Clifford The Big Red Dog Reading

My 5 year old daughter is enjoying this package, BUT…be aware that on Windows XP and Windows 2000 that the program has to be installed AND run as a user with administrative rights. Not exactly the kind of account I would choose to setup for a small child.

Unfortunately the information isn’t included in the packaging, so you might waste time reinstalling or checking compatiblity settings before finding the info on the support web site (http://support.scholastic.com/Solution.asp?sid=204642041122066189015104&pid=782&pnm=Clifford+Reading&tnf=15&seid=1932&pos=Windows+XP&top=Error+Messages&rid=12622)
Rating: 4 / 5

This Clifford Reading software is really great for my 3-year-old child. She is able to play all the games herself and navigate around the screens easily without me helping her, which is great for when I have other work to do. We had a problem with the Richard Scarry software; there was just too much going on visually (great for books, confusing for click navigation) and this one is better in that regard. It is visually more obvious where you are to click or what to do, and the narration by Emily Elizabeth is clear and helpful. The games are cute. She loves the T-shirt stamper animation after correctly spelling a 3-letter word. Second favorite is “pop the balloon that says ‘xxx’” and you have to correctly pop several word ballons that float by in order to dunk Clifford in the carnival dunk tank. What kid doesn’t love being allowed to pop a bunch of balloons and then making a dog swim? This software makes learning the words really fun instead of frustrating. The beginning level is challening but not too hard; she can still win the prize tickets and get a prize/present from the big carnival claw-grabber prize bin. The prize/present unwraps itself and is a printable item like a coloring page, abc dot-to-dot, colorable finger puppets, etc. You can color these on-screen and/or print them out, and they are automatically saved for you in case you want to print them out later. Overall, I really love this software, it was a great purchase, and I am definitely buying it for all of the other kids I know as well as checking out all of the other Clifford titles. Great!!
Rating: 5 / 5

As well as all the games which my 5 year old kids find addictive, there are also 26 mini lessons on each letter of the the alphabet and lots of mini stories to read. So there is some hard core education for parents to assist children and its not just all easy peasy games pitched at very young children.

Younger kids who are just learning the alphabet will love the letter catching and matching games which feature Clifford and their favourite characters.They can also “print” shirts with a selected picture and put a short word on it. Older kids can type in words up to 4 letters which an artist will paint for them – my kids say this is the coolest part of the program. They can also read a series of stories and record and play back their own voices!!!

Excellent value and one of the best kids reading programs around. if your kids love Clifford this program is a must to get them interested in reading.
Rating: 5 / 5

This may be a fine product, but I will never know. Don’t buy the product if you hope to use it on a PowerPC Mac running OS 10.4 and OS 9.2. While the system requirements for the CD state that the CD works with any Mac OS after 7.X it does not appear to be possible to even install it on a modern Apple computer. (Caveat: This may run on an Intel Mac with Bootcamp, but I haven’t tested it in that operating environment.)

I am not a software engineer, but I am a sophisticated user of Apple computers. My guess is that if I cannot install this program on my system, your average Apple computer user will not be able to either. Just a world to the wise in the we-don’t-support-mac software wars.
Rating: 1 / 5

Clifford Reading does not have a lot of activities as compared with Clifford Phonics. My daughter hates this cd but always asks for Clifford Phonics instead. The Bleakman cleanup activity was upsetting to her because in her words “they were mean and angry” and I do agree. I wish they could have kept the tone in that game nice and reinforcing. I would not recommend this cd if you have a child sensitive to disapproving/angry tones. However she loves Clifford Phonics!
Rating: 3 / 5