I Love the USA Reviewer's Comments

I love the USA, a Dorling Kindersley product, is an excellent choice for very young children, even those that do not know how to read yet. The primary focus of this game and My First Amazing World Explorer is to entice young kids to become interested in geography and become more spatially aware.

Major Areas Covered:  

This product covers the United States only.

Topics Covered:  

This product does a good job at addressing geography topics such as locations, famous landmarks and regional information in an entertaining manner. It has an interactive map that is covered with lots of images that when clicked on relate information such as historical facts, regional information, pictures or sound clips.

It also has a “places” tool that reveals major city locations and state boundaries. It includes “fun facts”, sound clips of anthems and calculates distances between places.

The index feature offers information on towns, natural wonders, plants and animals, rivers, lakes and oceans and after an item is selected, the game character can go to the map location by just clicking the "go" button.

Teaching Tools:  

Teaching tools is the area that this software shines; it offers more teaching tools than any of the other products that we reviewed. Not only does this product offer a variety of learning tools but also every one is appropriate and easy to use for very young children.

There is narrator that reads all text, so kids can also improve their reading skills while learning about the United States.

The main focus of the software is a game, in which the child moves through various areas of the map to find "Joe" who is traveling across the U.S. and has forgotten a package at home which he wants the child to bring to him. “Joe” leaves clues around the U.S. and the child can collect pictures for a travelogue, stickers and send postcards.

In ‘Joe’s’ room there are numerous interactive features such as an “about the USA” icon, a train that relates help information, an interactive weather mobile, a wall paper border that plays animal sounds and numerous interactive images that make noises, become animated or relate information.

Ease of Use:  

This product is extremely easy to use; every feature of the game can be accessed through the mouse. Some four–year olds, could even use this product, since it only requires that the child be able to scroll across with a mouse and click, all text is read by a narrator.

Summary:  

This software is a good choice for young children; it offers many interactive images and delivers regional and historical information in a brief yet amusing way. Coupled with My First World Explorer, young kids can begin to explore the globe and become more spatially aware in terms of regions, local history and their location on the planet.