Magical Dollhouse Provides Interactive Fantasy And Fun

A Review of Fisher-Price Dream DollHouse

Judy Pozar

Fisher-Price Dream DollHouse engages preschoolers in pretend play in an interactive environment. Children use the mouse to explore and rearrange six rooms, solve problems and act out fantasies. Magical sprites and hidden mouse holes add to the fun.

When children enter the dollhouse, they are welcomed by three characters: Mrs. Baggs, Cowboy Bob, and an unnamed little girl, who can be anyone your child wants her to be. Children are also greeted with music, sounds, animations and voices inviting them to play. They can then choose any of six rooms to explore by simply clicking the mouse.

In each room, a child can click on objects, some of which have special sounds or animations attached to them. Many objects can be moved, so that a child can put clothes on a dress form, put away groceries in the kitchen, or set up a tea party in the playroom. There is a container in each room full of toys and fun things the child can place in the room. The child can also select playmates by clicking on special buttons in the room.

One special feature you won't find in a real dollhouse is the ability to magically redecorate with Sprites. Three fairies -- Sparkle, Flora, and Turnabout -- can move about the room (controlled by the child with the mouse). Twinkling lights and music show which objects the Sprites can change. Flora might change the bedroom rug and bedspread into a lush garden. Children find it fun to discover which things the Sprites can change and how they are transformed.

Something else you won't find in an ordinary dollhouse is the secret mouse world. Mice leave a clue in each room, describing where their mouse hole is. By clicking on a piece of cheese, the child will hear the clue. She may need to move some objects in order to find the mice's secret place. Once inside the mouse hole, there is another room to explore. There is an ice cream factory in the kitchen's mouse hole, a mouse wedding in the playroom's mouse hole.

Also in each room is a telephone. Clicking on it will cause it to ring. Then Mrs. Baggs, Cowboy Bob, or the little girl will appear with an idea for an activity, such as "Help Sparkle change the living room into a playground," or "Hey, I know! Let's have a tea party for the dolls."

The graphics, animation, music and other sounds are, for the most part, very pleasing (although Mrs. Baggs' voice irritated this reviewer after a while). Most of the time, the program worked smoothly. Occasionally, the sound and animation seemed to get out of synch. For example, the phone would ring and a character's face would flash briefly on the screen, but no words would be spoken. Sometimes the cursor would disappear during an animation (as it is supposed to) but would not reappear. Getting completely out of the program and Windows and restarting usually solved the problem.

The interface is simple and intuitive. No reading or keyboard use is required, so even very young children can use this program without assistance. The exception to this is that there is no easy way to exit the program. To quit, you must hold down the CTRL key and press Q. Dream DollHouse is not particularly educational, in that it does not attempt to teach preschoolers academic skills, such as reading and math. However, it provides hours of fun and fantasy play, with a little bit of problem-solving thrown in. It is an ideal program for developing mouse skills in very young children.

While the program's stated age range is 3-7, it could be used successfully with an even younger child. Older children would probably become bored quickly. Once all the rooms have been explored to the limit, the dollhouse would no longer be such an intriguing place to visit.

Dream DollHouse does not come with a manual, but none is needed. When you install the program, a Parent Tips icon appears. This on-line mini-manual contains useful information on how to get the most out of the program. It also provides some ideas for games to play with your child. It can be printed if desired.

Most preschool girls (and some boys) who like dollhouses and playing pretend will enjoy this easy-to-use delightful program.

Screen Shots

33 MHz 486 or faster MS-DOS-compatible computer with 8 MB RAM
Sound Blaster or most Windows Multimedia sound cards
SVGA card (256 colors) - 640x480 resolution
Windows 3.1 or higher
CD-ROM drive, double-speed or better
Mouse

Overall Score:

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