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!

'Arty Facts' - art inspired by science.

I bought a few of these books a few months ago after some research, having not seen them first. They are wonderful and unusual and we've done many projects from them.

Each book consists of double-spreads on different topics. The left hand page is full of information and really beautiful photos. The right hand side is an art project to reinforce the topic. For example, in the 'Light and Colour' book, the first few topics and activities are:- sunshine/golden sundial; silvery shades/flashing fish; reflections/mirror ball.

The beauty of these books is that the project always turns out individual and is still educational; when we were doing the brain in the 'body' book, dd drew a hugely detailed 'brain city'. It really made her think about the functions of the brain and how they relate to each other.

One of these books would work well as a term's change from a more formal science programme, at 1 to 2 hours a week. Multi age - no problem!

10/10 - give them a look!

'Crafty ideas from science' - the best of the bunch

One of those times when a charity shop book is actually brilliant, rather than pretty much the same as all the other charity shop books you've bought on making science fun...

The beauty of this book is the simplicity. Each page has a hugely simple activity with a clear list of ingredients; it then tells you what result you get. Then there is a little science nugget at the bottom explaining what happened. Yes, there are the usual magnet-powered boats and growing crystals, but also the technical side is streets ahead of other good books I've got. I'll be trying the butterfly garden, making starch and the dancing mothballs.

I'll definitely be using this. It would work well for holiday time. Author - Myrna Daitz. ISBN- 100863273866