BoohBah Wiggle & Giggle CD-ROM and Card Game

$10, Win 98, Win XP, Mac OSX, Leapster

Teaches: creativity, language (French, Spanish and English)

CTR Review

Best described as an "electronic sandbox" this program lets children experiment with five creativity games, each represented in the main menu by a Boohbah character, as featured on the PBS show. After selecting a preferred language (French, Spanish or English), you can play in Picturebook is a simple electronic flannelboard with six backgrounds and about 60 stickers of people, pets and zany toys. A child's work can be printed. Exercise is one of the most unique activities we've reviewed -- you drag bubbles into a ring, to program the moves of a dance. Like an electronic sandbox, there are many ways to experiment with colors and sounds although you can quickly forget what you're doing (and why!). Boohball is an innovative creativity game that lets you paint with different brushes. A replay button redraws your strokes, letting you relive your work... very innovative. Two other activities let you design wrapping paper with a kaleidoscope, or decorate a present. Three of the act ivies have printer icons on the bottom; this could be your inkjet printer's worst enemy. The program has some sluggishness at points which can be annoying, and the quality of the narration in French is fuzzy, but these appear to be minor flaws. All in all, this is an affordable, easy to use program with plenty of creativity options. The language option make this useful as an immersion activity. Just keep an eye on your printer.