Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #463 in Software
• Brand: Focus Multimedia Ltd
• Model: 5031336013552
• Released on: 2001-09-07
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 95

Amazon.co.uk Review
Starting School, aimed at children of four to five years old, is another first-class CD-ROM in Focus Multimedia's "Children" series, a range of fun and educational titles to entertain and encourage your children to develop important skills through play.

The whole program exploits a child's curiosity by getting Hopsalot the Rabbit and his friends to take part in all sorts of activities using fun, music and games. These all teach essential skills for starting school, and this version (the original having been an award winner) features new graphics, extra phonics and the technology to assess skills.

Children are encouraged to learn the alphabet, phonics, rhymes, word pairs, sentences, visual discrimination, numbers and counting, ordering and sequencing, shapes and colours, time concepts and listening skills. Throughout there are songs to learn and sing, as well as opportunities to earn gold stars as a reward and swap them for a trip to the Zoo. Progress can be monitored and a workbook can be printed out if desired. There is also a pamphlet that has basic technical and installation information, and this should be read before beginning. Obviously help will be needed as the program is aimed at four to five-year-olds, but it is well worth the effort as the rewards are significant. --Susan Naylor

Manufacturer's Description
Join Hopsalot the rabbit and friends as you explore an interactive classroom where fun, music and games are the reward for curiosity. Packed with 16 activities that teach children the essential skills for starting school, this version of the award-winning original features new graphics, extra phonics-specific activities and skill assessment technology.

Customer Reviews

Excellent product
We are fairly new to the Jump Ahead series and got this DVD for our 4 year old daughter, who is 2 terms away from starting at school. She has not used the computer very much before, but leapt straight in with this game and was using it like a pro within minutes! There are many different areas for children to explore, all fun, and all with different learning goals. Parents can check their child's progress in different areas by checking the report card. You can also set the levels of the game to the childs abilities, by getting them to complete a short assessment first. It was simple to install and our daughter really loves it. The main problem is how to get them off your computer.....

Can't recommend it highly enough
My 3 year old son loves this game and often asks for it over (I think) less educational games such as Scooby Doo. It encourages the children to learn letters, numbers, as well as letter and number sequence, sorting, patterns, deductive reasoning, time, and lots more all at their own pace. There were sections of the game which my son didn't play when we first got the game but as he has got older he now happily plays all of them and actually wants to do the alphabet race, or counting games, things that if I said lets sit down and practise your alphabet he'd run off laughuing!

Unfortunately he figured out very quickly by watching me how to change the levels on the games himself and sometimes does a level that's too easy for him - I figure he's still enjoying himself and building confidence but if you wanted to use this as a strict learning tool then I would advise only changing the levels after all children are in bed!
Highly recommended software, I am now looking at the Year 1 package for him.

Yet another excellent Jump Ahead Product !
With loveable friendly characters your child will be encouraged to explore the classroom jampacked with activities. Music, artwork as well as the more traditional learning subjects such as letters and numbers are taught with songs and action so that your child learns almost without knowing it. My son loves this program and it has given him the confidence to try to use the computer for other tasks as well. All in all this is a brilliant product that will capture and maintain your child's imagination for many months to come. One word of warning though - you might become addicted yourself!!