Gaming has changed so much since I conquered all three Super Mario Bros. games on NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Adults can get fit while children learn to count on the same gaming system. Gaming has only recently been accepted as an educational method and traditional gaming systems are targeted towards young children.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Sesame Street released two new educational games for preschoolers: Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure and Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival. The games, which are based on the television series, encourage early literacy and math skills. My preschooler has yet to play either the Wii or the DS, simply because he doesn’t have the dexterity to do so. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Sesame Street addressed that gap by introducing kid-friendly “gameplay helpers” to simplify gameplay controls with the goal of helping children understand which buttons to push on the remote. They’re designed to resemble Cookie Monster and Elmo, which was definitely appealing to my son.
Here is a quick summary of the two games:
Elmo and Zoe head to the zoo in Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure, where they explore exciting zoo habitats and play games based on a variety of literacy skills. Players learn such skills as letter identification, letter sounds and word families in the Aquarium, Savanna, Jungle, Wetlands and Arctic habitats.
In Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival, kids join Cookie Monster and Big Bird at a fun-filled carnival with gameplay steeped in math skills, including number identification, counting, shapes and pattern recognition.
Last week, we had the privilege of being the invited guests of Warner Bros. Studios for a media preview of Sesame Street’s new video games. While the adults ate lunch and received a demo, the kids had an opportunity to try out the DS versions. When I picked up my son, he was sitting quietly playing Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure. My son rarely sits quietly for anything so I know that he enjoyed the game.
Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, the Vice President of Education and Research at Sesame Workshop, led an interesting discussion about how the games were developed. Dr. Truglio is responsible for the development of Sesame Street’s interdisciplinary curriculum and oversees all educational research related to the development of the show’s content. The developers wanted to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of children while focusing on literacy and numeracy. Recognizing that the needs of children change over time, they developed both games to include three different levels. Once a child’s profile has been created, the game will retain that info for future play.
One of the most important aspects of the game is that is designed to be played with your children. Sesame Workshop believes that media platforms should be shared with children, rather than serving as a babysitter (and I agree!). The games possess a Parental Assist Mode that allows the use of a second Wii-Remote to assist the child through the game without taking the remote away from the child. Preschool children like my son, strive to be autonomous, even if they’re not necessarily mature enough to do everything on their own. The game was designed to be challenging but not frustrating. Parents can use those moments when a child answers a question wrong as a learning opportunity.
I didn’t get a chance to get hands on with the DS or Wii versions because I opted to go on a tour of Warner Bros. Studios and Museum. But we’re scheduled to receive the Wii version so I’ll update you on our experience soon!
Cookie’s Counting Carnival and Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure are available now for Wii, DS, and PC. You can save 10% when you enter the code MOMMY on their website (valid through December 20)
No compensation was received for this post. I was invited to a media preview, courtesy of Warner Bros. and Sesame Workshop.
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Love this! Thanks so much for posting about it! Can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to give it a whirl!