm, and word parts(consonants to dipthhongs like ow)