Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this is one of the three titles in School Zone's Puzzle Play Software & Workbooks series. It's perfect for 6- to 8-year-olds, and can be enjoyed by younger kids if there is someone around to help. This software teaches kids to think logically about how to construct a maze. Unfortunately, you can't save the mazes to your hard drive, but you can print them after you make them.
Families can talk about what makes a maze fun. Do you like the ones where you see the solution right away, or do you like it when you have to struggle with it a bit? Did this software change the way you look at maze puzzles? How long do you think maze puzzles have been around?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Jinny Gudmundsen
Most children enjoy solving maze puzzles. What about teaching them how to make these puzzles instead? School Zone's clever PUZZLE PLAY SOFTWARE: MAZES does just that.
With Puzzle Play Software Mazes, kids get a workbook of 57 colorful mazes and a CD-ROM. The software provides 30 diverse backgrounds on which kids can construct their own maze puzzles. Each provides the "Start" and "Finish" point. For example, one background is of a tree with a monkey (the "Start") eyeing a banana (the "Finish"). Using the arrow keys or the computer mouse, kids draw the path of their maze from the "Start" point to the "Finish." When they have finished drawing the path through the maze, the computer fills in the rest of the maze with misleading and dead-end pathways.
After designing the maze, kids can then play it. They can choose to race against the clock or against a little computer character (think "Pac-Man"). They can even have friends or family members play it either on the computer or away from it once it's been printed. Unfortunately, none of the puzzles can be saved.
Puzzle Play Software Mazes is suitable for kids ages 6-8, and it could be used by younger children if a parent or sibling is willing to help. At $7.99, it's a steal because you get both the software and a book of mazes.
By providing children with the tools to become maze puzzle masters, they learn logic and planning while creating the mazes. Kids can also take pride in creating something for someone else to play.
This is one of three products that make up the School Zone's Puzzle Play Software & Workbook series, and all three are brilliantly conceived and executed. Check out the others in the series: Puzzle Play Software: Dot-to-Dots and Puzzle Play Software: Hidden Pictures.
Reviewed: 09/29/2007
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Social BehaviorThis encourages kids to create puzzles for others, and to feel pride in that accomplishment. |
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Educational ValueLearn to think logically as you construct maze puzzles. |
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