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Zoombinis Mini 2 Pack

Zoombinis Mini 2 Pack

List Price: $19.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Disapointed
Review: First of all this software is okay. Unlike the 1st one I easly conquered all the levels in just 10 hours or about 10 playing days. It's still fun, but after you win the game it starts to get a little lame. Although I didn't have any loading problems the screen froze once. The graphics were good and the games were exiting at first. Overall if its on sale you might as well buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding Product for almost any age
Review: I've been teaching "information design" at a major University for the past 5 years, which means I teach others how to teach or instruct in various media. Before this, I spent 16 years designing computer software interfaces, web sites, and instructional material, including dozens of national and international awards for my work. As such, I am keenly aware of both the theoretical and practical issues and difficulties in designing instructional games for children.

The best-known, most-respected, and most-successful educators tell us that education for children (and for adults, for that matter) is most effective when it is fun, when it involves guided self-discovery, when it transparently and automatically adjusts the level of difficulty to match the learner's skills, and when it gives immediate feedback, especially when the emphasis is on positive feedback to the extent possible. Zoombinis excells in all of these areas.

My 9-year-old son has become engrossed by the game, and now spends time helping his 6-year-old sister. They LOVE the silly aspects of the Zoombinis ("hip, hip, zoombini!!!"), and are completely unaware that they are learning some rather complex logic and mathematical concepts. I was amazed when I overheard my son explaining to his sister how to solve the logic puzzles.

I tried playing it myself, and found that the animation and characters are not annoying, cloy, or childish, but possess just the right amount of levity to keep it interesting. I've found that after just a few hours of playing it, my son is already faster than me at figuring out the puzzles. He is now doing it at an intuitive level, while I still have to think it through step-by-step.

Unlike other software, which usually follows a fairly simplistic, linear algorithm that is easily defeated by simple trial-and-error (click everything until it works, then memorize the right pattern), the Zoombini puzzles/problems require the learner to internalize generalizable, transferable problem-solving methods.

Sorry if this sounds like mumbo-jumbo. The bottom line is that this is an outstanding educational product that teaches remarkably complex thinking skills to children while seeming to be nothing more than a really fun computer game. Buy it! You'll be happy you did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: lives up to the potential of the interactive medium
Review: THis is one of the first cd-roms that has stumped my rather precocious daughter: she gets frustrated with it and does not spend hours clicking away at it. Paradoxically, I see this as a very good thing. In most of her other learning software packages, there is no penalty for guessing, and so she became adept at discovering the pattern needed to move on - they are really nothing but glorified multiple choice exams - simple by clicking on everything. Sure, she can learn a lot from them, but I always saw it as allowing her to cheat as well.

In this program, if she gets something wrong, she loses one of her little guys, which eventually disallows her to move forward. So it doesn't pay to guess - she has to think about what is right in a systematic manner to move ahead. She also cannot backtrack and do something over. Instead, she has to go back to the start of the game, with a new set of problems.

I am also impressed with the logic portion of this software. The player has to recognise which features from sets and subsets in various contexts. That means systematic and abstract thinking, but made fun as a game journey of creatures the player creates at the beginning. Though my daughter is stumped by some of it now, she will really have beaten a challenging puzzle when she gets it, perhaps with lasting impact on her reasoning abilities. Visually, while this is not as snazzy as some other cd-roms, it is pleasing enough.

All in all, one of the best learning cd-roms I have yet seen. It really challenges my child, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Logicy, logical, logic like, and Zoombinis!
Review: The Logical joureny of the Zoombinis has got to be one of the best games ever released for children. I teachs logic ( as the name implies), problem solving, but is also tons of fun! I had the origional Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and played it for three years. It never got boring. With the different paths, the different ways of solving things, and the different levels of difficulty, It gives this game a great replay value. I played it for so long, and then my sister played it for just as long. On top of that, even adults might have some trouble making perfect pizzas for three very picky customers. A must buy for anyone with kids. It's probably the best birthday present they'll ever get!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: O.K. but could use some improvment
Review: This game is really good, but:
1.The games are somewhat the same as "Logical journey of the zoombinis".
2.The graphics are bad.
3.It is not very hard to play. I played 2 days and got 2 games up to the hardest level.
I would buy this game if it were on sale but not for regular price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: must have!!
Review: I bought this software solely on the reviews from this sight, and am I ever glad I did! Both my 4 and 6 year old can play this game for hours! When I first tried it, I though it would be way to hard for my 4 year old ... but she surprised me. This game is fun and encourages logical thinking. I would highly recommend it for any child, regardless of age.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: great idea, bad graphics
Review: This is brilliant program, I use it for homeschooling. However the graphics are awful, they look like something from an early 90s computer game or worse, which is frustrating because you must discern between Zoombinis based on their differences, and often those features are dull and the same color as the background and you have to press your nose to the screen to tell each Zoombini apart.

If they could just update the graphics I would give this program 5 stars.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: sadly disappointed
Review: I bought this CD for my seven year old son with hopes that it would be a positive addition to his education. I was sadly disappointed to find that it was violent, dark, and depressing. I do not believe that teaching children to be violent and aggressive is in the best interests of anyone. We must learn to share the Earth with all living beings.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one of the few games that are encouraging
Review: at first,i didn't like the game,but when they had a zoombinis 3(island odyssey).i went back to the first one and start a new game.i loved it.the story's about the zoombinis living in zoombini isle,i think,but the bloats came and told the zoombinis that they could help them with better life(eg:expanding trade routes.)the zoombinis agreed but the bloats were taking over everything,stealing profits,canceling holidays.so the zoombinis escaped without the bloats knowing and went to build a new homeland.far away,in zoombiniville.you get 12 logic games,4 levels,and 625 zoombinis to carry,16 at a time.buy this game,you'll love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Zoombini rox!
Review: I'v only played this twice at school and I luv it!I keep trying to get every possible chance to play it and now I've decided to save my money to buy it myself.Alot of other kids in my class play this and you should too!I highly recomend this game!


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