Bruce Von Stiers

Knowledge Adventure has rolled out a new grouping of its award winning JumpStart learning series. This new grouping is being called JumpStart Advanced. I have previously looked at the Preschool and Kindergarten titles in this new group. I just had a chance to take the next in line out for a short spin. This title is called JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade. It has several games within the program that will entertain and instruct children ages 5 through 7.

All of the characters in the program are animals. There is Frankie, who is your guide through the program. He is a dog. CJ is a frog who is a natural explorer. Hopsalot is a guy whose bunny senses help gets players through some tough math problems. Pierre is a little cub with musical talent and Casey is a dude whose cat reflexes help on the athletic activities in the program. The two girls in the program are Kisha, not just a mousey artist and Eleanor who shows that Elephants really have good memories and wonderful language skills.

Each of the Advanced JumpStart programs has a specific theme. This one, for 1st Graders, is all about a scooter race. Your child will help Frankie and his friends perform various tasks in order to participate in the JumpStart Ville Scooter Tournament. Complete tasks and earn power-ups. These can be used to upgrade the player’s scooter to have a totally cool scooter to race with.

Kisha has a couple of games that a player can participate in. There is the Music Studio where you place cards of instruments and pictures on a grid in order to make musical shows. In Kisha’s Paint Studio you can paint billboards for the racetrack or cards for Kisha’s Card Show.

In Eleanor’s News Room, the player will have to match up words in a sentence that Eleanor has put on the Writing Board. This section of the program also lets the player read a story or have it read to them by Eleanor.

Pierre’s Polar Bear Test Track is kind of an obstacle course set up so that the player can learn numbering systems. In this fun little game, the player will learn things like counting up to 100, skip counting and the order of events. Match pictures with their proper groupings in Hopsalot’s Bridge Builder.

For those who need some extra help sounding out letters, there is Casey’s Soccer Field. Here scooters are used to help teach consonant sounds and the various word families. Kind of hungry? Go on over to Frankie’s Pizza Stand. Help him make some delicious pizzas while learning fractions. And C.J.’s Swamp helps out with learning math and language skills.

When everything is said and done, it’s time to race. The race is done in an arcade style. Any gadgets that were picked up in the other areas on the program can be used here. Two players can race against each other. After the race is over, hop on over to the Winner’s Circle to check out the winners and drawings that were done in Kisha’s Card Show.

Every time that I look at one of these Knowledge Adventure programs, I look for something that might be lame or not very instructive so that I can say something negative about it. Why? Because I have been accused of thinking that anything that Knowledge Adventure puts out is wonderful. And each and every time I can’t find one thing that a child in the requisite age group might not enjoy. What young boy and girl doesn’t like funny and friendly animals? And a scooter race with all the fun things it takes to prepare for it will have your child occupied for hours at a time. The games all have different skill levels that can be chosen. That way if a child is more advanced, they can kick it up a notch or two and still have a good time playing a game.

This program also comes with the JumpStart Animal Adventures Karaoke CD-ROM. This disc has animated videos that children can sing to. One of the videos features ants and the music in it could well have been done by the Dixie Chicks.

JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade can be found at stores like Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy. You can also order it online from Knowledge Adventure at www.education.com.