The man in the yellow hat has a surprise for George, but unfortunately, the note telling George where to meet him has been scattered in pieces all over town. George must travel around town, playing reading games to win the note pieces. When all the pieces have been found, George will know where to meet the man in the yellow hat and get his surprise!
Curious George Reading and Phonics is a phonics based reading game designed to teach and reinforce reading skills. Five games introduce skills in areas such as letter sounds, recognition, and order, plus practice spelling. The first activity, Window Washing, has George matching letters in the windows to letters the Handyman is holding up in conjunction with the narrated letter. On harder levels, the handyman won't display a letter card unless the player makes mistakes. In the Museum, George has knocked over the dinosaur bones, and needs help in matching the letter sounds on the bones to the letter cards shown below. On the first letter, moving the cursor over the bottom letters will elicit their sounds, on harder levels, the sounds are not present on the cards, only on the bones. In the Candy Factory, rhyming words are sorted from picture boxes of the words that rhyme with the picture on the chute. Harder levels merely increase the speed of the assembly line. Play a hand of cards with George in The Park - choose letters to match beginning, middle and ending letters to make pairs. George then visits the circus, where his spelling skills are called into play to spell the correct word to match the picture in the crystal ball. Harder levels mean slightly harder words. A simple arcade game is featured between all the activities, where George collects bananas while avoiding obstacles.
This program is a cute collection of games that are charming and fun to play for young children. However, the skills covered are more on the lines of reinforcement of skills already learned, than actual teaching of new skills. Only one activity focuses on phonics, the Museum game, and that only strongly in the first level. Also, for some strange reason, the first level covers "long" vowel sounds, and the harder levels "short" vowel sounds, which is opposed to most phonics-based methods. And, basic phonics rules of vowels "saying their names when silent 'e' is used" and the first vowel "saying its name in a pair of vowels" aren't covered very well (silent letters are mentioned in helps when mistakes are made, but not "why" they're silent). But for children who already know their letter sounds and accompanying rules, the games provide good practice in letter recognition and spelling.
The interface is fairly easy to use, but the leveling is automatic, not manual. To change the levels themselves, players will have to choose a new game and begin the adventure again. The games are unlocked as the adventure is played, until all five are available on the map. Once the adventure is done, players can return and replay any of the games at the same level as they left. The graphics are really cute, and the sound is nicely done.
A decent reading game with cute games and a fun arcade activity, but one that would benefit from a stronger emphasis on phonics across all levels and activities.
Gameplay: 7.5
A fairly fun collection of reading activities for young children.
Graphics: 8
Curious George has never looked so good!
Sound: 7.5
The sound is pleasing, never intrusive or jarring.
Difficulty: Medium
There are three difficulty levels which adjust automatically.
Concept: 7
There are lots of reading readiness programs out there, with many that are of better quality.
Overall: 7.3
Children will enjoy playing with Curious George, but the learning objectives are not well met. Best for children that already know most of their letters and sounds.
