Early learning through play! Simple, fun, and effective games to help children read and count. 101 games to help your youngsterread and count including phonics, number, shapes and memory puzzles. Ages 3 to 5. Windows 95/98.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

Fantastically fun guide to the body Seemore Skinless, your mischievous 3D host, turns himself inside out, taking you on an interactive journey of wacky games, body quizzes and experiments. Supports Key Stages 1-2 Nat.Curriculum. Windows 95/98/NT4/2000Become a Human Body Explorer is an interesting CD-ROM full of information about the human body. It's aimed at children aged 6-10 years old, but would be best suited to older end of this age range.

Seemore Skinless, the helpful skeleton, guides the children through a wide range of games, quizzes and experiments. Children can play four fun interactive games, which involve, for example, collecting body parts by answering questions and learning about the body and choosing how Seemore should spend his day. There is an excellent search feature so that children can access information screens on a very wide range of topics. (Parents of younger children may want to supervise children's use of this, as there is information about reproduction and how our bodies change.) Children also have the opportunity to create their own Secret File, which contains information about themselves and can become a scrapbook of facts.

So once children have visited the information screens, played the games, answered brainteaser questions and found out amazing facts, they will have discovered all they need to know about the human body.

Become a Human Body Explorer would be a good buy for parents or teachers of children aged 8-11 years old. It encourages children to explore and find out about the human body in a fun and interesting way. --Amanda York

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

102 games to help children write and calculate! Contains an extensive assortment of games that will encourage children to practice counting, calculating, reading, spelling, thinking, memorising, matching and creating. Ages 5 to7. Windows 95/98.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

Play and Learn Reader Rabbit products are designed specifically to encourage your child's development. Since 1984 Reader Rabbit has helped more than 10 million children learn to reading, number and general skills. Includes multiple difficulty levels Tutor Technology with progress reporting. Windows 9x/ME/XP.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

good for the money - real scientific approach, 13 Dec 2008
I agree with the positive reviewer. My just 6yo can navigate and do most of these experiments. It's true that, if you make a mistake, you might have to start the experiment again... but I loved that: that's real life. I struggled for 5 minutes before I realized I had to pick up a piece of lab equipment in the right way. Absolutely - I'll be more careful next time! It isn't as 'big' a program as, say, Science Explorer, but I think the price reflects that.

As a homeschooler, this is the lab I don't have. Highly recommended.

Not so impressed, 26 Jun 2008
I bought this software for my daughter who is very computer literate for her age. She happily worked her way through all of the Jump Ahead Year 1 series from Focus Multimedia Ltd and thoroughly enjoyed them. More importantly, she clearly learned a lot too.

Perhaps it was because I was expecting the same level of engagement and explanation from Play and Learn: Science Experiments that I felt a little disappointed. The experiments simply aren't that engaging. Sure, they look good, but they don't actually explain very much.

Worse, they are often fiddly where one small mistake forces the child to start again from scratch, e.g. the very small drop area when positioning the cars on the first experiment: If you miss, the car falls off the bottom of the screen (rather than go back to its starting position) and the child is forced to press the reset button and start all over again. This and similar behaviour was so frustrating for my daughter that she lost interest rather more quickly than I had hoped.

The experiments were clearly designed to demonstrate some phenomena, which those of a scientific persuasion good easily spot. However, no explanation of the behaviour observed by the child was given. Again, using the first experiment as an example, the higher the ramp, the faster the car moved. This could have been used to introduce gravity, energy (potential converting to kinetic), momentum, etc etc, but sadly, all my child learned was that with the ramp on position '3', the car got to the third flag.

As another example, the question about how to pick up just the small metal objects and not the screwdriver is answered by 'move the magnet past them quickly'. But why? I was sitting with my child when she did this, so I was there to say, "perhaps the screwdriver is heavier (mass) and so takes longer to get moving (acceleration)". No such explanation is given by the software.

Last point: In my opinion, educational software should be designed to encourage and reward, but never to demotivate. Much educational software inadvertently overlooks this and here is an example: Rather than record how many questions were answered correctly and how many were answered wrongly, why not just record how many were right? Who cares if they answer a question wrong the first time, just let them have another go until they get it right. They still learn the same things, but they don't have this 'you have got 2 question wrong so far' following them through the activities. After all, it's not a competition.

Brilliant software for primary school child, 15 May 2006
The designers of this software really seem to understand young children. This programme looks simple - it's easy to understand and use, so my son, who can read a little, can already play it by himself. For a child who can read well, it will be a doddle to navigate. The artwork is appealling, and it's easy to adjust the level of difficulty. The experiments are genuinely interesting too!

The experiments are of course the best part of this software. Each one starts with information in very simple form. You can play with the experimental "equipment" before trying the actual experiments. The experiments themselves are designed as multiple choice questions. You may be able to guess the answer or work it out in your head, but you can also try it out on the equipment. The questions are genuinely interesting, and are graded from easiest to most difficult. For instance, there is a magnet with a number of objects. The easiest question asks what will be picked up by the magnet. The most difficult asks whether it would be possible to pick up just two of the three metal objects, and offers some possible ways to do it.

The best thing of all about the experiments is that they teach the scientific method, rather than just a series of facts. Of course, the facts are there (e.g. a magnet picks up metal), but you get to them via scientific questioning and experiment. It is far more useful for small children to learn to pose questions and find answers than to squirrel away facts at this age, since they can apply this method to all kinds of problems. As an added bonus, it will also keep them absorbed for much longer!

The interface is a real pleasure to use. The main menu has pictures as well as the words for each of the 9 scientific areas (gravity, liquids, air, hot & cold, motion, light & colour, electricity, sound and magnetism). When you move your mouse over one of the pictures, it does something interesting. From inside each scientific area you can move from one experimental area to the next, and back again - with easy-to-use arrows. All the mouse movements required are reasonably intuitive, from drag-and-drop pieces on a circuit board to drag-and-let-go pulling of a spring-loaded knob.

The advice on the package suggests age 7-11 years. I would say that this could be used by inquisitive pre-schoolers with adult involvement - the more difficult questions may be over their heads, but there are many very simple ones that they will be able to relate to, such as the movement of cars on a track. For independent use, I would say that any child who can read should be able to have a go. The upper age limit is about right - teenagers may still enjoy it and find it an engaging way to learn and review basic science, but they will probably get through it so fast that it won't seem worth the price.

A good all-round educational CD-Rom The CD-Rom covers basics of literacy, numeracy and science in a bright and colourful way. Children really enjoy the challenges of over 350 activities and will come back for more. Win 95/98Learning Ladder Year 4 is a fantastic CD-ROM aimed at Year 4 children. It is structured so that children listen to a lesson and then carry out exercises that help to consolidate the literacy and numeracy they are learning as part of the school curriculum.

Exercises can be done at five different levels of difficulty, so that children are challenged and continue to make progress. For every 400 points that a child scores, they are rewarded with new pictures to use with the printing machine. As they gather more pictures they can enjoy making their own cards, invitations and labels, which can be printed out.

Children can also have lots of fun navigating around Science City and learning lots of facts along the way. For example, they can have a go at the science quiz and find out about roots, leaves and flowers. The progress tracker clearly shows how each child is getting on with a system of green and red lights. This would quickly show parents where more help is needed. --Amanda York

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

good for the money - real scientific approach, 13 Dec 2008
I agree with the positive reviewer. My just 6yo can navigate and do most of these experiments. It's true that, if you make a mistake, you might have to start the experiment again... but I loved that: that's real life. I struggled for 5 minutes before I realized I had to pick up a piece of lab equipment in the right way. Absolutely - I'll be more careful next time! It isn't as 'big' a program as, say, Science Explorer, but I think the price reflects that.

As a homeschooler, this is the lab I don't have. Highly recommended.

Not so impressed, 26 Jun 2008
I bought this software for my daughter who is very computer literate for her age. She happily worked her way through all of the Jump Ahead Year 1 series from Focus Multimedia Ltd and thoroughly enjoyed them. More importantly, she clearly learned a lot too.

Perhaps it was because I was expecting the same level of engagement and explanation from Play and Learn: Science Experiments that I felt a little disappointed. The experiments simply aren't that engaging. Sure, they look good, but they don't actually explain very much.

Worse, they are often fiddly where one small mistake forces the child to start again from scratch, e.g. the very small drop area when positioning the cars on the first experiment: If you miss, the car falls off the bottom of the screen (rather than go back to its starting position) and the child is forced to press the reset button and start all over again. This and similar behaviour was so frustrating for my daughter that she lost interest rather more quickly than I had hoped.

The experiments were clearly designed to demonstrate some phenomena, which those of a scientific persuasion good easily spot. However, no explanation of the behaviour observed by the child was given. Again, using the first experiment as an example, the higher the ramp, the faster the car moved. This could have been used to introduce gravity, energy (potential converting to kinetic), momentum, etc etc, but sadly, all my child learned was that with the ramp on position '3', the car got to the third flag.

As another example, the question about how to pick up just the small metal objects and not the screwdriver is answered by 'move the magnet past them quickly'. But why? I was sitting with my child when she did this, so I was there to say, "perhaps the screwdriver is heavier (mass) and so takes longer to get moving (acceleration)". No such explanation is given by the software.

Last point: In my opinion, educational software should be designed to encourage and reward, but never to demotivate. Much educational software inadvertently overlooks this and here is an example: Rather than record how many questions were answered correctly and how many were answered wrongly, why not just record how many were right? Who cares if they answer a question wrong the first time, just let them have another go until they get it right. They still learn the same things, but they don't have this 'you have got 2 question wrong so far' following them through the activities. After all, it's not a competition.

Brilliant software for primary school child, 15 May 2006
The designers of this software really seem to understand young children. This programme looks simple - it's easy to understand and use, so my son, who can read a little, can already play it by himself. For a child who can read well, it will be a doddle to navigate. The artwork is appealling, and it's easy to adjust the level of difficulty. The experiments are genuinely interesting too!

The experiments are of course the best part of this software. Each one starts with information in very simple form. You can play with the experimental "equipment" before trying the actual experiments. The experiments themselves are designed as multiple choice questions. You may be able to guess the answer or work it out in your head, but you can also try it out on the equipment. The questions are genuinely interesting, and are graded from easiest to most difficult. For instance, there is a magnet with a number of objects. The easiest question asks what will be picked up by the magnet. The most difficult asks whether it would be possible to pick up just two of the three metal objects, and offers some possible ways to do it.

The best thing of all about the experiments is that they teach the scientific method, rather than just a series of facts. Of course, the facts are there (e.g. a magnet picks up metal), but you get to them via scientific questioning and experiment. It is far more useful for small children to learn to pose questions and find answers than to squirrel away facts at this age, since they can apply this method to all kinds of problems. As an added bonus, it will also keep them absorbed for much longer!

The interface is a real pleasure to use. The main menu has pictures as well as the words for each of the 9 scientific areas (gravity, liquids, air, hot & cold, motion, light & colour, electricity, sound and magnetism). When you move your mouse over one of the pictures, it does something interesting. From inside each scientific area you can move from one experimental area to the next, and back again - with easy-to-use arrows. All the mouse movements required are reasonably intuitive, from drag-and-drop pieces on a circuit board to drag-and-let-go pulling of a spring-loaded knob.

The advice on the package suggests age 7-11 years. I would say that this could be used by inquisitive pre-schoolers with adult involvement - the more difficult questions may be over their heads, but there are many very simple ones that they will be able to relate to, such as the movement of cars on a track. For independent use, I would say that any child who can read should be able to have a go. The upper age limit is about right - teenagers may still enjoy it and find it an engaging way to learn and review basic science, but they will probably get through it so fast that it won't seem worth the price.

Learning Ladder Yr 4, 20 Jan 2005
Very good, my son aged 9 loves it.

It proved invaluable when he was off school for a week, he could get on the PC and keep up with his english and maths, in such a fun way.

He has voluntarily gone back onto it many times too, so it must be fun.

Learning Ladder Year 4, 10 Apr 2004
Brilliant - my child loves it can't get her off the computer!!! Very well laid out and very interesting almost like not learning when you are!!

Learning Ladder Year 4, 19 May 2003
I have recently purchased this item, and my 8 year old has been steadily working through the exercises. The Navigation through the system, and the exercises themselves are well structured, with appropriate questions at the right level. The downside is the lack of intelligence in the progression from one exercise to another and to the rewards section: While working on any given question, the programme advises the user "For the next exercise click on the roller skate" - unfortunately it does this at 5 second intervals even when the user is trying to do the exercise - eventually you have to turn the sound off or go mad. My son finds this very offputting. The explanation of how the reward system works, by giving the user a picture and how to use it, is repeated in full every time, rather than just once - again very irritating.

A good all-round educational CD-Rom The CD-Rom covers basics of literacy, numeracy and science in bright and colourful way. Children really enjoy the challenges of over 350 activities and will come back for more. Win 95/98Learning Ladder Year 6 is another excellent CD-ROM from Dorling Kindersley. It's aimed at children aged 10-11 and structured so that children listen to a lesson and then carry out exercises that help to consolidate the literacy and numeracy they are learning as part of the school curriculum. This CD-ROM would be invaluable for any child in Year 6 who is preparing for their SATs.

Exercises can be done at five different levels of difficulty, so that children are challenged and continue to make progress. For every 400 points that a child scores, they are rewarded with new pictures to use with the printing machine. As they gather more pictures they can enjoy designing their own cards, invitations and labels, which can be printed out.

Children can also have lots of fun navigating around Science City and learning lots of facts along the way. For example, they can find out about animals, food chains and gravity. The progress tracker clearly shows how each child is getting on with a system of green and red lights. This would quickly show parents where more help is needed. --Amanda York

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

good for the money - real scientific approach, 13 Dec 2008
I agree with the positive reviewer. My just 6yo can navigate and do most of these experiments. It's true that, if you make a mistake, you might have to start the experiment again... but I loved that: that's real life. I struggled for 5 minutes before I realized I had to pick up a piece of lab equipment in the right way. Absolutely - I'll be more careful next time! It isn't as 'big' a program as, say, Science Explorer, but I think the price reflects that.

As a homeschooler, this is the lab I don't have. Highly recommended.

Not so impressed, 26 Jun 2008
I bought this software for my daughter who is very computer literate for her age. She happily worked her way through all of the Jump Ahead Year 1 series from Focus Multimedia Ltd and thoroughly enjoyed them. More importantly, she clearly learned a lot too.

Perhaps it was because I was expecting the same level of engagement and explanation from Play and Learn: Science Experiments that I felt a little disappointed. The experiments simply aren't that engaging. Sure, they look good, but they don't actually explain very much.

Worse, they are often fiddly where one small mistake forces the child to start again from scratch, e.g. the very small drop area when positioning the cars on the first experiment: If you miss, the car falls off the bottom of the screen (rather than go back to its starting position) and the child is forced to press the reset button and start all over again. This and similar behaviour was so frustrating for my daughter that she lost interest rather more quickly than I had hoped.

The experiments were clearly designed to demonstrate some phenomena, which those of a scientific persuasion good easily spot. However, no explanation of the behaviour observed by the child was given. Again, using the first experiment as an example, the higher the ramp, the faster the car moved. This could have been used to introduce gravity, energy (potential converting to kinetic), momentum, etc etc, but sadly, all my child learned was that with the ramp on position '3', the car got to the third flag.

As another example, the question about how to pick up just the small metal objects and not the screwdriver is answered by 'move the magnet past them quickly'. But why? I was sitting with my child when she did this, so I was there to say, "perhaps the screwdriver is heavier (mass) and so takes longer to get moving (acceleration)". No such explanation is given by the software.

Last point: In my opinion, educational software should be designed to encourage and reward, but never to demotivate. Much educational software inadvertently overlooks this and here is an example: Rather than record how many questions were answered correctly and how many were answered wrongly, why not just record how many were right? Who cares if they answer a question wrong the first time, just let them have another go until they get it right. They still learn the same things, but they don't have this 'you have got 2 question wrong so far' following them through the activities. After all, it's not a competition.

Brilliant software for primary school child, 15 May 2006
The designers of this software really seem to understand young children. This programme looks simple - it's easy to understand and use, so my son, who can read a little, can already play it by himself. For a child who can read well, it will be a doddle to navigate. The artwork is appealling, and it's easy to adjust the level of difficulty. The experiments are genuinely interesting too!

The experiments are of course the best part of this software. Each one starts with information in very simple form. You can play with the experimental "equipment" before trying the actual experiments. The experiments themselves are designed as multiple choice questions. You may be able to guess the answer or work it out in your head, but you can also try it out on the equipment. The questions are genuinely interesting, and are graded from easiest to most difficult. For instance, there is a magnet with a number of objects. The easiest question asks what will be picked up by the magnet. The most difficult asks whether it would be possible to pick up just two of the three metal objects, and offers some possible ways to do it.

The best thing of all about the experiments is that they teach the scientific method, rather than just a series of facts. Of course, the facts are there (e.g. a magnet picks up metal), but you get to them via scientific questioning and experiment. It is far more useful for small children to learn to pose questions and find answers than to squirrel away facts at this age, since they can apply this method to all kinds of problems. As an added bonus, it will also keep them absorbed for much longer!

The interface is a real pleasure to use. The main menu has pictures as well as the words for each of the 9 scientific areas (gravity, liquids, air, hot & cold, motion, light & colour, electricity, sound and magnetism). When you move your mouse over one of the pictures, it does something interesting. From inside each scientific area you can move from one experimental area to the next, and back again - with easy-to-use arrows. All the mouse movements required are reasonably intuitive, from drag-and-drop pieces on a circuit board to drag-and-let-go pulling of a spring-loaded knob.

The advice on the package suggests age 7-11 years. I would say that this could be used by inquisitive pre-schoolers with adult involvement - the more difficult questions may be over their heads, but there are many very simple ones that they will be able to relate to, such as the movement of cars on a track. For independent use, I would say that any child who can read should be able to have a go. The upper age limit is about right - teenagers may still enjoy it and find it an engaging way to learn and review basic science, but they will probably get through it so fast that it won't seem worth the price.

Learning Ladder Yr 4, 20 Jan 2005
Very good, my son aged 9 loves it.

It proved invaluable when he was off school for a week, he could get on the PC and keep up with his english and maths, in such a fun way.

He has voluntarily gone back onto it many times too, so it must be fun.

Learning Ladder Year 4, 10 Apr 2004
Brilliant - my child loves it can't get her off the computer!!! Very well laid out and very interesting almost like not learning when you are!!

Learning Ladder Year 4, 19 May 2003
I have recently purchased this item, and my 8 year old has been steadily working through the exercises. The Navigation through the system, and the exercises themselves are well structured, with appropriate questions at the right level. The downside is the lack of intelligence in the progression from one exercise to another and to the rewards section: While working on any given question, the programme advises the user "For the next exercise click on the roller skate" - unfortunately it does this at 5 second intervals even when the user is trying to do the exercise - eventually you have to turn the sound off or go mad. My son finds this very offputting. The explanation of how the reward system works, by giving the user a picture and how to use it, is repeated in full every time, rather than just once - again very irritating.

excellent, 02 Feb 2004
this is an excellent buy for children,not only is it fun but the step by step instructions on screen make it easy for the child to progress stage by stage without any assistance,the progress chart helps them to understand where they have difficulty and extra tuition is needed also they are having fun which I feel is a good way to learn

An Atlas for younger globetrotters A basic atlas which supports Key Stages 1 & 2 of the National Curriculum. Has over 50 destinations to discover and 500 multiple choice questions covering flags, capital cities and famous places. Win95/98,ME,2000,XPArmchair adventurers relax. With the Become a World Explorer CD-ROM children can obey the call of the wild and see the world without leaving the comfort of their home. Once loaded, it's possible to whizz around the world in almost 80 ways with this fun and feature-packed CD-ROM learning adventure. As soon as you've filled in the virtual passport, you're off. The first stop on any interactive globe-trotting adventure is Sam's bedroom--it's perfect for click-happy kids with animations that come to life when you hit the objects scattered around.

For beginner backpackers, a talking train gives a guided tour of how to find your way around the world, and what a choice there is. You'll find video clips, an interactive index, a country finder with each nation's flag and a wide range of fun games that test skills such as general knowledge and compass directions. A ringing phone launches more adventurous travellers straight into the globetrotting game that displays the strongest aspects of the software. Clues based on geographical sights and sounds lead players on an interactive journey around the world. Along the way, the players' knowledge of capitals, continents and customs are tested in a totally involving way with three difficulty levels encouraging repeat visits.

The beautifully detailed animated maps with pop-up info boxes and sticker book links are an impressive feature, as are the virtual postcards. And although the amount of features may mean younger players require some initial help, this superb software combines learning with plenty of fun and will ensure numerous repeat visits. --Martin Oliver

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

good for the money - real scientific approach, 13 Dec 2008
I agree with the positive reviewer. My just 6yo can navigate and do most of these experiments. It's true that, if you make a mistake, you might have to start the experiment again... but I loved that: that's real life. I struggled for 5 minutes before I realized I had to pick up a piece of lab equipment in the right way. Absolutely - I'll be more careful next time! It isn't as 'big' a program as, say, Science Explorer, but I think the price reflects that.

As a homeschooler, this is the lab I don't have. Highly recommended.

Not so impressed, 26 Jun 2008
I bought this software for my daughter who is very computer literate for her age. She happily worked her way through all of the Jump Ahead Year 1 series from Focus Multimedia Ltd and thoroughly enjoyed them. More importantly, she clearly learned a lot too.

Perhaps it was because I was expecting the same level of engagement and explanation from Play and Learn: Science Experiments that I felt a little disappointed. The experiments simply aren't that engaging. Sure, they look good, but they don't actually explain very much.

Worse, they are often fiddly where one small mistake forces the child to start again from scratch, e.g. the very small drop area when positioning the cars on the first experiment: If you miss, the car falls off the bottom of the screen (rather than go back to its starting position) and the child is forced to press the reset button and start all over again. This and similar behaviour was so frustrating for my daughter that she lost interest rather more quickly than I had hoped.

The experiments were clearly designed to demonstrate some phenomena, which those of a scientific persuasion good easily spot. However, no explanation of the behaviour observed by the child was given. Again, using the first experiment as an example, the higher the ramp, the faster the car moved. This could have been used to introduce gravity, energy (potential converting to kinetic), momentum, etc etc, but sadly, all my child learned was that with the ramp on position '3', the car got to the third flag.

As another example, the question about how to pick up just the small metal objects and not the screwdriver is answered by 'move the magnet past them quickly'. But why? I was sitting with my child when she did this, so I was there to say, "perhaps the screwdriver is heavier (mass) and so takes longer to get moving (acceleration)". No such explanation is given by the software.

Last point: In my opinion, educational software should be designed to encourage and reward, but never to demotivate. Much educational software inadvertently overlooks this and here is an example: Rather than record how many questions were answered correctly and how many were answered wrongly, why not just record how many were right? Who cares if they answer a question wrong the first time, just let them have another go until they get it right. They still learn the same things, but they don't have this 'you have got 2 question wrong so far' following them through the activities. After all, it's not a competition.

Brilliant software for primary school child, 15 May 2006
The designers of this software really seem to understand young children. This programme looks simple - it's easy to understand and use, so my son, who can read a little, can already play it by himself. For a child who can read well, it will be a doddle to navigate. The artwork is appealling, and it's easy to adjust the level of difficulty. The experiments are genuinely interesting too!

The experiments are of course the best part of this software. Each one starts with information in very simple form. You can play with the experimental "equipment" before trying the actual experiments. The experiments themselves are designed as multiple choice questions. You may be able to guess the answer or work it out in your head, but you can also try it out on the equipment. The questions are genuinely interesting, and are graded from easiest to most difficult. For instance, there is a magnet with a number of objects. The easiest question asks what will be picked up by the magnet. The most difficult asks whether it would be possible to pick up just two of the three metal objects, and offers some possible ways to do it.

The best thing of all about the experiments is that they teach the scientific method, rather than just a series of facts. Of course, the facts are there (e.g. a magnet picks up metal), but you get to them via scientific questioning and experiment. It is far more useful for small children to learn to pose questions and find answers than to squirrel away facts at this age, since they can apply this method to all kinds of problems. As an added bonus, it will also keep them absorbed for much longer!

The interface is a real pleasure to use. The main menu has pictures as well as the words for each of the 9 scientific areas (gravity, liquids, air, hot & cold, motion, light & colour, electricity, sound and magnetism). When you move your mouse over one of the pictures, it does something interesting. From inside each scientific area you can move from one experimental area to the next, and back again - with easy-to-use arrows. All the mouse movements required are reasonably intuitive, from drag-and-drop pieces on a circuit board to drag-and-let-go pulling of a spring-loaded knob.

The advice on the package suggests age 7-11 years. I would say that this could be used by inquisitive pre-schoolers with adult involvement - the more difficult questions may be over their heads, but there are many very simple ones that they will be able to relate to, such as the movement of cars on a track. For independent use, I would say that any child who can read should be able to have a go. The upper age limit is about right - teenagers may still enjoy it and find it an engaging way to learn and review basic science, but they will probably get through it so fast that it won't seem worth the price.

Learning Ladder Yr 4, 20 Jan 2005
Very good, my son aged 9 loves it.

It proved invaluable when he was off school for a week, he could get on the PC and keep up with his english and maths, in such a fun way.

He has voluntarily gone back onto it many times too, so it must be fun.

Learning Ladder Year 4, 10 Apr 2004
Brilliant - my child loves it can't get her off the computer!!! Very well laid out and very interesting almost like not learning when you are!!

Learning Ladder Year 4, 19 May 2003
I have recently purchased this item, and my 8 year old has been steadily working through the exercises. The Navigation through the system, and the exercises themselves are well structured, with appropriate questions at the right level. The downside is the lack of intelligence in the progression from one exercise to another and to the rewards section: While working on any given question, the programme advises the user "For the next exercise click on the roller skate" - unfortunately it does this at 5 second intervals even when the user is trying to do the exercise - eventually you have to turn the sound off or go mad. My son finds this very offputting. The explanation of how the reward system works, by giving the user a picture and how to use it, is repeated in full every time, rather than just once - again very irritating.

excellent, 02 Feb 2004
this is an excellent buy for children,not only is it fun but the step by step instructions on screen make it easy for the child to progress stage by stage without any assistance,the progress chart helps them to understand where they have difficulty and extra tuition is needed also they are having fun which I feel is a good way to learn

Become a World Explorer, 14 Mar 2006
This software if full of bugs. We have received 2 patches from GSP but the system still freezes part way through the actual World Explorer game.

Our son loves the game but gets so disappointed when the system just stops without warning.

I wouldn't touch this product if you are running WinXP.

Become a world explorer, 26 Jan 2006
Do not buy this CD ROM if your computer is loaded with Quicktime 4 (as mine is). I bought this item since it was supposed to play on Windows XP, but it does not play with new versions of Quicktime. Total waste of time and money. I gave this to my friend who had an old computer.

Don't buy it, 08 Jul 2005
Simply doesn't work.

My PC is clean - installation of this product and another from same supplier have failed.

Painful waste of time and money -

It's going back to Amazon by return post

Frustrated Mother of a 6 yr old......, 03 Jun 2005
Just bought this for my 6 yr old daughter. My initial worry was that the game worked with XP and read other reviews first. It loaded with a bit of difficulty, but you could enhance the game by having internet access when installing. Or this was the impression I got. Without a connection to my daughters computer, I figured we are missing out somewhere along the line.

Finally began a game, and my daughter started to work her way around the countries. But after 10 minutes it crashed. We started again and the same thing happened. She now doesn't want to play the game as it keeps happening. I'm sure if we had an internet connection, a patch or update would have been accessible when installing to prevent this. However, this isn't indicated in any material or on the box.

I intend to try to load it on my own computer to see if the game will work with connections - but that defeats the object of my 6 yr old having her own computer. Please beware if you have an XP version PC.

Rather a let-down..., 10 Apr 2005
Children who are already familiar with educational software will find the graphics in this game miserable. Although there are some movie clips which break up the monotony, the game is essential static. You move a rectangle around on a world map to arrive to a certain area, or click an airplane to travel to another static map of a new country. One feature allows you to navigate the map once a regional area is open, however, if you utilize this feature more than once (clicking "North" twice for example, the program aborts (at least on XP). Your money would be better spent elsewhere.

Are you up to the challenge? These titles feature the crime busting kids with real skills at problem solving but they need your children to help! The 'Clue Finders' titles include maths, english, science, geography and language skills as well as spellbinding adventure. PC Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP.Learning Ladder Year 5 is another excellent CD-ROM from Dorling Kindersley. It's aimed at children aged 9-10 and structured so that children listen to a lesson and then carry out exercises to help consolidate the literacy and numeracy they are learning at school.

Exercises can be done at five different levels of difficulty, so that children are challenged and continue to make progress. For every 400 points a child scores, they are rewarded with new pictures to use with the printing machine. As they gather more pictures they can enjoy designing their own cards, invitations and labels, which can be printed out.

Children can also have lots of fun navigating around Science City and learning lots of facts along the way. For example, they can find out about the solar system, forces and reflection. The progress tracker clearly shows how each child is getting on with a system of green and red lights. This would quickly show parents where more help is needed. --Amanda York

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

would not recomend, 25 Jul 2007
I bort it for my little girl and it is not worth buying. It keeps on freezing

Kids Love This, 09 Jan 2006
My two kids (5 and 8) love this game. I admit that the 5 year old mainly likes just moving the body parts around and dressing up Seemore Skinless, but it is all good educational fun.

The 8 year old is more interested in rotating / pushing / x-raying the body parts, clicking help to find out more and answering the brain-teasers.

It is nice to let either of them just get on with this one for long periods of time, with very little requests of help, even from the 5-year old.

Highly remmend this one.

this is funny, 22 May 2003
I went on this when I was in hospital and I really enjoyed it.I think the quiz bit where you collect the body parts and the bit where you can jumble up the body are really funny.I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable way to learn about the body.

Fun and brilliant!, 16 Dec 2002
My two girls (aged 5 and 7) love this. They have learned all the organs in the body, where they are situated and what they do. But most importantly they have learned all this in such a fun way. Every screen allows them to work forwards or backwards and each screen offers a great choice of things to do. DK make use of levers and buttons and arrows and lots of other mediums to get the idea across. The sound attached is relevant, and not at all annoying.
Any child who can use a mouse will sus out how to use the package very quickly and consequently mum and dad will have peace!.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

truly brilliant, 12 Oct 2002
I have three children ranging from seven to eleven and I can honestly say we have never had so much fun exploring the human body. I am a health professional and have studied human biology etc, but I still managed to learn. My kids absolutely loved it, they were inviting friends around to explore with them, the laughter and giggles was amazing. Yet another brilliant 'explorer' title.

Great learning for pre-school to 7 years, 03 Nov 2008
I bought this for my daughters 4 th birthday. On level 1 it is ideal for her she can work out what to do on each screen and can be left to learn on her own. It is easy to move around the different sections, 8 i believe, and then has varoius games within each section. There are two more levels for her to move onto and level 3 kept my fairly clever nearly 7 years old amused too.
A great learning tool that it fun too!


Disappointing, 24 Feb 2008
I brought this software especially for my 4 year old daughter who is struggling with her phonics in school and was very disappointed with the letters game which is NOT sounded out in phonics. This is confusing for children and misleading as it does state it teaches phonics.
The rest of the games are OK, but both of my children (3 & 4) got bored of it quickly.
It is very reasonably priced, but in my view not worth buying.

Great for pre schoolers, 21 Feb 2008
I bought this for my 3 year old after she had used it at her nursery. I can only sing its praises. It has hundreds of activities and the menu is very easy for her to navigate, I don't even need to sit with her. Supports the national curriculum and one of the best software games out there for young children. We have bought so many games that don't actually have much to do at all whereas this will keep them very entertained whilst also educational.

Excellent for ages 3 - 6, 15 Mar 2006
This is a brilliant software title. It kept my daughter (3) and son (6) occupied for hours - with very minimal intervention from parents.
I can heartily reccomend this title

PC CD-Rom 'Writing & Calculating', 19 Oct 2003
Yes, the graphics are good - but it is irritating that my daughter has to go back, page by page, to return to home page.
Also the activities are in exactly the same order, time after time - why not have a random selection??? This would be a lot more fun, for both child and parents!
The 'Jump Ahead' CD Rom series, for 4-5 years old, is MUCH better.

good for the money - real scientific approach, 13 Dec 2008
I agree with the positive reviewer. My just 6yo can navigate and do most of these experiments. It's true that, if you make a mistake, you might have to start the experiment again... but I loved that: that's real life. I struggled for 5 minutes before I realized I had to pick up a piece of lab equipment in the right way. Absolutely - I'll be more careful next time! It isn't as 'big' a program as, say, Science Explorer, but I think the price reflects that.

As a homeschooler, this is the lab I don't have. Highly recommended.

Not so impressed, 26 Jun 2008
I bought this software for my daughter who is very computer literate for her age. She happily worked her way through all of the Jump Ahead Year 1 series from Focus Multimedia Ltd and thoroughly enjoyed them. More importantly, she clearly learned a lot too.

Perhaps it was because I was expecting the same level of engagement and explanation from Play and Learn: Science Experiments that I felt a little disappointed. The experiments simply aren't that engaging. Sure, they look good, but they don't actually explain very much.

Worse, they are often fiddly where one small mistake forces the child to start again from scratch, e.g. the very small drop area when positioning the cars on the first experiment: If you miss, the car falls off the bottom of the screen (rather than go back to its starting position) and the child is forced to press the reset button and start all over again. This and similar behaviour was so frustrating for my daughter that she lost interest rather more quickly than I had hoped.

The experiments were clearly designed to demonstrate some phenomena, which those of a scientific persuasion good easily spot. However, no explanation of the behaviour observed by the child was given. Again, using the first experiment as an example, the higher the ramp, the faster the car moved. This could have been used to introduce gravity, energy (potential converting to kinetic), momentum, etc etc, but sadly, all my child learned was that with the ramp on position '3', the car got to the third flag.

As another example, the question about how to pick up just the small metal objects and not the screwdriver is answered by 'move the magnet past them quickly'. But why? I was sitting with my child when she did this, so I was there to say, "perhaps the screwdriver is heavier (mass) and so takes longer to get moving (acceleration)". No such explanation is given by the software.

Last point: In my opinion, educational software should be designed to encourage and reward, but never to demotivate. Much educational software inadvertently overlooks this and here is an example: Rather than record how many questions were answered correctly and how many were answered wrongly, why not just record how many were right? Who cares if they answer a question wrong the first time, just let them have another go until they get it right. They still learn the same things, but they don't have this 'you have got 2 question wrong so far' following them through the activities. After all, it's not a competition.

Brilliant software for primary school child, 15 May 2006
The designers of this software really seem to understand young children. This programme looks simple - it's easy to understand and use, so my son, who can read a little, can already play it by himself. For a child who can read well, it will be a doddle to navigate. The artwork is appealling, and it's easy to adjust the level of difficulty. The experiments are genuinely interesting too!

The experiments are of course the best part of this software. Each one starts with information in very simple form. You can play with the experimental "equipment" before trying the actual experiments. The experiments themselves are designed as multiple choice questions. You may be able to guess the answer or work it out in your head, but you can also try it out on the equipment. The questions are genuinely interesting, and are graded from easiest to most difficult. For instance, there is a magnet with a number of objects. The easiest question asks what will be picked up by the magnet. The most difficult asks whether it would be possible to pick up just two of the three metal objects, and offers some possible ways to do it.

The best thing of all about the experiments is that they teach the scientific method, rather than just a series of facts. Of course, the facts are there (e.g. a magnet picks up metal), but you get to them via scientific questioning and experiment. It is far more useful for small children to learn to pose questions and find answers than to squirrel away facts at this age, since they can apply this method to all kinds of problems. As an added bonus, it will also keep them absorbed for much longer!

The interface is a real pleasure to use. The main menu has pictures as well as the words for each of the 9 scientific areas (gravity, liquids, air, hot & cold, motion, light & colour, electricity, sound and magnetism). When you move your mouse over one of the pictures, it does something interesting. From inside each scientific area you can move from one experimental area to the next, and back again - with easy-to-use arrows. All the mouse movements required are reasonably intuitive, from drag-and-drop pieces on a circuit board to drag-and-let-go pulling of a spring-loaded knob.

The advice on the package suggests age 7-11 years. I would say that this could be used by inquisitive pre-schoolers with adult involvement - the more difficult questions may be over their heads, but there are many very simple ones that they will be able to relate to, such as the movement of cars on a track. For independent use, I would say that any child who can read should be able to have