cd-rom reviews

I like having educational cd-roms around for a bit of light entertainment; much better than pure games. Here are some of the best I have for KS1 or KS2 - please let me know of any more good ones!

Jump Ahead French. Excellent product for 4-8s. Played enough, a child will learn their basic French numbers, colours, clothes, food, rooms of the house etc etc. Can't say enough good things.

History Explorer (DK). Gobbets of history in a game format. Played enough, the child will pick up quite a lot of useful info. Graphics good.

World Explorer (DK). One of my faves. It has a 'look-up' facility, but mostly it's a game. This game alone has made LL geographically literate. Played enough, the child will know all major continents, seas, countries, monuments and animals etc. Highly recommend.

British Isles Explorer (DK). Similar to World Explorer, but a stripped-down version. Not as interesting, but obviously the interest lies in it being about UK stuff.

Amazing Animals (DK). Lovely way of learning about animals; there are even video clips of some. Quizzes, games etc. Very good.

Children's Music Journey. This was a lot of money, and on the whole I think it's not brilliant VALUE. And yet it's an excellent product for the young child who just wouldn't have the patience for a more comprehensive program. It helped L an enormous amount to get into the whole music thing - composers, rhythm, notation etc. This would be perfect if your laptop is permanently plumbed in over your keyboard AND if you can buy all three cd-roms at a realy good price.

Play and learn science experiments. Just got into this one today. Simply virtual experiments. Fantastic - realistic, educational and... EXPERIMENTAL; L just fiddled around without reading the instructions, then went back to them when things didn't turn out as she expected. Great, particularly if you can get it cheap.

Become a science explorer. Great 'click around' type game. The bit I like is that science stems from pictures of a campsite or a collection of objects on a desk, with links to the 'science book' section, plus quizzes etc.

These are ones I'm neutral about:-

Human Body Explorer. Good educational content, but the option to just play games is there.

Brain Buster Quiz (DK). Too anarchic for me. Like a game show on TV and no context to the facts.

And here are the bottom of the pile:-

I love Spelling. Boring graphics IMO. Very limited games. Testing without understanding.

Castle Explorer (DK). Should be so good, but I couldn't get it to work.

Full Marks SATS (Idigicon) - facts in no context (ie SATs....) plus games that are impossible to navigate. Don't buy this - it was a freebie.

As I said, do let me know of any good resources!