Bob the Builder has been a staple of our household since the Cat was a toddler. One of his first toys was a counting hammer, and his first underwear had images from the series. His bath toys were Bob-themed (even a shampoo that had a Scoop toy as its lid.) Oddly, neither boy has watched the series itself with any regularity, although they very much enjoyed the DVD I reviewed for PBN earlier this year. Still, Bob the Builder is recognizable and comfortable to my kids, and so when I learned of Bob the Builder's Can-Do Zoo via the Parent Bloggers Network, I expected we'd have two very happy boys in our house.
Indeed, this educational computer game combines both the "tool and construction" fun that many young kids are apt to enjoy, plus the universally desirable animal theme. The story itself is fun: Bob must construct the Bobland Bay Zoo to house all the animals currently making their home in unexpected places. The monkeys are on the monkey-bars at school, of course, and the alligators are in the swimming pool. This topsy-turvy situation brought giggles to the boys.
The player must escort Bob through the planning and construction process of the zoo by mastering several tasks. Each activity brings the zoo closer to completion and earns the player a sticker that can be used to construct scenes in a "sticker book" portion of the game. The activities involve memory, sequencing, matching, color and shape recognition, and pattern completion. Each activity can be done in "easy," "medium," or "hard" modes.
Splig started on the easy mode, but soon started trying the "medium." The Cat started on "hard" but decided to go to "easy" to get the hang of it before going back to "medium" and "hard." Can-Do Zoo is aimed at 3-6 year olds. Spliggle is four and definitely in that target ability level. The Cat is seven (and a half) and found most tasks pretty easy, although there are still some activities in the "hard" level that provide a challenge for him.
Both boys enjoyed the "free play" section of the game where they could skip over the story (along with its little video interludes) so they could play a particular game over and over again, both to become better at it and to earn lots of stickers. The boys spent an entire afternoon doing the exercises repeatedly so they could earn the stickers. This reward-based system works so well with the boys that they remembered another educational reward-based game I reviewed for PBN and have been playing that game religiously alongside Bob for the last couple weeks.
Since there are only five different games, the capacity to become bored is greater than with more complex computer games; however, this also means that younger players won't be overwhelmed with too much detail. Since there are only five habitats to complete, even the very beginning players can reach the game's completion, which isn't always the case with story-based games. I know the Cat wanted new challenges, but he's also a year and a half above the suggested age-range for the game. Spliggle seemed satisfied with the Can-Do Zoo's scope and definitely enjoyed giggling at the animals.
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