Recommendation Report on the Purchase of Kindergarten Software

Years ago, children learned using pencils and paper. In this era dominated by technology, education tools have evolved into the world of computers. While the old-fashioned way of learning still exists and is indispensible, researchers, educators, teachers and parents alike have to explore new ways to stimulate learning [1]. For early learners in particular, learning has to be fun so that children do not spend all their time in front of the television [2], video game stations, and other action-packed play activities. Thanks to the designers and developers of children’s computer software. Theintroduction of these products stimulates and motivates young children to get excited about learning; hence they have a good start of a life-long education process. Today, a number of kindergarten software products are available in the storesboth online and physical. Parents can be quite confused as to which product they should choose for their children. This report compares three software products on building basic and comprehensive skills for kindergarteners. The intention is to present parents who are concerned about learning of their young children witha clearer picture of what some of the popular kindergarten software can offer.

Options for Kindergarten Software

Three relatively more popular kindergarten software were chosen for this report for comparison: JumpStart Kindergarten, Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten, and Dr. Seuss Kindergarten.

Requirements for Purchasing Kindergarten Software

In the process of deciding which educational kindergarten product to buy, there are a few requirements:

  • Operating system
  • The software must run well using a PC running Windows 95 with average system capacity.
  • The price must be affordable.
  • Price
  • Ease of use
  • Entertainment
  • Progress checking
  • The product’s educational value must be high – providing a lot of skill training.
  • The software must be easy to use.
  • The product’s content must be entertaining.
  • The software must provide progress checking.

Points of Comparison

While all three software products are educational for kindergarteners, each one has its different strengths and weaknesses.

The following compares these products in terms of the following: (1) system requirement, (2) price, (3) ease of use, (4) educational value, (5) degree of entertainment, (6) repetition, and (7) progress checking.

System requirement. All three software run on PC with Windows 95. Both Dr. Seuss Kindergarten and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten require a 486 CPU running at 66 MHz. JumpStart Kindergarten requires a 486 CPU running at 25 MHz, which is a lower requirement. Both Dr. Seuss Kindergarten and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten require 16M RAM while JumpStart Kindergarten requires 8M RAM, again a lower requirement. All three of them need SVGA with 256 colors or more, a 2X CDROM drive, and a Windows-compatible sound card. Table 1 gives a more detailed picture of this comparison.

Table 1. System requirement for different kindergarten software products
CPU / Hard drive space (Mbyte) / RAM (Mbyte) / CD ROM / Graphics card / Sound card
JumpStart Kindergarten / 486/25 / 5 / 8 / 2X / SVGA 256 / Windows compatible
Dr Seuss Kindergarten / 486/66 / 20 / 16 / 2X / SVGA 256 / Windows compatible
Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten / 486/66 / 10 / 16 / 2X / SVGA 256 / Windows compatible

Price. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss Kindergarten have a list price of $19.99. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten has a list price of $28.99. Soother than Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten, either of the other two products is a good choice.

Ease of use. Both Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten have a storyline throughout the program and provide a smooth connection[3, 4]. Children find them friendly and easy to make decision as to what activity to choose. JumpStart Kindergarten provides many choices of activities but has no storyline, so children have to make more decision. Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are relatively easier to use than JumpStart kindergarten.

Educational Value. Other than basic kindergarten level trainingalphabets, numbers, pattern matching, rhymes, time, measurement, music, and the like, Dr Suess Kindergarten does not provide other extra training such as activities involving critical thinking skills. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten includes get your bearing which trains direction and map-reading skills; stop and think which trains social consequence. JumpStart Kindergarten includes Hide and Seek which trains listening and deductive thinking skills.

Thus, in terms of educational value, JumpStart and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten are good choices.

Degree of entertainment. Reader Rabbit’s program focuses around a story theme – collecting items for a camp. It is filled with fun animal characters. Its music can also be played alone with an audio player. Dr Seuss also has a storyline behind it – going around the zoo. It is packed with the famous Dr. Seuss characters. JumpStart provides plenty of activities, but there is no single story theme. Children tend to love stories and fun or familiar characters, so Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are preferred over JumpStart Kindergarten.

Repetition. To play Dr Seuss or Reader Rabbit’s kindergarten software, a child needs to have some patience. At times, they need to wait until some songs are sung, or some words are spoken before they can start clicking the mouse button to start some activities. That is a tradeoff for the entertaining storyline. JumpStart does not have that problem. Therefore, for the impatient, JumpStart is a good one.

Checkingprogress. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss provide progress reports for parents and children to check where they are and how they are doing in terms of mastering skills associated with the activities. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten does not provide that kind of report. However, it rewards a player’s achievement by providing some entertaining shows such as a little musical. Overall, all three software acknowlege achievement.

Summary

Each of the kindergarten software has its own strong and week points. The following is a summary of the comparison:

  1. JumpStart Kindergarten has the lowest system requirement. In other words, more people can run the software with their home computers.
  2. JumpStart and Dr Seuss both have affordable price.
  3. Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are relatively easier to use than JumpStart.
  4. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten and JumpStart both have very high educational value. Dr Seuss is comparatively simpler.
  5. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten and Dr Seuss both have a high degree of entertainment by weaving a story throughout the software.
  6. JumpStart is less repetitive, hence better for the impatient.
  7. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss provide a progress report to track player’s mastery of skill. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten rewards player’s achievement with entertainment.
  8. Overall, JumpStart lacks an amusing storyline which is essential for young children. Dr Seuss lags behind in high educational value. Even though Reader Rabbit’s has a higher list price, therearealways some stores out there to offer a good bargain price at certain times. Its system requirement is a little higher compared with JumpStart, but these days, most families can easily afford a computer with reasonably good system capacity.Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten does not provide the progress checking feature, but it rewards players’ achievement so they know how well they are mastering the skills.

Recommendation

Based on the comparisons, I recommend Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten as one of the besteducational tools for kindergarteners. It is highly educational, entertaining, easy to use, and reasonably priced with a little shopping effort.

Sources Cited

  1. Azar, Beth. “Research-based games enhance children’s learning.” APA Online. (12 April 2002).
  1. Palmer, Elizabeth. "Too Much TV? Setting limits on television viewing." Children Today. (12 April 2002).
  1. R & R Wholesale. “Reader Rabbit Kindergarten.” (14 April 2002).
  1. Velgos, Tina. “the review zone.” (15 April 2002).