Children's
Software Review of: |
 Have
you ever wanted a grandmother for your children that would come and entertain
them for hours? If so, would you want someone who was computer literate,
fun and educational at the same time? Well, Cybergrannies is the program
for you. Cybergrannies by Kutoka
Interactive, Inc. gives your child 26 different grannies to choose
from, with each Granny offering your child different activities. Why 26
you ask? Well, because there are 26 letters in the alphabet, one for each
Granny. Each Granny lives in her own "alphabet world" which is themed around
her letter of the alphabet. Each one of these offers fun activities.
Cybergrannies is an animated vocabulary adventure that introduces children
ages 3–6, to over 450 new words. Billed as an interactive multimedia edutainment
CD-ROM, Cybergrannies was created by using "Hollywood" quality 3-D graphics
and effects. This is all packed into a hybrid disk, which allows use by
Macintosh or Windows 3.1 or higher. In every alphabet world lives a Granny
who invites you in and Let’s take a closer look at Annie Granny. Dressed in a blue smock, a
red beret and eyeglasses perched on her nose, Annie is standing in front
of an easel whose frame forms the letter "A". She says a few words about
her artist aspirations, then leaves the children to explore her three-screen
world. Click on an apple and the word appears along with the pronunciation,
and an audio definition. The apple then takes off like a helicopter. Click
on the archer and he shoots the apple; click on To print any screen shot, press F5. If your child wishes to terminate any animation they don’t want to see (i.e. the beginning song), all they have to do is press the space bar. Our children are 4 and 6 years old, so I thought I would introduce them to this program. The vocabulary words are tough for the younger kids; words like Yogi and Oceanographer. They got the hang of it right away, but our younger son became disinterested when the subject matter became more difficult. He did like the activities inside each world, especially the plumber’s world of Granny Patty. It consists of a maze of pipes that the child must negotiate to make water flow in the right direction. Grandma Kate’s keyboard spelling game was fun for our first grader, who is learning to read and spell. They both enjoyed the animated surprises that appeared with each word. They also enjoyed seeing what occupations each Granny had. I was kind of interested in that detail, too. Each profession or occupation gave interesting facts that kids could understand. The oceanographer took us down to the bottom of the ocean to see what garbage and refuse had been thrown there. A short lesson in keeping our land and oceans clean followed the garbage sequence. All in all, this is a great program that I would recommend to others, especially to parents of young children. Cybergrannies may be ordered by mail, send letter to
Marta Grosskopf is an R.N., who is currently employed as an elementary school nurse in San Antonio. She is the mother of four children with the two youngest (ages 4 and 6) still living at home. She enjoys doing Creative Memories photo scrapbooking in her free time. |
introduces
you to an interesting profession or occupation. Annie Granny is an artist,
Grandma Betty is a baker, Grandma Cathy is a checkout clerk in a grocery
store, and so on. My favorite is Grandma Yeda, the Yogi. She has a Yin-yang
above her head, and if you don’t click on anything for a while, she starts
to meditate, levitate and chant. My kind of granny!
the
painting of the angel and she begins to fall; click on the armchair and
it comes to life with the complaint, "Everybody’s always sitting on me!"
The hidden activity for this world is a painting game, accessed through
a click on the easel. There are several more "A" words in this world, which
make it an adventure all it’s own. Help is always a ring away in the form
of a bell on each screen. When you click on the bell, it summons the appropriate
Granny to direct the child to that world’s activities. To hear a definition
from Atoz (A-to-Z, in case you missed the reference), a cool kangaroo that
serves as your childs’s guide throughout the program. When you are ready
to leave an alphabet world, just click the door. Some worlds have different
types of doors, some have gates and one even has a porthole. If the room
you are in does not have a door, go to another room and look for one there.
When you click on the door, Atoz will guide you to the next letter, or
back to the alphabet screen.