100 Puzzles To Keep Kids Busy!
A Review of Playskool Puzzles
Tina Velgos
There's no missing piece to this puzzle! Playskool Puzzles software(Win/Mac CD-ROM) is loaded with five different types of puzzles, threeskill levels to keep kids challenged, adjustable sound levels and over 100animated puzzles.
Aimed at children ages 3 through 6 years, Playskool Puzzles re-definestraditional puzzle-play with solid, interactive activities like Jigsaw,Explore It!, Puzzle Maker, Mix & Match and Connect-the-Dots.
Jigsaw is a challenging activity where kids put together jigsaw-typepuzzles by dragging the pieces into place using the mouse. There are threedifficulty levels to select from. The Easy level has 3-5 large puzzlepieces to work with, while the Medium level contains more pieces (between6-9 ). The Hard level (10-15 pieces) requires more concentration andpatience, but is challenging for adults, as well. If kids try to put apuzzle piece in the wrong place repeatedly, a hint appears as an outline ofthe puzzle piece either flashes or the correct space for the piece ishighlighted. When a puzzle is completed, it turns into a lively animationwith great music.
The puzzles double as coloring pages if kids click on the Toolbox, afun-filled paint program complete with lightning bolt, vacuum, magic brush,paint bucket, pencil, and15 different paints to choose from. Jigsaw is a wonderful activity todevelop shape recognition,shape matching skills and creativity.
A puzzle within a puzzle? Talk about the layered look! Play Explore It! asyou click and slide shapes from a completed puzzle (Park, House, Beach &Farm scenes) which expands into a full-size puzzle. Young kids willespecially like this activity, complete with vocabulary building words,shape matching and object identification. There's more coloring fun whenkids use the Toolbox to create and color. These pictures can be saved andprinted.
Make a puzzle masterpiece and create your own puzzles and scenes with aspecial tool set of paints, brushes and stamps in the Puzzle Makeractivity. Cutting the puzzle into pieces was a blast for 4-year-old Tim(the tool man!). There are three different tool icons for kids to click.Realistic animation gives this activity a big two thumbs up! There's asmooth cut table saw, a jigsaw cut saw and a jagged cut hammer for kids toplay (safely) with as they click away on the mouse. Adding stamps to thepuzzle was more fun for Timmy than actually putting the puzzle together,which required some parental guidance.
The wacky fun never ends when kids play the Mix and Match game. Here, youcan create a silly cartoon character as you mix and match body parts(heads, bodies and legs). Don't forget to color your zany cartooncreations!
Our favorite activity in Playskool Puzzles is Connect the Dots. It's notyour ordinary dot-to-dot kind of game. There are a few different tools touse (a needle, hammer, wrench or a surprise tool combination) and kids canchoose to connect numbers or letters of the alphabet in either upper orlower case letters.
By using the hammer tool, you can click the nails in the right order tocomplete a picture. If you click on the nails in the wrong order, you'llhear a whistle. The needle makes a great cross-stitch picture as you "sew"on virtual fabric by clicking the dots.
Make sure you have adequate memory to run Playskool Puzzles before youinstall it. If you're running the software on a Mac, I found out it takesabout 5,000K to open the software and another 200K of free memory.Extensions should be disabled (except for Sound Manager).
Playskool Puzzles opens up an interactive door to the magic of puzzles withterrific sound effects, music and animation. It also encourages youngchildren to explore puzzles away from the computer. You can also let kidsprint a few puzzles (either a color printer or a monochrome printer--colorwith markers and crayons) and help them glue the puzzle to cardboard andcut out the pieces. Or, just dust off the cobwebs on those puzzlescollecting dust in the closet and spread out the puzzles on the table! Ifyou get tired of playing the old fashioned way, you know which CD-ROM to look for!
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Playskool Puzzles |
| Company: |
Hasbro Interactive
|
| Cost: |
$29.99 |
System Requirements:
Windows
IBM compatible 486DX 33 MHz
Windows 3.1 or Windows 95
Super VGA (640 x 480), 256 colors
8 MB RAM
Mouse or other Windows-compatible pointing device
PC-compatible double speed or faster CD-ROM drive
Sound card
Printer (monochrome or color) optional
Macintosh
Apple Macintosh
System 7.0 or later
25 MHz 68030 processor
8 MB RAM
13" or larger monitor, 256 colors at 640 x 480 resolution or higher
Double-speed CD-ROM drive
Printer (monochrome or color) optional
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 3
Learning Value 4
Entertainment Value 4
Graphics 4
Sound 5
Overall Score:
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