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Children's Software Review of:
Buddy Brush 
A painting program
for children from 2 to 5 

From the January, 2000 issue of PC Alamode Magazine
by Joe Barth
Ideas That Play have developed an interesting paint program for young children. The package is a cardboard box with a handle and decorated in a manner sure to attract children. It contains a CD-ROM, a coloring book and some frames to place the paintings in. Very attractive packaging that caught the grandgirls eyes as soon as they entered the computer room. 

The oldest spotted the age limits and declared no interest since she is much older than 5. The 5 year old agreed to test the program and fell to the work at hand. 

One of the more unusual aspects of this program is the ability to mix paints and produce music while doing so. This changed the initial perception of a very simple program to one that was fun for the grandgirl (of course, I feel she is way advanced for a 5 year old, so I understood her initial boredom). 

She could explore the rooms and make music by clicking on the instruments that were there - and she could flood paint the place and change the painting as she saw fit. The game amused her for about an hour and then she was done with it and showed no interest in playing it again when she visited us. 

The ease of use and the great music (the CD can also be used as an audio CD) makes this great for the kids, but the older ones that have used more complex paint programs will not stay with this one over an extended period of time. 

Paint scenes with musical colors
You can create your own musical arrangements as you color. The more color you add, the more interesting the music — it's truly an interactive musical coloring book. The coloring scenes are designed for different levels of play And you can save your masterpieces to your very own electronic scrapbook. Younger kids just getting into using the mouse will have a ball with this one. The ability to change colors and to "see what happens" when you add one color to others is an enticement to continue to play (don't let them find out that they are learning at the same time) and that makes the program valuable. 

The coloring book encourages them to fill in the colors and you can then get them to try to duplicate what they did on the computer. You can also have them print out their work. 
 

WARNING This uses a LOT of ink so watch the background. Black, by the way, is not a good color for a background as my grandgirl learned —  and I learned to watch her selections before printing.
Solve musical puzzles
Click on any object in the playhouse room and begin solving the more than 30 musical puzzles. Pick an instrument, click a scene, and try to solve the scenic puzzle. Match all the scenes and then watch the screen come alive with more animation and sound. 

I would recommend the program for the younger kids —  an experienced 5 year old will not get much out of it since it is too easy for them. Don't get me wrong, this can be a complex program if you use all the drawing tools — but most of the kids don't want to do that. 

The web site www.ideasthatplay.com lists the game as $34.95 and I suspect that you can find it for a bit less if you want to take the time and search for it. Local stores did not have it on hand but you can order it on the web directly 

Bottom line — great for new computer kids. 

Joe Barth is retired from the Air Force and from Fort Sam. He plans to spend his time (and money) spoiling the grandkids, traveling and doing what his wife tells him to do. He is the Treasurer-elect of APCO.