Curious George Learns Phonics Download (1997 Educational Game)

Curious George, that clever, inquisitive, mischevious monkey is going to the circus, and you are invited to go along for the ride in Curious George Learns Phonics.

There are 6 different phonics related games included with the CD-Rom, and although they can be accessed in any order, it is best if you stick with the order given in the manual.

Animal Acrobats, the first game, teaches children words which sound alike and words which have the same starting sounds. If players correctly pick the words that sound alike, Curious George catapults them into place on the trapeze. After six correct identifications, the acrobats put on a show for the player.

In Comedy Clowns, players must identify words that end with a certain sound. If they correctly pick the right picture out of the seven offered, the clowns tell a joke. (A really bad groaner for adults, but kids will love it).

Peanut Pickup asks players to guide the elephant to the peanut vendor with the picture on his baloons with a word that starts or ends with the sound and letter shown.

At the Phonics Funhouse, players must identify the sounds of a short word and put them together in order on the board over the house. After players have mastered this activity, they are asked to change the word to make another.

In Sammy, the Musical Seal, Players are asked to correctly identify words having the same vowel sounds. Five out of the eight pictures have the same vowel sound. Once they have selected all five pictures correctly and hung them on Sammy's horns, they get to make music with Sammy.

Finally, in Thea's Story Theatre, Players will get to hear one of 10 different stories read by Thea. After the story is over, Thea asks a phonics-related question which they must answer.

This game gives a good start to children or anyone wishing to learn reading through phonics. However, unlike some educational games, there is no way parents can check on their children's progress or identify what areas might be a problem for the child. This detracts from an otherwise fine game.

Graphics: Filled with bright colors and cute animations, young children will love it.

Sound: Very easy to hear.

Enjoyment: Children will love all parts of this game, even the bad clown jokers.

Replay Value: While fine for early readers, children will grow out of this eventually.

In Curious George Learns Phonics, the title character visits the circus for fun and merriment and learns a little about reading and phonics on the side. Curious George can't seen to stay out of trouble and is immediately thrust into the middle of the learning adventures. From the main circus selection menu, there are 6 activities to choose from: Animal Acrobats: In this activity, 3 animals trot out at a time carrying pictures. A picture is shown on a banner overhead. The player's task is to choose the animal carrying a picture that rhymes with the overhead picture, in one variation. In another variation, the player must choose the picture whose word begins with the same letter as the picture from the banner. Fun House: A picture is shown in the middle of the house. Random people pop out of windows holding letters. When the next letter in the word comes up, the player must click it and drag it to the top of the house to assemble the word. Comedy Clowns: A pile of clowns get mixed up and the player will have to pair them back up. One clown gets up on stage and holds a banner of an ending letter. The task is to scan through the other clowns and find the one who is holding a picture whose word ends with the same letter seen on stage. Make a match and the 2 clowns exchange a joke. Sammy The Musical Seal: Sammy the seal plays five horns. But they don't play music until the player chooses five pictures from among eight that have a particular vowel. Peanut Pickup: This is somewhat of a Pac-Man clone. The peanut vendors are sloppy and Curious George, riding an elephant, must clean up after them. Along the way, a peanut vendor will appear, who is carrying a picture whose first letter begins with a certain goal letter. Capture that peanut vendor for more points. Thea's Story Theater: Choose from a variety of stories to be read, and acted out by the characters involved. Upon exiting the game, Curious George presents the player with a printable certificate stating how you performed at the various educational tasks.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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