Editorial Review
An exciting new set of learning games featuring the ever-playful Reader Rabbit and friends,
Thinking Adventures provides tons of activities designed to get kindergartners mastering all kinds of important skills. The goal is to throw a party for Sam the Lion, and there's a lot to do to get ready--matching, sorting, patterning, memorizing, and problem solving all play a role here.
As always with this series, the difficulty level adjusts automatically, and there's lots of printable worksheets and certificates. Reader Rabbit is always ready with helpful hints, which is great for kids who like to play without parental assistance. This is a great accompaniment for other Reader Rabbit titles--kids love the characters, and this title is more about general learning and entertainment than other programs that focus exclusively on math or reading. Younger kids will have a great time exploring with the easier skill levels--nearly every scene has lots of fun clickables, and many games can be easily handled by preschoolers. Reading isn't necessary, but good listening skills are--more easily distracted kids may need some assistance in understanding game instructions. You'll appreciate the progress reports--and knowing in which areas your child excels or needs some extra help. --Jill Lightner
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Customer Reviews
Not another boring computer game 
2000-11-17
The questions I ponder when I buy a computer game are: Will the kids like it? Will the graphics be good? Will the kids want to play it over and over? Is it educational? As we all know we don't get to try before we buy so we end up with a stack of games that the kids don't want to play. However, this one is a winner. My kids love it, the graphics are great, they always want to play this game, and it's educational. The main theme is that it Sam's birthday and his friends are throwing him a surprize birthday party. The player of the game has to help make cookies, design banners and wrapping paper, wrap presents, it just goes on and on. You will not waste your money.
Thinking Adventures a hit with the kids 2000-11-13
Reader Rabbit's Thinking Adventures for ages 4 - 6 has been a hit with my two (very active) boys. They enjoy each "game" that is used to get ready for Sam's birthday party. They have fun without realizing that they are learning patterning, sequencing, sorting and a lot more...
Excellent learning opportunities 2000-07-25
Pleny of activities to keep my almost 5 year old busy. He likes the activities, I like the different levels of difficulty.
Excellent educational games require advanced mouse skills 
2000-04-02
As with all of the Reader Rabbit titles, this one has excellent education activities and an engaging storyline. My daughter loves it. Parents should be aware, however, that this title requires more advanced mouse skills that other software for this age group: two activities require the user to "click and drag". In another game the child must click in very small areas and in the "present wrapping" activity it is very easy to accidentally exit the game.
Quite Engaging for Any Youngster 2000-02-24
This software immediately caught my 4 year old's attention. The animation is great, and Reader Rabbit even addresses your child by their name (which you supply the program).
Many wonderful games for children to learn sequencing, matching, similarities & differences, and many more things. A second disk is even included that allows you to print helpful worksheets so that you may work away from the computer.
This software is money well spent.
Takes a while to get into it 2005-01-21
My 4.5 year old was intimidated by a lot of the activities but he really wanted to get to the birthday party so he kept at it, much to my surprise. The games are very educational and quite difficult. A parent's guidance is definitely needed for at least the first few repetitions of each activity.
I thought that the payoff came after too many repetitions, though. You have to do all 6 activities, 24 times each to get to the birthday party. It took us weeks of playing to finish. Many kids would give up long before then. When we finally got to the birthday party, I found it to be extremely anti-climactic, although my son didn't seem to think so. Also, I couldn't believe the incredible progress he had made by the end of the game.
Too confusing for 4 years olds! 
2001-10-23
I had always heard great things about Reader Rabbit software but I was very disappointed in this one! My four year old got frustrated after 5 minutes and gave up. She found the instructions to be too difficult to understand because they were very detailed and spoken too quickly. The premise is that you're supposed to gather items for a surprise party. You need to obtain a specific amount of each item and it goes into an empty room once you gather enough for the party. You need to go to different areas to make cookies, wrapping paper etc. I don't know how a four year old could do this without adult supervision. This software will sit on the shelf until my daughter gets older. Hopefully then she'll enjoy it.
Uninspired and dull with clunky interface 
2001-09-08
There is one part of this game where the main character enters a room that is entirely empty except for a carpet, a few drapes, and blank walls. It's like someone forgot to work on the scene. There are other parts where the animated characters do the same things over and over and over, and the tasks are extremely repetitive. Other scenes are equally dense or unimaginative. The artwork is awkward and ugly. The interface is non-intuitive, as is the flow of the story. There's also this Blob thing that lays on the ground to help you with navigation, and he's a depressing little thing.
So, this title is not recommended. Try Freddi Fish or Puttputt or SpyFox. Avoid this turkey in disguise.
Not very impressed 2001-03-11
My kids did not find the games very interesting and neither did I.
The Rabbit Rules 2001-01-09
My daughter received Thinking Adventures on Saturday afternoon and we installed it shortly thereafter. For the next three days she spent at least three hours at a time finding the various party items. The program is one of the best I have seen for children. It takes something special to keep a 5 year old glued to a computer for that amount of time and you've found it!! Thanks!
