Product Review
In Playtime for Baby, a game of tag between Reader Rabbit and Mat the Mouse ends with Mat hiding in a toy box. With Mat's help, each of the 10 toys in the box leads the baby into a new experience: singing, manipulating shapes, playing hide-and-seek, discovering body parts, reading storybooks, and (oh joy!) rummaging in drawers to make music. Your baby controls the action by hitting any key on the keyboard or simply moving the mouse. No clicks are required. The cursor is a big fat star that leaves a trail of twinkles. Brushing it against an object onscreen will elicit anything from a childlike giggle to a kerplunk to the appropriate animal noise.
Playtime for Toddler has a lusher look than Playtime for Baby. Again, mouse movements or keyboard pokes inspire action in nine activities that include things that send most toddlers into fits of joy. One of the better games is Bubble Castle, where your toddler "pops" bubbles with animals in them, and the freed creatures gallop into a castle and peep from the windows.
Other activities include a puzzle and color tutorial called Sky Shapes; Peekaboo Jungle, where kids investigate animal noises with a flashlight cursor; a Musical Meadow; an ABC Train that teaches letters with the help of slick animation and audio; and Baby Basket Bingo, a cute bit of business that requires toddlers to reunite baby animals with their parents based on the tiny roar or peep that comes from the creature hidden in the basket.
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