Common Sense Media Review
By Jinny Gudmundsen
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fave brainy bunny hops to DS for learning romp that talks.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten
What's It About?
Originally released as a computer game, this version of READER RABBIT KINDERGARTEN is specially created for the Nintendo DS. Kids join Reader Rabbit and his friend Sam the Lion on an adventure to get back their flying ship. The ship had been snatched from them when they flew over the island community of Balloon Town, a metropolis that doesn't allow any pointy objects in their airspace. To get their ship back, kids help Reader and Sam play learning games that teach phonics, rhyming, recognizing patterns, simple math, memory, following directions, and placing items in order. They will arrange cocoons in patterns to release butterflies, slam dunk basketballs to learn rhyming, navigate through giant slides to learn phonics, and help the snail mailman to measure objects at the local post office.
Is It Any Good?
With an engaging story line that motivates kids to play the learning games, toe-tapping music, funny jokes, and many video sequences that look like Saturday morning cartoons, Reader Rabbit Kindergarten has a lot to offer families of kindergartners. Parents will appreciate the help feature represented by an animated book, as well as the progress report and the ability to set the difficulty level of every game.
A minor gripe is that the graphics showing letters and numbers tend to be too small. However, you can read them. Overall, Reader Rabbit Kindergarten does an excellent job of mixing adventure, education, and entertainment. It is fun having learning games on the DS.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about telling stories the way the turtle did in the game. Can you tell a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end?
Which of the eight learning games did you like best? Why?
Did you ever use the practice area? Or do you prefer to explore the learning games inside the story with Reader Rabbit and Sam the Lion?
Game Details
- Platform : Nintendo DS
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Graffiti Entertainment
- Release date : December 15, 2009
- Genre : Edutainment
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate