Dora Puppy (Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi)

In the bluntly titled, DORA PUPPY, kids help Nick Jr cartoon star, Dora the Explorer, take care of her puppy, Perrito, and help train him for doggie competitions. Care involves washing and brushing, providing food and water, letting the dog outside to do its business, cleaning up pawprints, and playing several different games with the puppy. Kids earn tokens for each task, which they can use to buy new toys or clothes for Perrito, or to enter him into the Big Puppy Competition. The competition involves helping Perrito run an obstacle course and having him strike poses. All the actions are performed by either tracing certain shapes with the stylus or calling out commands into the DS's microphone.

Virtual pet games can be very appealing to young kids, but many of them require a ton of reading and the memorization of long lists of rules and commands. Not so Dora Puppy, which was designed very astutely with preschool-age players in mind (It's unclear why the ESRB did not give the game an EC, Early Childhood, rating). If your kid can trace shapes and make noises, they can play it. After some initial tutorials, there's a element of freedom -- kids can mostly choose whichever activity they want, whenever they want to -- but Dora is always along for the ride, reminding the player what to do each time. Her constant presence -- and constant reiteration of controls -- is the kind of thing that would drive older kids crazy, but the intended audience will find it helpful and reassuring. Preschooler should love to nuzzle up to Dora Puppy.