Software

What better than this popular children's television character to prompt young children to develop a range of important skills through a series of fun and engaging activities? Bright and motivating with audio voiceovers and a comprehensive parent guide, the software will develop your child's memory, listening skills, ability to follow directions, early maths skills, and lots more. Children will not realise they're learning as they help Clifford bring music back to Birdwell Island after a storm destroys the radio tower. Your child can practise pattern recognition by arranging Clifford's dance steps in order, and in the memory game they are rewarded for getting the answer correct with a display of dolphin flips. Clifford promotes independent play and you can adapt activities to your child's ability. In total the CD includes 19 activities and challenges.

 A popular magazine is looking for a special community of dogs to feature in their next issue and who better than Clifford and pals T-bone and Cleo to fill that gap? The scenario sets the context for all of the learning activities on this resource, which helps children develop a range of key skills as they help Clifford complete various tasks around Birdwell Island. It could be helping Emily make some posters, using your maths skills to collect the ingredients for Mrs Carrington's pies, or helping Clifford clear up the big mess he makes when he accidentally knocks over a pile of junk. Working through such ‘dilemmas', your child will develop word recognition and understand sentence structure, learn about rhymes, counting, addition and subtraction, develop skills in logic and reasoning and recognition of colours and shapes. They will learn concepts such as cause and effect and tune their fine motor skills. At the end reward yourself by creating a scrapbook for the magazine showing your skill building adventures and enjoy a musical celebration at the pier. Special features include three adjustable levels, pintable Clifford posters, automatic help to allow for independent play and a comprehensive parent guide. The CD includes 10 learning activities.

Take a trip round Simple City with your child to help stimulate his language, listening, collaboration, independence and creative play in Foundation stage and KS1. As you click on each different area in the city, you will get the opportunity to build cars and houses, cure your sick friends and pets, and even stop off at the café for a bite to eat at the end of the day. The city is made up of a garage, a building site, two surgeries - one for pets and one for their owners, a park, a zoo, a garden centre and a recycling station. Everywhere you go you are accompanied by an alphabet which allows your child to practice phonetics throughout. The programme allows the user to design various situations and environments within each location, adding some animation for extra visual effect, and a few films exploring the things your child has learnt and applying them to the real world. Although the films are still informative, they do not appear to have been put together as well as the rest of the programme. However, Simple city is on the whole a fun and very easy to use way for children to develop speaking and listening skills while also relating what they have learnt to the real world.

This is a charming accompaniment to the Disney/Pixar major motion picture, with all the main characters included along with a few clips from the film itself. The package includes two separate games - the first of which follows the movie storyline as you attempt to find Nemo with the help of Marlin and Dory. In the second game you must help Nemo become a super swimmer, by first completing each of the five puzzles before moving on to the ‘super swimmer challenge'. Guide Crush the turtle through strong currents, make sweet music with the Tank Gang and attempt to keep Bruce the shark happy at all times, otherwise he may eat you. Ideally suited for Early Learners, the puzzles are designed to cultivate exploration, cooperation, and problem solving skills.

Disney/Pixar, £9.99