Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration

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What’s the Story?

In NI HAO, KAI-LAN: NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION, Kai-Lan, the young Chinese-American heroine of her own Nick Jr animated series, helps her friends and grandfather prepare for a Chinese New Year festival. They go through every step of the holiday. Preparation involves such activities as shopping for food, preparing traditional dishes, coloring and cutting out paper lanterns, and practicing a song with a band (which they later perform). When the celebration begins, they take part in a dragon boat race, a parade in which they carry floats, a dance, and a fireworks show. They even help clean up afterwards.

Is It Any Good?

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration is one of the best DS games created for preschoolers. The dawn-to-night format, which begins with Kai-Lan waking her friends and ends with her washing dishes (which is actually fun), is genius. Not only does it make kids feel like they're really taking part in this marvelous cultural celebration, it also spices up the gameplay with a lot of variety. Helping the grandfather shop for ingredients is a sort of I Spy game, while helping him prepare the meals calls for Cooking Mama-style gameplay. The fireworks display involves tracing shapes with the stylus, while rowing in the dragon boat race becomes a rhythm game. It's all super-easy, but as the average Kai-Lan fan is still learning the alphabet, that's exactly how it should be.