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Games Get Youngsters Into the Spirit of Holidays
To get in the holiday spirit, children can play special holiday computer games. With The Nutcracker Music Game, players can enjoy the music of Tchaikovsky as they solve a series of music puzzles. With The Secret World of Santa Claus, kids play a series of simple games with Santa Claus and his elves and view a movie. Here’s the details on these festive titles.
The Nutcracker Music Game
Published on December 21st, 2001
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This simple title does a nice job of exposing children to the music of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite by letting them play games with the music itself. The software offers children eight puzzles presenting different musical selections from the Nutcracker.
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Each puzzle begins by having children listen to the musical selection. Then, they are challenged to discover which four instruments are featured in the selection. Kids can click on eight instruments to hear what each instrument sounds like and what music it will play. Children then select the instruments they want to hear play together. While the object is to find the four that create the selection in question, it is fun to experiment with having different instruments play together. Children become music mixers as they add and take away musical instruments. The software comes with a nice hint system if children can’t find the correct combination.
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In addition to allowing children to experiment with beautiful music, this title also has a section that introduces kids to the look, sound, and history of musical instruments. Other sections within the software teach about the life of composer Peter Illych Tchaikovsky, explain the story of The Nutcracker, and provide a history of The Nutcracker ballet.
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While this software doesn’t offer much in the way of long-lasting game play, it’s inexpensive enough to buy for a one-time use. For $9.95 you can download the software (www.kidsmusicstage.com) or for $15.95 you can purchase the CD-ROM. This software is an intriguing way to experience the wonderful holiday music of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite!
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The Secret World of Santa Claus
Published on December 21st, 2001
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This novel software provides an afternoon of Christmas cheer. The software starts off with a darling 45-minute full screen cartoon movie, and then offers activities that relate to the plot and characters introduced in the movie.
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The movie offers an explanation about how Santa manages to deliver all those presents in such a short time. Bad guy Guzzlebeard wants to stop Santa from delivering presents, and his evil antics make for an exciting story. By clicking on the screen during the movie, children can save that screen for printing or stop to explore jigsaw puzzles, sliding puzzles, or coloring pages.
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Those same activities are also available separate from the movie. In addition to the puzzles and coloring pages, kids can play a memory game, print out decorations to assemble, sing Christmas carols karaoke-style, and explore an Advent calendar.
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The movie has great graphics and a fun storyline. The six other activities are nothing new, but are fun for what they are. Their Christmas theme is welcome this time of year.
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For a short afternoon of holiday delight, this software is a little expensive. But it is fun! It has limited distribution, so try Library Video (www.libraryvideo.com) or Amazon.com (www.amazon.com).
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Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!
All software is judged on a five star scale by looking at the following five factors:
educational, fun, ease of use, value, technical.
Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of Computing With Kids magazine. If you have
questions or comments, please write to: .
© 2010 Computing With Kids
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