LITTLE BEAR THINKING ADVENTURES (AGES 4-6)
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Little Bear is heaps of fun for tiddlers

By JAMES ANTHONY

One of the hardest things about children's computer games is finding one that will both interest and teach your little ones.

In today's visual world, the concept of aural comprehension has almost flown out the window but with Little Bear Thinking Adventures Kindergarten it comes back strongly.

Little Bear is the friendly animal who, with his mates Cat, Duck, Owl and Hen, gets into a lot of learning mischief on television.

On the computer, it's lesson time for the little creature.

First up is finding things that his mother has asked for. Often they are hidden so the littlies need to listen to pick up on aural clues. There are things for camping and then collecting ingredients and utensils to help her bake chocolate chip biscuits. It is a fairly basic lesson but does get children listening to what people are saying, rather than being shown visually.

The next chapter offers seven pictures to colour - using screens from within the game - make up your own pictures with a variety of already drawn wildlife, flowers and items that you can click and drop on to the page, or else blend the two and add the items on to the pictures.

Colour and pattern recognition follows as the nippers need to select flowers that are different to the majority of blooms shown on screen.

Little Bear then gets to help Duck and some beavers repair them dam wall by fitting log and leaf shapes into the gaps. This one is a bit tough as it is hard to see where the pieces go.

Shadow recognition and comprehension of spoken information get another workout with Cat in a cave of shapes and then it's on to match patterns and item sequences with Owl. He wants a wind chime made out of gems, shells and seeds and you need to keep the same design - a series of sequential images - that as has been started.

For the last game Little Bear reaches the sea and gets to go fishing with Father Bear. He has his heart set upon giving a mermaid flowers he has picked and gets a treat of underwater fishing in return. Again, its pattern/colour recognition stuff, but excellent for getting the little ones used to hand-eye co-ordination and mouse use. On the hardest of the three levels, their memory will get a good workout as well as they are asked to click on a fish that has the same colour stripes/ body/size as the last one, or is bigger or smaller than the predecessor.

Aimed at four to six-year-olds, Little Bear's Thinking Adventures Kindergarten has lower-end graphics and is suited to children who haven't spent a lot of time on the computer. It will make them listen to instructions and that is the best aspect of the program. However, for children of that age group who are regularly playing computer games it may not interest them for long.

ORIGINALITY 70%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 70%
PLAYABILITY 75%
ADDICTION 75%
ENJOYMENT 70%