Bruce Von Stiers

We recently had a yard sale at my house. One of the items that we sold off was a Fisher- Price Little People Discovery Airport. My in-laws gave it to my son when he was little. It has set in our attic for quite a few years. Looking at it in the group of children’s toys for sale, I kind of felt a little nostalgic. I started remembering how I played Airport with Josh when he was 3 and 4 years old. I remembered how much fun Josh had playing with the characters, along with the helicopter and airplane.

About the time we were getting ready for the sale, I got some programs for review from Knowledge Adventure. One of these titles was a cooperative effort between Fisher-Price and Knowledge Adventure. The name of this program? Little People Discovery Airport. This is a software version of the Fisher-Price toy set that I got all nostalgic over. What a joy to check out something that was based on a toy set that my son had gotten some much out of.

There are several areas in the program that provide activities for a child. Fix up airplanes, be an air traffic controller or a baggage handler. Find out destinations of passengers once they disembark or help map out routes for flights.

There are several Little People to help a child through the activities. Michael will help you in the Build A Plane activity. You can change the nose and the wings of the plane. Change the cockpit, wheels and tail of the plane too. When you are done making changes, the program will have you select bolts to secure the cockpit cover to the plane. After choosing the bolts, use the power drill to screw them into place. Now you can paint the plane with some really cool designs Then add a few stickers for extra decoration. After everything is done, Michael lets you know that a picture of your plane can be printed out.

With Passenger Pets, Sonya Lee will let you help her get pets ready for transport on the plane. There will be open pet carriers on Little People baggage cars. These carriers will have numbers on them. Match the number on a pet with the one on the carrier. Then place the pet inside the carrier. Then move on to the next pet carrier. After doing a few of these it is time to take a break and feed one of the pets at least one snack biscuit.

Sara Lynn is going to be very busy in Sorting Suitcases. This girl is a baggage handler for the airport. It is her job to make sure that you put the right luggage on the conveyer belt. If you do it wrong, the program will highlight the appropriate suitcase and its corresponding color. Do a few of these and then play a game of hide and seek with a few fish and some suitcases.

Click on the Taxi outside the airport terminal and learn where the disembarking air travelers are going. Eddie is in the Control Tower and you will help him determine which plane can leave next. Hang out with Maggie in the A-Maze-ing Weather activity. Choose from four different weather types and help Pilot Paula navigate a maze to get Maggie to the proper destination.

You can also go to the Discovery Fun Pages. Here you can see the different suitcases that you’ve earned by doing the activities. Print the pages that are on the suitcases for more fun.

Each activity has three levels of play. The older or higher skilled children will want to play at a higher level. Some of the things that a child might be learning from Little People Discovery Airport are counting skills, critical thinking and shapes and colors.

Little People Discovery Airport might not be as fun to play with as the real toy set, but a child will have hours of fun playing with it. The animations are real good, with the characters set in 3D. And the activities are set so that they are challenging without being too overbearing. And some of you parents might trip down memory lane like I did as you watch your child play Little People Discovery Airport.

Look for this title at your favorite software retailer. Stores like Toys R Us and Target should have it, along with others like Best Buy. You can also order it online from Knowledge Adventure at www.education.com.