• Platform:    Windows, Macintosh
• Media: CD-ROM
• Item Quantity: 1

A game of tag between Reader Rabbit and Mat the Mouse ends with Mat hiding in a toy box. With Mat's help, each of the 10 toys in the box leads your baby into a new experience: singing, manipulating shapes, hide-and-seek, discovering body parts, reading storybooks and (oh joy!) rummaging in drawers. Your baby controls the action by hitting any key on the keyboard (or just hitting the keyboard as they are wont to do) or simply moving the mouse. No clicks required. The cursor is a big fat star that leaves a trail of twinkles and makes a magic-wand noise every time it moves. Brushing it against objects onscreen will elicit anything from a childlike giggle to a "ker-plunk" to the appropriate animal noise.

Our only criticism of this CD is that the artwork is slightly simplistic. It would be nice to see more depth and smoother movement, if only to make the CD more enjoyable for the adults who must guide their babies through it. Such subtlety probably doesn't matter to the scores of one-year-old consultants The Learning Company must have on their books. By developing personalised storybooks with pages that don't rip and farm animals willing to engage in endless games of hide-and-seek, the creators of this CD have managed to tap into your baby's wildest dreams. No cupboard locks in Playtime for Baby! (Ages nine to 24 months.) --Anne Erickson, Amazon.com

From Children's Software Revue®
Parent and baby can play together in 11 activities that introduce shapes, colours, songs, animals and body parts. Any movement of the mouse or keyboard results in something happening on the screen. An instructional onscreen video provides tips for parents using the computer with their baby for the first time. A personalisation feature allows parents to add the child's name, pictures and voice to the activities on the screen. 10 printable activities give parents suggestions for further interactions and the program comes with an audio CD of Learning Company songs. In general, testers liked the program but preferred Sesame Street Baby & Me for its calmer presentation. This Reader Rabbit seems at times to over-stimulate, sort of like MTV for babies.

• Teaches: colours, shapes, songs, body parts