JumpStart Toddlers

Last updated
JumpStart Toddlers
Jumpstart Toddlers cover.jpg
Developer(s) Knowledge Adventure
Publisher(s) Knowledge Adventure
Series JumpStart
Platform(s)
ReleaseSpring 1996 [1]
Genre(s) Edutainment

JumpStart Toddlers is a 1996 educational video game, the fourth within the JumpStart franchise. An enhanced version was released in 2000.

Contents

While the game itself received generally positive reviews, much of the commentary surrounding this title was as a key example of a burgeoning controversial lap-ware video gaming market, targeting children aged 5 and under.

Development and release

The game was designed by Nicole Hardt Wrubel, who spent four years as a lead designer at Knowledge Adventure. [1] JumpStart Toddlers was inspired by her then two-and-a-half year old son, for whom she could not find age-appropriate software. [1]

In order to introduce young players to the concept of interacting with hotspots, players immediately meet Giggles the Gopher, who welcomes them and points out seven hotspots around the screen which lead to activity areas. [2] The game was designed to be part of a full curriculum of games for children to graduate into as they aged; Discover educational toys for children noted that Knowledge Adventure was "one of the few companies that offer a title for toddlers ages 18 months to 3 years". [3]

An enhanced version was released in 2000, published by Havas after a series of mergers and acquisitions involving Knowledge Adventure. [4] [5]

Critical reception

Referring to this title, U.S. News & World Report's article False Promise commented, "parents have been told that it's their responsibility to prepare children for a multi-tasking, technology-driven future, so they "JumpStart" their babies". [6] eMERGing Literacy and Technology wrote the title was "appealing to the very young child or a child with limited motor control". [7] Young kids and computers saw it as an example of a software program specifically designed to teach mouse skills, along with Broderbund's My Very First Software. [8] MacUser gave the title 4 out of 5 stars, though noted it had the fewest activities in the series. [9]

Speaking of the game's suitability for those who may not have the precision required to click narrow targets, Fine motor skills in children with Down syndrome's Maryanne Bruni cites JumpStart Toddlers and Reader Rabbit Toddler as preschool programs that reward any mouse movement of keyboard press with an audiovisual cue. [10] Newsweek praised the game (and JumpStart 2nd Grade) as superior to previous entries in the series, noting they "successfully balance letting youngsters explore" and "using animated hosts to spur them on", adding that they "both understand the concept of reward". [11]

Citing JumpStart Toddlers as a key example, Macs for teachers praised the title for its "neat activities...accessible from a classroom setting" and "activities that teach essential early learning skills". [12] A 2000 Wired reviewer noted that after their daughter experienced the game's music, she "walks away from Barney tapes in the VCR and demands Toddlers". [13] SuperKids wrote the game was an "excellent starter program for very young computer novices". [14]

Parenting magazine deemed the 2000 version among the "best software of the year", noting that the title had been "overhauled, with splendid results". [15] The magazine gave the title a B+. [16] The Discovery School site (quoted in Cyber Rules) recommended JumpStart Toddlers 2000, "best for older toddlers (or those who have graduated from their baby and other toddler software titles)", and gave it a rating of 4-and-a-half out of 5 stars. [17]

Early childhood education today notes, "although the graphics in JumpStart Toddlers can be moved for an activity, they cannot be controlled or manipulated into any other form." [18]

Commercial performance and awards

The game consistently placed on the PC Data's Best Education Software for MS-DOS/Windows list throughout 1996 and 1997 alongside other Jumpstart titles peaking at #8. [19] [20] [21] [22] Throughout 1997, JumpStart Toddlers took in somewhere between $4 million [23] [24] and $5.16 million. [25] It became one of many preschool titles to join the best-seller list, alongside Sesame Street Elmo's Preschool (1996), Ready to Read With Pooh (1997), and Jumpstart Preschool (1995). [26]

The game won numerous awards, including a 1996 Parent's Choice Gold Medal for best new children's software. [1]

Jumpstart Toddlers 2000 would also reach at least 7th on the PC Data best-selling chart. [27] [28]

Legacy

According to the Chicago Sun-Times , Knowledge Adventure "started the baby trend when it introduced JumpStart Toddlers in 1996". [23] Knowledge Adventure's Jennifer Johnson created the term lap-ware to describe software "intended to be used with the child on the parent's lap...So parents are encouraged to play a really active role in their child's first computer experience". [29] The term was picked up by MacUser that July to describe the new software category Jumpstart had helped create. [9] The New York Times later asserted that Knowledge Adventure was the "vanguard of a trend of introducing younger and younger children -- some as young as 6 months old -- to computers". [30]

While children's software had previously been dominated by titles for older children like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? , by 1997 sales of software for children under 5 had risen from 179,000 units two years prior to 1.5 million. [26] By September 1997, toddler and pre-school titles dominated PC Data's top-10 selling education list. [24] That November, U.S. News & World Report noted that JumpStart Toddlers, Davidson & Associates ' Fisher-Price Ready for Learning: Toddler (1997) and The Learning Company's Reader Rabbit Toddler (1997) were all vying for the lucrative 18-month-and-under demographic over the holiday season. [31]

In 1998, Wired 's Susan Kuchinskas similarly applied the neologism to categorise JumpStart Toddlers,JumpStart Baby, and BowWow House's BabyWow! as contemporaries in a burgeoning "lapware" market, which catered to overworked parents who wish to give their new-borns a competitive edge through technology. [25] That year, PC Magazine's Terri Robinson (quoted in 2002 paper Engineering The Entrepreneurial Infant) commented that, "software developers are keen to the burgeoning ‘baby skills’ market" to "capture the imaginations of your 1- and 2-year olds and provide them with solid educational building blocks". [32] Stanford University professor Clifford Nass found this trend "disturbing", commenting "the social context and the tactile experience [of real objects] are crucial to early development. [26] Similarly, pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton considered lapware like JumpStart Toddlers "an assault on a young child's developing mind". [33]

By this time, just two years after the game's release, JumpStart Toddlers was competing in a crowded lapware market with contemporaries in the edutainment industry. [34] In 2000, a U.S. News & World Report article featured a 13-month old who was already familiar with several games designed for players under two-years old, including JumpStart Toddlers. [35]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JumpStart Games</span> American educational software developer

JumpStart Games, Inc., formerly Knowledge Adventure, Inc., was an American edutainment video game company based in Torrance, California. Founded in 1991, it was acquired by Chinese holding company NetDragon Websoft in 2017.

JumpStart was an educational media franchise created for children, primarily consisting of educational games. The franchise began with independent developer Fanfare Software's 1994 video game JumpStart Kindergarten. The series was expanded into other age groups and beyond games to include workbooks, direct-to-video films, mobile apps, and other media under the ownership of Knowledge Adventure, which later assumed the name JumpStart Games.

The Learning Company (TLC) was an educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and productivity tools. Its titles included the flagship series Reader Rabbit, for preschoolers through second graders, and The ClueFinders, for more advanced students. The company was also known for publishing licensed educational titles featuring characters such as Arthur, The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants or Sesame Street.

<i>Blaster Learning System</i> Educational video game franchise

The Blaster Learning System is an educational video game series created by Davidson & Associates and later published by JumpStart after the two companies were acquired and merged by CUC Software. The games primarily focused on mathematics, later expanding into language arts and science, and spawned an animated children’s television series in 1999 called Blaster's Universe.

<i>Reader Rabbit</i> Video game series

Reader Rabbit is an educational video game franchise created in 1984 by The Learning Company. The series is aimed at children from infancy to the age of nine. In 1998, a spiritual successor series called The ClueFinders was released for older students aged seven to twelve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creative Wonders</span> Video game company

Creative Wonders was an educational software corporation from 1994 to 1999. It created computer games based on children's characters like Sesame Street, Madeline, Schoolhouse Rock!, Arthur, Little Bear, Dr. Seuss and ABC World Reference. It was a joint-venture between Electronic Arts and ABC.

There have been a variety of Sesame Street video games released for video game platforms. Most of the Sesame Street video games were published and developed by NewKidCo.

<i>Reader Rabbit Preschool: Sparkle Star Rescue</i> 2001 educational video game

Reader Rabbit Preschool: Sparkle Star Rescue is a game in the Reader Rabbit series by The Learning Company. The title was released in 2001. The game is recommended for ages 3–6. The game teaches "shape and size recognition, letter recognition and listening", among other skills, including maths-related ones. The game was also released for the Nintendo Wii by Graffiti Entertainment, simply titled Reader Rabbit Preschool.

<i>Early Learning House</i> 1990s collection of educational video games and compilations

Early Learning House or simply the House Series is a collection of four main educational video games and two compilations for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed by Theatrix Interactive, Inc. and published by Edmark software. Each different game focuses on a particular major learning category with selectable skill settings for preschooler, kindergarten and elementary learners. Millie's Math House (1992) on mathematics, Bailey's Book House (1993) on language, Sammy's Science House (1994) on science, and Trudy's Time and Place House (1995) on history and geography. A spin-off, Stanley's Sticker Stories (1996), sees players create animated storybooks with the series' characters. Millie & Bailey Preschool and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten each contain the combined activities from two of the four software products. In addition the programs can be configured by an adult mode to suit students with special needs. Most of the activities in every game have two modes, one to allow learners to explore and try it out for themselves and the other for learners to follow specific tasks set by the game characters. Learners also have the option to print pictures of creative activities and record sounds in phonics activities. Later the games were re-developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology and re-published by The Learning Company with newer graphics and additional activities.

Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.

The Arthur video games franchise was a series of learning and interactive story video games based on the American-Canadian children's TV show Arthur. The games were released in the 1990s and 2000s for PlayStation and Game Boy Color alongside Windows and Mac OS computers.

Several video games based upon Blue's Clues, a children's educational television series by Nickelodeon, have been released, educational video games and web browser games based on the show. Most of the PC CD ROM-format titles were developed and published by Humongous Entertainment.

<i>Disney Learning: Winnie the Pooh</i> Video game series

Disney Learning: Winnie the Pooh comprises three titles: Winnie The Pooh Toddler, Winnie the Pooh Preschool and Winnie The Pooh Kindergarten. They are point-and-click educational video games developed and published by Disney Interactive and based on the Winnie the Pooh franchise. The titles were shipped by BAM! Entertainment.

<i>Disney Learning: Mickey Mouse</i> Video game series

Mickey Mouse Toddler, Mickey Mouse Preschool, and Mickey Mouse Kindergarten are three sister educational video games by Disney Interactive. They are part of the Disney Learning Series, alongside similar Winnie the Pooh games, Mathquest With Aladdin, Reading Quest with Aladdin, Adventures in Typing with Timon and Pumbaa, Buzz Lightyear 1st and 2nd Grade, The Jungle Book 1st and 2nd Grade, Ready for Marth with Pooh, Phonics Quest, Search for the Secret Keys and Ready to Read with Pooh. Although not part of the series, the games Beauty and The Beast: Magical Ballroom and Ariel's Story Studio were frequently sold with the other games in promotional packages and advertised alongside them in trailers and commercials.

<i>Reader Rabbit: 1st Grade</i> 1998 educational video game

Reader Rabbit's 1st Grade is an educational video game, part of the Reader Rabbit series, developed by KnowWare and published by The Learning Company on January 14, 1998.

<i>Reader Rabbit Toddler</i> 1997 education video game

Reader Rabbit Toddler is a 1997 educational video game developed by KnowWare and published by The Learning Company. It is part of the Reader Rabbit series.

<i>Reader Rabbit Kindergarten</i> 1997 education video game

Reader Rabbit Kindergarten is a video game within the edutainment series Reader Rabbit, published by The Learning Company in July 1997.

<i>Thinkin Things</i> Series of educational video games

Thinkin' Things is a series of educational video games by the Edmark Corporation and released for Windows and Mac in the 1990s. Entries in the series include Thinkin' Things Collection 1 (Formerly Thinkin Things) (1993), Thinkin' Things Collection 2 (1994), Thinkin' Things Collection 3 (1995), the adventure game Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries (1998), Thinkin’ Things Galactic Brain Benders (1999), Thinkin' Things: All Around Frippletown (1999) and Thinkin' Things: Toony the Loon's Lagoon (1999).

<i>3-D Body Adventure</i> 1994 educational video game

3-D Body Adventure is a 1994 educational video game developed by Knowledge Adventure and published by Levande Böcker i Norden for MS-DOS, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows.

<i>JumpStart Preschool</i> 1995 educational video game

JumpStart Preschool is a 1995 educational video game and third installment of the JumpStart franchise by Knowledge Adventure, after JumpStart Kindergarten (1994) and JumpStart 1st Grade (1995). It would later be re-released as JumpStart Preschool on August 26, 1998 and superseded by a new title JumpStart Advanced Preschool in 2002. It is also known as Jump Ahead Preschool in Europe.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Barnard". Barnard College. March 1997. p. 52.
  2. ↑ Matthew, James (2003). Using your PC. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble. p. 178. ISBN   9780760740149.
  3. ↑ Werdel, Hilary (1998). Discover educational toys for children. Scholar Books. p. 131. ISBN   9780965532914.
  4. ↑ "JumpStart Toddlers 2000, Bear in the Big Blue House: Bear's Sense of Adventure, Teletubbies 2: Favorite Games". www.cyber-reviews.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  5. ↑ I. G. N. Staff (1998-11-21). "French Group Buys Sierra and Blizzard". IGN. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  6. ↑ Kelly, Katy; Lord, Mary; Marcus, David L. (September 25, 2000). "False Promise". U.S. News & World Report . 129 (12): 48 – via EBSCOhost.
  7. ↑ "ERIC ED433670: eMERGing Literacy and Technology: Working Together". 1998. p. 28.
  8. ↑ Buckleitner, Warren; Orr, Ann C; Wolock, Ellen (1998). Young kids and computers: a parent's survival guide. Flemington, N.J.: Children's Software Revue. p. 70. ISBN   9781891983009.
  9. 1 2 Myslewski, Rik; Shatz-akin, Jim (July 1996). The Two Dads. MacUser. p. 116.
  10. ↑ Bruni, Maryanne (1998). Fine motor skills in children with Down syndrome. Woodbine House. p. 126. ISBN   9781890627034.
  11. ↑ "Getting a head start". Newsweek. 127 (15): 4. April 8, 1996.
  12. ↑ Robinette, Michelle (1996). Macs for teachers. IDG Books Worldwide. p. 92. ISBN   9780764500541.
  13. ↑ Broadband Gamespot. Wired. March 2003.
  14. ↑ "SuperKids Software Review of JumpStart Toddlers". www.superkids.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  15. ↑ Reeks, Anne (October 2000). "PARENTING'S software magic awards". Parenting . 14 (8): 83 – via EBSCOhost.
  16. ↑ Reeks, Anne (April 2000). "Software". Parenting. 14 (2): 69 – via EBSCOhost.
  17. ↑ Gillispie, Joanie Farley; Gackenbach, Jayne (2007). Cyber rules: what you really need to know about the Internet. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 80. ISBN   9780393704846.
  18. ↑ Early childhood education today. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Pearson. 2009. p. 380.
  19. ↑ "SuperKids -- PC Data Bestsellers: Last month's bestselling children's educational software". www.superkids.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  20. ↑ "Top-Selling Software March 1997" . Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  21. ↑ "KidScreen Retail: Top-Selling Software July 1997" . Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  22. ↑ "SuperKids -- PC Data Bestsellers: Bestselling children's educational software - August 1997". www.superkids.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  23. 1 2 "Touching home". Chicago Sun-Times . December 14, 1997. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  24. 1 2 "The Journal News from White Plains, New York on December 10, 1997 · Page 25". Newspapers.com. 10 December 1997. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  25. 1 2 Kuchinskas, Susan (July 22, 1998). "Techno Toddlers". Wired.
  26. 1 2 3 Lohr, Steve (April 3, 1998). "Toddlers Are Next Hope of Software Industry". The New York Times .
  27. ↑ "Top Orlando News, Weather, Sports, Entertainment". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  28. ↑ "Web briefing". Newsday. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  29. ↑ "Old Enough to Crawl, Old Enough to Click". www.cbsnews.com. 18 May 1998. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  30. ↑ Slatalla, Michelle (1999-06-03). "Does Baby Want a Browser?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  31. ↑ "Toddlers need blocks, not mousing skills". U.S. News & World Report. 123 (20): 106. November 24, 1997.
  32. ↑ Nadesan, Majia Holmer (May 2002). "Engineering The Entrepreneurial Infant: Brain Science, Infant Development Toys, And Governmentality". Cultural Studies. 16 (3): 401–432. doi:10.1080/09502380210128315. S2CID   144516308.
  33. ↑ Owens, Darryl E. (2001-07-26). "Pros &". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  34. ↑ "Toddlers Need Blocks, Not Mousing Skills". U.S. News & World Report . 123 (20). November 24, 1997 – via EBSCOhost.
  35. ↑ "False Promise". U.S. News & World Report . 129 (12): 59. September 25, 2000.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.