Cheap Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby and Toddler (Software) (Macintosh, Windows) Price

In Playtime for Baby, a game of tag between Reader Rabbit and Mat the Mouse ends with Mat hiding in a toy box. With Mat's help, each of the 10 toys in the box leads the baby into a new experience: singing, manipulating shapes, playing hide-and-seek, discovering body parts, reading storybooks, and (oh joy!) rummaging in drawers to make music. Your baby controls the action by hitting any key on the keyboard (or just hitting the keyboard, as they are wont to do) or simply moving the mouse. No clicks are required. The cursor is a big fat star that leaves a trail of twinkles. Brushing it against an object onscreen will elicit anything from a childlike giggle to a kerplunk to the appropriate animal noise.

The only critique of this CD is that the artwork is simplistic. It would be nice to see more depth and smoother movement, if only to make the program more enjoyable for the adults who must guide their babies through it. Other than that, by developing cupboards with no locks, personalized storybooks with pages that don't rip, and farm animals willing to engage in endless games of hide-and-seek, the creators of Playtime for Baby have managed to tap into a baby's wildest dreams.

Playtime for Toddler has a lusher look than Playtime for Baby. Again, mouse movements or keyboard pokes inspire action in nine activities that include things that send most toddlers into fits of joy. One of the better games is Bubble Castle, where your toddler "pops" bubbles with animals in them, and the freed creatures gallop into a castle and peep from the windows. This simple payoff engaged one 2-year-old tester for many minutes, shouting "Bye-bye, animal!" each time she liberated a critter. Pop and Play Place teaches matching and music as toddlers activate three jack-in-the-boxes until whatever pops out matches, upon which they are rewarded with a song ("We are mice, we are nice. We say please when we want cheese!"). In Follow Me Theater, Reader Rabbit acts out hand-motion hits like "Eensy Weensy Spider" and "I'm a Little Teapot." Other activities include a puzzle and color tutorial called Sky Shapes; Peekaboo Jungle, where kids investigate animal noises with a flashlight cursor; a Musical Meadow; an ABC Train that teaches letters with the help of slick animation and audio; and Baby Basket Bingo, a cute bit of business that requires toddlers to reunite baby animals with their parents based on the tiny roar or peep that comes from the creature hidden in the basket. Rainbow Rock is the only loser in the bunch, a coloring program that doesn't even attempt to teach colors.

One of the best features of Playtime for Toddler is that younger babies can bang on the keyboard and automatically get "correct" results, while older ones can use the mouse to drag the cursor in a mode that involves more trial and error. Both options are available at once; no settings need to be changed. Clicking does nothing here, which may puzzle some tykes who have already discovered that clicking gets results in grownup programs. Overall, this is a decent bundle for babies, with Playtime for Toddler being the stronger, more realistic offering of the two. (Ages 1 to 3) --Anne Erickson