Game Details
Price
  • $19.99
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Genre
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ItzaZoo (Windows)

common sense media says

Exciting learn-to-read game incorporates your drawings.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that ItzaZoo software is a great way to get kids interested in reading. By playing with charming zoo animals who communicate with you via talk bubbles that can be read aloud, kids join in adventures by creating their own artwork for the animals. The drawings get incorporated into the game and animate via a revolutionary technology called "Living Ink." The technology behind this game is truly amazing to behold.

Educational value:
Kids are greatly motivated to learn to read so that they can play each step of this game. It offers 5 levels of reading, and all words are presented with voice-overs. When children scroll over a word, it turns red, gets bigger, and then is spoken aloud in a child's voice. The animals ask kids to solve problems, and these requests require kids to think logically and creatively. Sometimes they will draw a solution, while other times they must experiment with the environment to see what will happen.What makes this so good is that kids learn by experimenting.
Positive messages: This game sends the message that reading can be fun. It also encourages kids to express themselves through art, because everything they draw in the game comes alive and is incorporated into the ongoing stories. Kids can play with animals that are either female of male.
Positive role models: The animals that you interact with are friendly, kind, and silly. They express emotions in response to what you draw. If you fail to provide something essential (like a door in the house you draw for them), they may express dissatisfaction, but then they simply ask you to fix it. Kids can play with animals that are either female or male.
Ease of play: This game comes with just the right amount of help. The controls are easy to figure out.
Violence: Not applicable.
Sex: Not applicable.
Language: Not applicable.
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

More on ItzaZoo

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about how fun it is to talk with the animals. Do you wish you could do this is real life?

  • Did the software make learning to read fun?

What's the story?

What's the story?

In ITZAZOO, a downloadable PC game, elephants, lions, turtles, polar bears, and monkeys invite your child to come inside their enclosures for silly adventures that teach your child to read. When kids click on the animals, they talk to them via word bubbles. By mousing over the words, kids can have them highlighted and read aloud. The animals ask kids to help in their adventures by drawing objects. Using crinkly translucent paper that magically appears on the screen, kids can draw object that then come alive and get incorporated into the ongoing story. Kids will also have to be creative in their helping the animals, because sometimes the animals' requests aren't always obvious. For example, when you need to find 10 penguins and you only see one, you will learn by experimenting that if you click on the one, it will lay an egg to produce more.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

ItzaZoo is truly a remarkable piece of software. It brilliantly uses funny, silly characters to attract kids to the game, and then delivers a story in a way that motivates kids to read. By asking kids to contribute to the story by drawing things and then animating their drawings and incorporating them into the story, kids commit to this game. They are motivated to read the questions asked by the animals so that they can figure out what to draw next. This amazing "Living Ink" technology anticipates what the child might draw and then takes what is drawn and makes it fit within the story. It fills in the child's drawings with appropriate color and detail and then resizes them to fit the situation. For example, when you are playing with the turtle, he asks you to draw him a new shell. Whatever you draw, the game resizes it to magically fit on his back.

 Another great aspect of this game is its replayability. Every time you play, you have a different experience because your drawings will always change. This game is appropriate for kids ages 4 to 8; and perfect for those just starting to read. It helps them to decode words by associating highlighted words with objects that they draw. This is children's software at its best – don't miss this one.

Game themes & details

Game Details
Available on: Windows
Not available online
Genre: Edutainment
Developer: Sabi Games
Released on: November 1, 2009
Price: 19.99
ESRB Rating: E for (No Descriptors)
Screenshots

This review was written by Jinny Gudmundsen
 
 

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Most useful reviews by all members

nino2010
kid, 6 years old
 
good
love it

☆burst
parent of and 1 , 4 , 6 year old
 

mulcyber
parent
 
My 4-yr-old's fave computer game -- and MINE too!
Thanks to the unique mouse-over reading function, my four-year-old daughter picked up on the concept quickly. Where she would normally employ me to help her figure out the instructions to other computer games she plays, ItzaZoo's interactive reading tool empowers her to teach herself. The quick "reward system" seems to help too. ItzaZoo rewards the child with gold stars when they complete a short task. Other games my daughter has played tend to make her finish a lengthy trial (albeit with character encouragement throughout) before she receives her reward.

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About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age