Customer Reviews:
The most helpful favorable review:
We were given the original Reader Rabbit (RR) Preschool a few years ago and wore it out. I thought all kids software was as great; they aren't. I just bought RR's I Can Read with Phonics and, as other early RR versions, the I can Read with Phonics has great, encouraging (non-irratating) voices, sounds, wonderful colors and lots of phonics, words, and sounding out of letters and words alike. My almost-4-year-old has a go at it each day, and my almost-6-year-old loves it and will play it for hours if I let her. I would recommend this product for anyone who has a child who is behind in reading or whom is bored by phonics or fustrated by learning to read; also for anyone trying to learn English as a second language it is great. Or just if you want your child to have an edge with reading. Sit with them while they play, don't just walk away -- tho, even if you do walk away and let them play they are bound to learn, no doubt at all. You'll be suprised how fast they learn. My almost-six-year-old played a few hours a day for three days in a row, then sat down on day four with a pen and paper and declared she wanted to write a story. Wow. If you sit with them and help them sound out the words (tho the computer does that too), you'll be doing something wonderful for your child. RR isn't boring, it can become quite engrossing and fun, even for the helping parent. Nothing is wasted in this program, altho, you follow a map in a car from one level to the next, instead of earning keys to a magical land like in the Preschool RR. So there is a lack of cohesiveness in the I Can Read with Phonics product, but it's miniumal and even forgivable when see how fast they learn and how much they love to play it. It'd call it a painless, fast, learning to read product. Highly Recommened. I also have the JumpStart Phonics CD, but it's not nearly as much fun as the RR I Can Read with Phonics CD.
The most helpful critical review:
fter reading many good reviews, I purchased this software for my 4yo who is just starting to read. I am very disappointed in the product.
First, it did not come with installation or use instructions. Installation was pretty standard, so we were able to figure it out. How to use the game, however, was not so standard. We had to figure it out through trial and error. It took perhaps a half hour or so, but having the instructions would have been very helpful.
Second, the software contains books for the child to read, but they are automatically read to the child. There is no way to turn off the feature so the child can read it herself (unless I just have not found the means to do it without the instructions).
Next, there is a character that has a foreign accent. My daughter started to say the words just like that character, like "bed" instead of "bad." I thought this was a really bad idea for children that are learning how to sound out words.
Lastly, I thought the program moved really slowly. The game is set up so that the child has to finish one area before moving on to the next. There is so much animation mixed in with the games that it takes so long to finish one area so you can move on. There is no way to bypass the animation. So it may take 2 seconds for a child to get a question right, but then she has to watch 10-15 seconds of animation before even seeing the next problem. It was interesting for her the first time around, but after that, my daughter was getting bored with seeing the same animation over and over after each problem. This might work for a child that likes to watch TV and hates phonics, but my daughter really wants to learn to read, so this did not work for her at all. I would not recommend this software.
See more informarion, Click here:>>>Reader Rabbit I Can Read With Phonics 1st and 2nd Grade
