June 2000

Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published for parents, teachers & business owners featuring kids educational software reviews, business software reviews (small business & home business), games and entertainment articles, a free resource since 1995.

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Bear in the Big Blue House: Bear's Imagine That! and Captain Kangaroo Life's First Lessons from Knowledge Adventure

Bear in the Big Blue House: Bear's Imagine That! from Knowledge Adventure

Are you ready for another interactive episode of  Bear in the Big Blue House with Jim Henson's Muppets?  Then you'll love Bear's Imagine That! from Knowledge Adventure and Jim Henson Interactive.  With outstanding graphics, music and sites and sounds of the Disney Channel show, kids will love interacting with their favorite characters.  Meet Bear, of course, Tutter, Ojo, Treelo, Pip and Pop (kids know who they are) for another great interactive experience, for kids ages 3 to 6.

The CD is filled with lots of activities that will keep your kids busy for hours.  After you sign in and enter the house, you can roam around and select activities.  They include Story Maker, Bear Crafts, Sundae Bar, Pip & Pop Jam (music), Puppet Theatre and The Sketch Pad.  Becky loved making ice cream sundaes at the Sundae Bar.  In fact, that's her favorite activity in this CD.  That fact was no surprise to me since ice cream is one of her favorite desserts.   She also said she liked making songs with Pip and Pop.

Bear in the Big Blue House: Bear's Imagine That! sells for $29.99 and will run on any multimedia PC, Pentium 133 or faster, with 32  MB RAM running Windows 98/95 and a quad-speed (4x) CD-ROM drive. 

As with the other Bear in the Big Blue House CD, both Sarah (who's 8-years-old) and Becky (she's 5) loved interacting with the characters.   In fact, I enjoyed it too.  The graphics, music and sound effects are just great!  It's a Disney show right on the computer, where kids can visit their favorite characters anytime (as long as you have more than one computer in the house).

Captain Kangaroo Life's First Lessons from Knowledge Adventure

This CD is a blast from the past because I grew up watching Captain Kangaroo on television in the late fifties.  Now any kid (recommended for ages 3 to 5) can enjoy interacting with the Captain and his gang of friends with this new CD from Knowledge Adventure.  Meet Bunny Rabbit, Mister Moose, Mr. Greenjeans and Joey in a list of learning activities with all the good graphics and sounds you expect from any Knowledge Adventure educational CD.

After signing in, you'll find activities in three different locations: The Treasure House, The Garden and The Workshop.   The Captain lets you plan a surprise birthday party for either Mister Moose or Bunny Rabbit.   You'll select the decorations including balloons and streamers and pick a cake and some candles.  Then on to the activities which include Birthday Candle Blow-Out, Finish-My-Rhyme Board Game, Say Please, Please (a Simon Says type game), The Toy Builder (make some birthday gifts) and The Story Builder.  Becky,  who is 5-years-old, said she liked to blow out the candles.

Captain Kangaroo Life's First Lesson: Adventure #2 sells for a street price of $20 and will run on any multimedia PC, 486/66 MHz or faster, running Windows 98/95/3.1 and a Power Macintosh with System 7.5.1  Both computers require 16 MB RAM and a quad-speed (4x) CD-ROM drive.

Howard Berenbon

Software Companies Mentioned

Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
19840 Pioneer Avenue
Torrance, CA 90503
Phone: 1-800-545-7677
URL knowledgeadventure.com