D.W. The Picky Eater

  • PC/MAC
  • By The Learning Company's Brøderbund
  • For ages 3-7

KidSource OnLine Review

Summary

 D.W. The Picky Eater is an interactive adventure with five learning activities, printable stickers, and hundreds of friendly clickables. Although it's recommended for children ages 3-7, it seems most appropriate for ages 2-5. Unfortunately this Living Books CD isn't as clever as the wonderfully warm Just Grandma and Me.

Educational
Value

 D.W. The Picky Eater is educational for younger children, but not as much so for those five and up. It reinforces basic reading skills, teaches about nutrition and the importance of tryingsomething new (you never know when you might like it!), and certainly helps with mouse manipulation.

Fun Factor

 There is enough variety in the learning activities to keep a young child occupied and enthusiastic for quite a while. There's the Play House, where a child decorates the inside of a play house by placing furniture, household items, and D.W.'s family in the rooms. With Story Maker, you can create your own story by selecting pictures and phrases, then print it out. In Save the Garden, the player helps D.W. use the garden hose to chase away gophers from the family garden. In the Family Picnic you help D.W. and Arthur set the table for the family's picnic by identifying specific foods within each food group. And with Sticker Fun, you replace 30 special words from the story with their pictures.

Lasting Value

 Since there are five different activity centers, young children can come back again and again to play or have the story read to them. Especially if your child is a fan of D.W., repeated play will be enjoyed.

Quality

 The story is cute and with a good message, but the CD just doesn't seem to reach that pinnacle of cleverness found in other programs. Certain parts are not interruptible, and navigation isn't as easy as it should be for a young child.

Description

Step into the hilarious world of D.W.—where pickles, pineapple, parsnips, spinach, and many more disgusting-looking foods are the enemy. And where the only "safe" place is at home…until D.W. makes a surprising (and delicious!) discovery.

Requirements

PC System Requirements

Macintosh® System Requirements

Other Arthur's Adventures in Living Books

If your child likes D.W. The Picky Eater, then she/he will be sure to like the following Arthur stories.

Product Description Order

Arthur's Teacher Trouble Spelling

 In this Living Book, Arthur suddenly finds himself representing his third grade class in the school wide spellathon. If he can't spell a certain 11-letter word correctly, he'll be in big T-R-O-U-B-L-E! Ages 6-10.

Arthur's Birthday

 Living Books brings you an updated and revitalized version of the favorite interactive CD-ROM storybook, Arthur's Birthday. Two new activities, enhanced sound, and larger screen size make this title exceptionally interactive and replayable. Based on the character from the popular Arthur Adventure series. Find out how Arthur resolves the problem of he and Muffy having their birthday parties on the same day. Ages 3-7.

Arthur's Computer Adventure

 This interactive story draws kids into Arthur's endlessly entertaining world. It seems Arthur's hooked on "Deep Dark Sea", his favorite computer game. His mom tells him not to touch the computer while she's out. Of course, the temptation is just too much. Arthur and his friend Buster turn the computer on and dive into the game. They play just long enough to fight over the mouse and make the screen go blank! Ages 3-7.