Thinking Things: Toony the Loon's Lagoon

My kids probably have 100 CD-Roms in the house to choose from. Only about a dozen of these receive regular play. Toony the Loon's Lagoon by Edmark is one of those. We have had it for about two years and it is still a favorite.

To quote the publisher this title "celebrates intellectual diversity." There are six activities, two covering each of these intelligence types: musical/rhythmic, visual/spatial, and logical/mathematical. Almost every activity has a explore option (open ended-child directed) and a question option (child must complete a specific problem or task). Activities have multiple difficulty levels with a grow slide which may be set by parents and/or kids. Also, the slides will automatically adjust as your child successfully solves problems.

In the explore option of the Feathered Friends activity (logical/mathematical), your child will manufacture birds by mixing and matching four different colors, patterns, hat and shoe styles. Or she can use the question option and try to make a bird that will finish the pattern. There are 16 levels and a review level in this option.

Fripple Guides is the other logical/mathematical activity. With either a knock at the door (word, picture, and spoken clues), a letter (word and picture clues), or a telephone call (spoken clues only), a tourist will ask your child to select the perfect Fripple Guide. "I want purple with stripes and curly hair," the tourist might say. Then your child has to click on the Fripple matching that description. If the child has difficulty finding the correct one, the Fripples begin to disappear until the field is narrowed to one. There are 14 different levels and one review level in this game.

The visual/spatial activities include BLOX-Flying Shapes and BLOX- Flying Spheres. In Flying Shapes your child will construct pictures that dance with color and sound. Shapes can be used alone, or combined to make familiar objects like houses or fish. The shapes can shrink, grow, spin, and rotate. Plus, each shape has its own sound.

There are no circles in Flying Shapes, but there is plenty of fun to be had with round bouncy things in Flying Spheres. Choose from 13 backgrounds (you can adjust the color with a color wheel) and 14 musical selections to make a unique 3-D work of art. The spheres can be made to move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The speed of the spheres may also adjusted.

Both Toony the Loon and Oranga Banga (a orangutan) are host to musical/rhythmic activities. Toony plays one of five different xylophones, each with a different sound from glasses to chickens. Your child may either create his own tunes or try to repeat patterns. In the Q & A mode, where Toony makes up the musical sequence for your child to repeat, there are 9 levels plus a review. For a challenge you can click on the moon icon, and try to repeat the sequence in the dark.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic