Product Overview
The Berenstain Bears have been a real fixture in many families' homes — the storybooks are filled with important lessons to be learned, and children can easily identify with the adventures, and often misadventures, of this famous bear family. I would even venture to say that parents can learn a few things from the realistic problems — and solutions — presented in the Berenstain Bears books. These lovable bears have recently made the leap to a video series, and a feature-length direct-to-video movie is in the works.
Now kids can interact with their favorite characters in this series of computer games entitled "Life's Little Lessons". Although the Berenstain Bears have been represented in the form of interactive storybooks (Living Books) on the computer, this new series has more of an interactive "feel" to it.
Sister and Brother Bear learn all about helping others in Little Bears Make Big Helpers. There are 4 activities, and each starts and ends with a short story — a helpful bear situation:
- Brother Bear and Sister Bear help Mama make a quilt. Kids must reproduce the exact same quilt using squares a few times before they get to create their own.
- The cubs help Papa Bear make honey in this short story, then players help direct Papa to trees to collect honey in cans. This is an arcade-style activity in which kids must avoid swarms of bees who make Papa Bear spill his collected honey.
- Sister Bear must do some tasks in town before the family can go to a baseball game. In the activity, players must plan out Sister's route (in a logical manner) around town by placing numbered flags on the buildings she must visit.
- Kids watch a short story about how Mama Bear has made cleaning up Brother's room into a game. The activity involves directing Brother's remote control dump truck with a toy in it to the right pile (a clothes pile, books, etc.).
The activities include adjustable levels of difficulty and have two-player options. The challenge levels are chosen at sign-in. Each mini-story is hosted by a member of the bear family and starts with an introductory poem (much like the Berenstain Bears storybooks). After watching the story (optional), the associated activity is presented. Once successfully completed, kids earn a reward certificate that can be printed in color or in a format that allows for children to use crayons or markers to decorate it away from the computer.
We have a few complaints: the honey-collecting activity can be somewhat frustrating for 4 and 5 year-olds, and testers found it a little difficult and awkward to control; the 2 activities that involved directional controls could have been boosted on an educational level if the terms "left" and "right" were used; the program is rather short — it takes very little time to work through the game; kid testers wanted more activities. However, the game can be replayed as often as possible, and at different difficulty levels (3 levels altogether).
Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements are Windows 95/98, a Pentium 133 (Pentium 200 recommended), 24 Mb RAM (30 Mb recommended), and 4X CD ROM. Mac users require a Power PC with 32 Mb RAM, System 7.5.3 (7.6.1 recommended) or higher, and at least 4X CD ROM (8X recommended). A color printer is recommended as well. It takes up 10 Mb of hard drive space, and is easy to install and load.
Skills Covered
thinking skills, arcade skills, creativity, sorting, teamwork, social skills — helping out and cooperation
Educational Value
This title doesn't have a whole lot to offer in terms of traditional academic learning. However, children can learn some basic social skills from the stories. The "lessons" to be learned are positive.
Entertainment Value
The Berenstain Bears characters and bright graphics provided the initial "draw" to the program.
Design
Navigation is rather straightforward, but kids found the honey-collecting activity somewhat awkward to control, and were rather confused with Sister's activity because of the quantity of instructions.
Replayability
We wonder about the program's long-term appeal, mainly because there is not a whole lot of content. Children generally wanted more activities, or at least longer ones.
Dollar Value
The program sells for $19.95 US.
Released: 1999
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