SuperKids' goal is to be the first source parents and teachers consult for unbiased information about children's educational software. Unlike many other publications which provide reviews and bestow awards, SuperKids does not accept advertising from companies whose products are reviewed.
Thanks to all of you, our inaugural year has been an outstanding success, exceeding our optimistic projections for critical acceptance, readership, and sponsors. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the entire staff of SuperKids: our teams of parent, teacher and kid testers, review editors, copy editors, layout design team, associates, interns, and webmaster. Your response makes it worth the effort!
Andrew Maisel
editor-in-chief
SUPERKIDS SOFTWARE AWARD WINNERS
THE BEST OF '96
| Category | Title | Publisher | Age Range |
| Early Learning | JumpStart Toddlers | Knowledge Adventure | 2 to 4 |
| Bailey's Book House | Edmark | 3 to 5 | |
| Millie's Math House | Edmark | 3 to 5 | |
| Encyclopedia | Compton's Interactive 97 | Compton's New Media | 10 and up |
| Grolier's Multimedia 97 | Grolier Interactive | 10 and up | |
| Human Anatomy | ADAM: The Inside Story | ADAM Software | 12 and up |
| Interactive Books | Toy Story Animated StoryBook | Disney | 3 to 9 |
| How the Leopard ... Spots | Microsoft | 6 to 10 | |
| Math | Number Maze | Great Wave Software | 5 to 11 |
| Logical Journey of the Zoombinis | Broderbund | 8 to 12 | |
| Problem Solving | Freddi Fish ... Missing Kelp | Humongous | 3 to 8 |
| Reading | Interactive Reading Journey 2 | The Learning Company | 5 to 8 |
| SAT Preparation | Score Builder for the SAT | The Learning Company | 14 and up |
| Science | Widget Workshop | Maxis | 8 and above |
| Social Studies | World Discovery | Great Wave Software | 8 to adult |
| Typing | Read, Write & Type | The Learning Company | 6 to 8 |
| Typing Tutor 7 | Davidson / Simon & Schuster | 10 and up |
| Anatomy | Interactive Books | Reading | Typing |
| Encyclopedia | Math | SAT Preparation | Social Studies |
| Early Learning | Problem Solving | Science |
Number Maze
by Great Wave Software
An incredibly extensive and captivating math skills program. Users move through mazes by solving math word problems customized to include your children's names, and their friends! The program incorporates individual child tracking, frequent rewards, and a text-to-speech capability for word problems (in the Mac version) that even enables use by pre-readers.
Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
An exceptionally well-designed program that will clearly develop critical thinking skills. Numbers and arithmetic operations do not play a big role here. Instead, this program focuses on the logic elements of math. This program is best for children with curiosity and an interest in problem-solving.
Interactive Reading Journey 2
A 'got-to-have-it' program for developing young readers. For a child who knows the alphabet and the sounds associated with each letter, and who can read simple words using a combination of decoding (or "sounding out") and sight recognition, this is the best learn-to-read program we have seen.
Widget Workshop
An interactive foray into the logic of how things work. Users combine widgets from a toolkit to produce products from calculators to musical instruments, and solve problems like "how many seconds in a year?" Older children, especially those with an interest in real-world problem solving and object building, will love this program.
Read, Write & Type
A combination program merging the teaching of phonics-based reading skills with an introduction to typing. Since publishing our review of this title, we have watched almost 100 first-graders use this program to learn touch-typing. Ok, some better than others, but the program is enjoyed by the kids, and produces results.
Typing Tutor 7
Once past the beginner level, the user can choose to practice on selections from interesting literature, or on stories about old movie clips. Speed and accuracy may also be built, using three challenging games. This is a great program for anyone - including adults - interested in improving exisiting typing skills. In fact, we're thinking of sending it home with our copy editor...
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
Tied with Grolier's for the best score in our kids' research trial, finding the answers on three of four questions. Compton's has the easiest user interface, and clearest results display. Unfortunately, Compton's is unavailable on the Mac. This is our first choice for the PC, especially for pre-senior high school students.
Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia 1997
Tied with Compton's for the best score in our kids' research trial, finding the answers on three of four questions. Grolier's offers a solid search engine and functional display layout. Our first choice for the Mac for pre-senior high students.
World Discovery Deluxe
Do you want to learn about continents, countries, or states? Are you interested in major physical features like mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans and seas? Or are you working on every student's least favorite social studies assignment -- to memorize the capitals, currencies, flags and independence days? Whichever it is, you'll find it here. Kids who like jigsaw puzzles will be infatuated with this program!
ADAM: The Inside Story
An excellent piece of software for 7th to 11th graders interested in learning about the human body. With over 4 hours of animations and dialog (clipped into small pieces on different subjects), this program is also just fun to explore.
Score Builder for the SAT
Offers a straight-forward approach, a well-organized, thorough review of the exam and the types of questions it contains, and strategies for dealing with them. It is best for a student interested in a solid review, rather than learning strategies to attempt to "beat the test-writers." This program offers the easiest-to-follow study plan.
JumpStart Toddlers
This 'lapware' program has mouse skill learning activities as well as introductions to letter and number recognition. Best for very young computer novices.
Bailey's Book House
A recently updated version of the classic 'must-have' program for early computer users. Focused on pre- and early reading skills, ranging from letter and and word recognition, to story and card creation.
Millie's Math House
Great educational content, fun for kids who haven't mastered counting and basic number=quantity concepts. Requires no reading ability, and is captivating to kids. It is an excellent introductory math program for pre-schoolers.
Toy Story Animated StoryBook
"Truly amazing animation!" according to one of our Silicon Valley parent reviewers. "If you like computer graphics, you'll love Toy Story." Oh, and if your kids liked the movie, or like animated books with lots of click-to-explore opportunities, they'll like the Toy Story Animated StoryBook, too.
How the Leopard Got his Spots
The classic Rudyard Kipling story narrated by Danny Glover, with challenging activities for older children than most other titles in this category.
Freddi Fish and the Missing Kelp Seeds
A graphically beautiful program, with true cartoon quality animation, that "makes a child work to find the answers" according to our parent reviewers. It is best suited for a child who likes to solve puzzles, problems, and challenges.
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