The residents of Birdwell Island love music, but when the storm knocks down the satellite dish at the radio station, kids will need to help Clifford and the gang restore music to the Island. Fortunately, doing so is fun and educational!
The adventure begins in Clifford's doghouse where kids are introduced to the "keybone"--a bone-shaped keyboard with colorful keys that children use throughout the game. After this introduction, children explore the island in search of everyday items that will help build musical instruments, and they uncover fun and musical activities as they do.
Each time children collect a special object, the "Make Your Own Instrument" book opens. Once all the items (such as a plank, fishing line, and bucket) that make up an instrument are found, kids take part in a "jam session" featuring that instrument.
Children need to learn four songs that they can offer to various characters in the game. For example, after learning the baking song, they can offer it to the chef who uses it as inspiration while he works. These "learn-a-song" activities require repeating notes on the keyboard, and they are "taught" by musical birds. While this type of activity is prevalent in children's software, the quality of the songs is high. The musical birds sing the delightful songs once children have successfully copied approximately five notes. Each song is collected in the program's Song Book.
There are four activities that children play once they have successfully shared a song. These include frosting dog bones in the bakery according to musical rhythm, extending patterns in order to arrange dance steps, sorting musical seashells according to the sounds they make (for example, a banjo or rooster sound), and finding a path out of a cave by counting animal sounds.
This program combines a variety of educational strategies into one exciting adventure. Children hunt for objects (most are easy to find), learn songs that they play on a virtual xylophone, discern which songs are most appropriate for each character in the game, and take part in skill-building activities.
