Review: Jump Start World

I'm up for about anything that will help my child learn. I was very excited to have the opportunity to give Jump Start World a go for my Kindergartener.

As soon as it arrived, The Boy was all over me to play. I begged off, telling him that Daddy needed to help him set it up. As soon as Dad walked through the door, The Boy was all over him, "Look! Look what I have! Look! Look! Look! Mom said you have to help me! Look!" It is reported that it's a bit of a 'process' to get it set up. I can not confirm that, as I was busy with dinner.

From the start, The Boy has been enamored with it. I'm not even sure he knows he's learning. He loves collecting the gems as a reward, and frequently wants to show me what he's doing. He takes serious consideration as to what character he's going to be for the day's adventure.

I like that I can check in on his progress. They set initial Kindergarten Progress Report up in three sections: Reading Arcade, Math Arcade, and My Cabin. The Reading Arcade includes objectives such as visual discrimination of shapes, shapes and colors, and directional shapes, rhymes, and upper and lower case letters. The short list on the Math Arcade includes: identify numbers one to ten, one to one correspondence, and count by ones to 15. My Cabin is a place where kids can lean to create and read a graph, use a calendar, and work on retelling a story.

The "Game" can even by customized with the child's birthday, holidays, uploaded photos and artwork. I hate to even call it a game - there is so much learning that goes on.

Overall, I think this is a great setup - fun, with plenty of learning. Jump Start World is available for Kindergarten, First, and Second grades. It can be purchased either as a starter CD with additional Adventure Packs available through subscription, or it can be purchased online. Still not sure? They have a free trial available.

As enamored as The Boy's been with this, I'm thinking Santa and I need to have a talk about something for his stocking...

More reviews on this, and other products, can be found at Parent Bloggers.