Thinkin' Things Collection 2
$9.95		(Win/Mac) (Retail) (THINKIN2DJ) Does not work under XP

Edmark

Children

Ages: 6 to 12

Ratings:

4 stars from CD-ROM Today

Develop Thinking Skills Essential for Learning Success

In this rapidly changing world, kids with strong thinking skills will thrive and excel. That's why the educators at Edmark developed Thinkin' Things Collection 2, a powerful set of tools and toys that strengthen observation and analysis, develop spatial awareness, improve memory and foster creativity. With a strong grasp of these dills, your child is ready to succeed.

Did you see it? Hear it? Concentrate. Were those two Fripples wearing the same hat? Were they speaking the same language? Stregthen listening, observation and memory skills with Frippletration. For one or two players.

Learn Tunes with Toony. Build listening skills and auditory memory as you learn all-time favorite songs on one of four wacky xylophones.

Listen. Which line did Crocker play? Kids explore rhythmic notation on their own high-tech jammin' machine and match the band members to the rhythm lines they played.

New dimensions for thinking. Explore 3-dimensional visualization and optical illusion. Draw or erase on the 2D workspace and watch as your picture is instantly mapped onto a spinning 3D image.

Strengthen visual thinking with moving art. Use a "masking" tool to separate pictures into foreground and background layers, then direct a "snake" of shapes under, over and through your amazing designs.

Grows with your child. As your child succeeds, Grow Slides automatically increas the level of difficulty. You can track your child's progress and adjust the slides from within the activities.

Help your child build thinking skills. In Dear Parents, Edmark's Donna Stanger, a teacher for 20 years, discusses thinking skills and each of the activities in Thinkin' Things Collection 2.

Requirements: Windows - Windows 3.1 (enhanced mode), Windows 95 or later, 8 MB RAM required, CD-ROM drive (double-speed or faster recommended), 486 or better required (33 MHz or faster recommended), Super VGA, 640x480 (256 colors, or more, required), hard disk withh 2MB free, mouse, Windows-compatible sound-output device. Optional: Microphone, Edmark TouchWindow.

Requirements: Macintosh - Color Macintosh (256 colors required), 4 MB RAM required (8 MB recommended), CD-ROM drive (double-speed or faster recommended), System 6.0.7 or higher. Optional: Microphone, Edmark TouchWindow.

Reviews:

CD-ROM Today, July 1995

"Fans of the original Thinkin' Things will be happy to see this second collection of innovative and engaging activities. Clearly, the people at Edmark have been thinkin' too - they've targeted TT2 at a slightly older audience. They're likely to see a lot of return business.

"Like its predecessor, TT2 encourages exploration and experimentation along different lines from the rest of the education herd. This program strives to engage a different set of faculties than any other educational software that I've seen.

"Several of the activities employ imaginative approaches to traditional education tools. Frippletration is a concentration game, but it offers an amazing array of levels, including simple pictures, rhyming words, and geometric shapes. There's also an audio option that offers its own range of puzzles. In one example, kids match the words for 'hello' and 'good-bye' in different languages.

"In Toony's Tunes, kids can learn simple melodies or compose their own using three different types of keyboard. The complexity goes up a notch with Oranga Banga's Band, where kids can orchestrate their own three-part percussion patterns.

"The most interesting activities are the least structured - and the most difficult to describe. In 2-3D Blox, kids explore and manipulate unique visual environments. The supplied patterns include a background, a smaller two-dimensional image, and a 3D shape on which the 2D image is 'mapped.' Kids can move the elements around, exchange them for other images, change 3D shapes, and create new backgrounds and images using draw and paint tools. The other visual-exploration segment, Snake Box, lets kids work with the illusion of three dimensions. In this challenging activity, an animated element composed of geometric shapes moves in and out between layers of the screen image.

"Thinkin' Things 2 is an imaginative standout in the crowded education software market, where drill-type exercises are considered entertainment. The program might not boost math grades, but it will enable kids to stretch their intellect and exercise basic skills that might otherwise grow rusty in a traditional school setting."

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