Alphabet

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Different
Review: This is a beautiful program. It is based on a picture book, and it literally allows your child to play with the alphabet in an explosion of color and sound. Many of the graphics resemble a child's collage. The background music is a wonderful ethereal blend of instruments and voices. If you like "world" music, you'll like this. Also this is made by a European company so you might notice some unusual things like Z being called Zed, but that's easy enough to explain to children.

This is very, very, very unlike most children's software on the market so I think it will be a love/hate thing for most people and as is reflected in other reviews in this forum. If you think the cutesy animated characters which drill the ABC's and 123's with lots of structured games and jingles are the greatest thing since sliced bread, then Alphabet is probably not for you. However, if you are looking for a truly unique, artistic, and fun way to introduce your children to the computer and the alphabet then give this a try.

Both my 3 and 6 year old boys love this. And I mean LOVE. Oh the giggles that erupt in my house when you play this. You have two choices you can either choose a letter to play with from the menu or let the computer randomly choose.

The letters do not merely dance, but can be manipulated by your child moving the mouse. Each letter does something different. For example one turns into a pac man like creature and the child moves the mouse capturing the rest of the letters. With A, the letter is stylized to resemble an opera singer and out of her mouth come many A's. Your child moves the letters around to make different sounds, harmonies, and melodies. The letter "i" acts like a flyswatter chasing it's dot around the screen. Each letter does something fun which your child manipulates with the mouse.

Now what about educational value? Children learn mouse skills, action and reaction, and familiarity with the alphabet. And while they do this they are surrounded by fantastic art, animation, and sound which they manipulate. Being able to play with the alphabet leads to interest in reading. This is a highly creative program, which obviously is not for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Educational Software I have Come Across!
Review: This is absolutely the best game/learning tool my daughter has to-date. Unlike some other software, Alphabet engages all senses and makes the PROCESS of learning enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: All I have to say is WOW! Alphabet is children's software at its finest. This game not only introduces kids to the letters of the alphabet but also to the mouse and keyboard. I enjoyed playing with my daughter because the graphics are so rich and the music is fascinating. This game is really about art. Like a wonderful picture book, Alphabet has given our family hours of enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: Still don't understand
Review: I have used several beginning alphabet programs with my 7 year old. I was looking for something new for my 4 year old and this was well reviewed. I find it totally incomprehensible. It was somewhat entertaining for the 7 year old. We kept trying to guess which letter was represented on the screen. It was useless for letter recognition or phonic sound.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS!
Review: My child accidentally bought this by clicking on the button to buy automatically while she was in my lap. I could have returned it, but decided to save it until she was ready. Well I just opened the package and tried it. This program is awful! Just like other reviewers, I couldn't figure it out and didn't really want to because it was just nonsense. I had to write a review because it is sooo terrible, I don't want anyone else to think their kids will learn anything from it. Do not waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: random passive activity; wrong letter names for 2 letters...
Review: The directions to this game are scanty: one paragraph. There is no description of the games in paper format or in the 'read me' file. You must navigate this yourself and figure out what the games are. My five year old was frustrated because he could not figure out how to select the different games and what the purpose is. There are no on-screen auditory directions as with every other children's educational software that we own. It is confusing in its organization and randomness.

These images are not really games. Sometimes you hit a letter on your keyboard and the letters come up and dance and move and there is music. Other times you must sit passively and just watch what is happening, and you have no "cursor" so you can't do anything at all but watch. In one section the letter is on the screen ad when you move the mouse it makes new letters in the places where the mouse moves. The package shows games that I have not been able to access at all after sitting down alone and trying to figure this out (and I am an intelligent adult)!

I thought the music and sound was excellent. However, when you select the letter A it alternates randomly from saying "a" and "at"; the rest of the letters are called by their name "b", "c" etc. The other problem is z is called "zed" which is not the English word for the letter "z". For children learning the English alphabet I think the A should be called just A and the Z should be called the proper English pronunciation of Z. If this was a foreign language program then I could understand teaching different names or pronunciations for the letters of the alphabet...

This is a very passive activity, sitting and watching the screen. I would compare it to watching a video except the user is given a little control of selecting the letters. This held very limited attention for my 5 year old that is learning letter recognition now, about 3 minutes. My two year old was more interested in it for watching the shapes jump and dance and he was laughing, but he was not in control of the game and trying to work it as I was and my 5 year old was, therefore he was spared the frustration of navigating and figuring out this "game".

Honestly this is a nonsense type of watching the letters on screen doing silly and fun dancing and moving around. It is a very passive experience.

The letters are upper case only. Their design mirrors the artistic and creative style in the book by the same name authored by Kveta Pacovska.

There is no real menu to select the games. The menu is about ½ of an inch high, a tiny rectangle. Sometimes our menu just won't appear. There is no information on the CD-ROM or the papers that came with the program for troubleshooting nor is there a link to any Website or a phone number provided for help with technical problems.

There should be a better menu for game selection. There should be more details provided about the different games and how to play them (watch vs. doing something to make something happen). There should be troubleshooting information. There should be a read-me file with all this information. There should be a toll free phone number to call for problems or a Website to get online help or frequently asked questions.

For children to use this for fun without frustration or to specifically use this as an educational program it needs better organization via a better activity menu and a clear explanation of what each activity is, and the letters should be called by their one proper English name for this game published in the English language.

Something to think about that has no bearing on my rating for this product: I once heard an educator speak who said we must caution about trying to teach reading by having kids passively watching letters dancing and doing entertaining things on a screen as read realing is nothing like this. Real reading is text on a page that have meaning. But when learning to read, kids shouldn't get accustomed to thinking that text on a page dances and moves and is colored and fancy looking. She went on to say this is a problem for some children who have difficulty learning to read. She advised to spend time reading aloud to our babies and young children and they will be inspired to read real books and will learn to love real books. This program seems to be everything this educator cautioned against.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE ALPHABET!
Review: This software is unlike anything I have ever seen. And it is stunning! For something really different, and indescribable I recommend this title. Although it is suitable for the very youngest of children, this is a title anyone of any age can enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Not structured enough for a 4 year old.
Review: This was an extremely difficult game to get into. In other software geared towards 3-5 there is a helping guide during the process of the game to keep you on track. With this game you had to have the child search for the "portal" in the upper left corner of the screen to back out of a game. The sound was of poor quality as well.

Overall, this game, while visually stimulating, did little to engage my 4 year old.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed with Alphabet
Review: I purchased this CD after reading several glowing reviews in parenting magazines. I bought this for my 3 year old, who is very skilled at the computer, letter recognition, etc. I was very disappointed with the aspect that it is really nothing more than sitting and watching a lot of, albeit interesting, graphics about letters. I didn't think there was a whole lot of educational value in this software. I wouldn't recommend it for much educational value. Interesting artwork and colors, but if you're looking for something with more learning value, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: No instructions, just click to make letters dance.
Review: It's COOL! 'ALPHABET' CD-ROM was created from the book by Kveta Pacovska. Letters are characters on the stage, they play and sound in random. It's good for kids to start to play with computer CD-titles.