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The Boohbah television show emphasizes exercise and movement, and is designed for very young children. This software game captures the basic spirit of the show, and allows children to interact in simple ways with the characters and settings of the Boohbah television series.

The Boohbah Zone comes packaged with a movement mat—a smaller version of the mat featured in the show—as well as colorful cards featuring Boohbah characters. These are nice bonus products that extend the learning and fun beyond the computer, and at the same time convey the message of the show effectively.

The software game itself offers interactive activities simple enough to entertain the target audience of the Boohbah show—toddlers and young preschoolers. 

Children choose from an assortment of activities by clicking on a Boohbah character. One activity is Exercise & Dance, which offers two choices. Exercise is shown in the screenshot above. Kids drag bubbles to the circle around the featured Boohbah to change the exercise, and they can click on any other Boohbah to place it in the spotlight. The other option, Dance, allows children to control the pace and the style of dance, as well as the music, as they watch the Boohbah characters dance together to rhythmic beats.

Another activity (shown above) is entitled Seashell Scramble. The Story People bounce up and down in over-sized socks, and sometimes a seashell will appear under one or more of the characters. Kids move Fido the dog to the seashells in order to collect them, and then deposit the seashells into the pail. Each time the pail is brimming with seashells, players are rewarded with a silly animation.

A matching game is shown in one of the screenshots at left. This one involves matching live-action clips of children cavorting about on the movement mat. As matches are made, parts of a coloring page are revealed. The printable coloring pages are rewards for completing the game.

Other activities mostly involve paint and stamp activities. For example, kids decorate backgrounds (such as a hillside, beach, or palm trees) with stamps of Story People (such as Grandpappa, Mr. Man, and Fido) as well as objects. Another, called Movement Mat, involves selecting a Boohbah and watching a live-action clip of children performing exercises and dance, and children are prompted by the narrator to take out their mat and join in on the fun.

The program can be played in either English, Spanish or French. All three languages are included on the one CD-ROM. This is a fabulous feature for families who encourage bilingualism or multilingualism! There are not a lot of words spoken in the game, just like on the television show, which can actually be a plus when used as a second language learning tool.

Our Bottom Line Well-designed program. The activities require very basic skills, so this program is best for toddlers and very young preschoolers, ideally as a shared activity with caregivers. Multilingual; includes bonus items.

Pros: Multilingual component is fantastic. Simple, engaging activities that are appropriate for the target audience of the Boohbah show. Bonus playing cards and "movement mat" extend the learning and fun beyond the computer.

Cons: Although the box says it's for ages 2-5, its simplistic activities suggest to us that Boohbah Zone will not challenge children over 3, and in some cases 4 years old. Although the included activities are sound, they are not especially innovative.

Our Rating:   A-

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: The Boohbah Zone]

Reviewed January 2005

• Our Boohbah Article

Buy The Boohbah Zone at Amazon.com