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Clifford the Big Red Dog 

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Why did they not have cartoon Dogs like Clifford when I was at School? Don’t worry I know the answer, and before someone says they didn’t have TV, they did!!!

Yes it was black and white but TV did exist and in fact there was some Schools TV. But it was ‘yuk’ and that’s the polite word.

 

Focus have released four CD’s featuring Clifford aimed at 4 to 6 year olds. They are priced at a bargain £4.99 and all are dual PC/MAC and the PC power and hard disc space required are not demanding.

 

Before it became a non word edutainment would have described the content. However I fear today you have to say entertainment with a learning twist. The one word never to be mentioned – it would turn the children right off it – is of course education.

 

Clifford Learning Activities

A whole range of skills will be used and probably most without the child being aware of any learning intensions. Classifying & Sorting, Matching & Spatial Reasoning, Addition & Subtraction and finally Word Recognition, Sentence Structure & Creativity and the main features of this adventure.

 

Clifford Reading

As the cover says learning to read with Clifford is BIG fun, not quite sure about the grammar but I’m sure the kids will enjoy it while Sight Word Recognition, Vocabulary Creativity & Spelling, Phonics & Word Building and finally Reading & Colouring are improved.

 

Clifford Thinking Adventures

As the sub title says ‘Build your skills on the way Clifford’s BIG Party’. The four main aims of this CD are Creativity, Shape Recognition, Matching Countdown & Sorting and Fine Motor Skills & Spatial Reasoning. I found the last item hard to write let alone understand!

 

Going into a little more detail on this one there are 18 entertaining activities and thinking challenges. 3 adjustable levels to suit the total range (4-6 years). Printable Clifford Photo Album. Automatic help to allow the child to play with adult supervision. The ability to save games so they can be replayed later and a Comprehensive Parent Guide to provide helpful hints, however they did not seem to cover ‘Fine Motor Skills & Spatial Reasoning’ to explain that to me!

 

Clifford Musical Memory Games

The final offering of the four aims to ‘Use your thinking skills to bring back music to Bidwell Island!’ In case you are unsure the ‘!’ is within the quote.

 

Pattern Recognition, Matching Sounds, Listening and Memory and Creativity are the four areas worked upon within this CD.

 

You are given a URL to www.pcfunclub.com that shows around 30 different titles all suitable for younger children all at the £4.99 price point. As yet they do not include any of these Clifford titles the numbers are PFC046/D PFC047/D PFC048D and PFC049D, they are new and should be listed shortly. Other Focus titles are found via www.focusmm.co.uk 

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