Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom (Wii, PlayStation 2)

In DORA THE EXPLORER: DORA SAVES THE CRYSTAL KINGDOM, Dora and Boots help save the Crystal Kingdom from becoming all gray in color. A selfish king has stolen the color crystals which provide the vibrant hues to this world and hidden them inside storybook worlds. To find the crystals, Dora and Boots must first collect the pages to the storybooks, and then jump inside the books. With Dora, kids will travel to a storybook lands where friendly dragons fly, butterflies live in a cave, and magic castles are wondrous to behold. The game is played by turning the Wii remote sideways and then tilting it in the direction you want Dora to go. During the adventure, Dora will fly using butterfly wings, hop across dancing flowers, and even slide down a dragon's back.

Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom is a great preschool game. The controls are perfect for preschoolers because all they have to do is hold the controller sideways and then tilt it in the direction they want Dora or Boots to go. Plus, there is always some new big motion to do like swinging the remote above your head to create big brush stokes on the screen to re-color the world. And the game has some learning found in the solve-the-problem games with Backpack. Within the adventure, kids will also help Dora identify shapes, colors, and sizes.

This is a great game to use to introduce preschoolers to gaming because it creates a no-fail environment. It introduces kids to the concepts of video game platforming, but never lets them fail. For example, while you will learn to make Dora jump across the tops of dancing flowers, timing is never really an issue and Dora can never fall off. Also good is the way a parent can help by using a second controller.