More reviews on our little mousy friend Mia and her adventures. I have had the opportunity to explore 2 additional titles from Kutoka Interactive featuring our bubbly little mouse and I want to share a few thoughts with you here on the blog. As you have come to expect from Kutoka, both Mia titles are just stunning to look at. The graphics are smooth and colorful, certainly appealing to the child’s eye. Also, like other Mia adventures, this is a fun and interactive way to get your child to learn — which is a win/win for mom and youngster (and Mia). The target audience is children between the ages of 6-10, but let me assure you that children of ALL ages can find someting to enjoy in this software. The box proudly states that Mia software has won over 120 awards, and it really is easy to see why from the first time you play one of the games.
Mia’s Language Adventure: The Kidnap Caper!
In this title, Mia is on the hunt for her missing grandmother. Of course, if it’s Mia, then the entire experience of playing the game is about becoming immersed in the story, and this software does not come up short. The key feature of this game is that while the adventure is in English, all the activities are completed in either Spanish or French. Kudos to Kutoka for capitalizing on the immersion technique in a software that facilitates children learning a new language. And it is not just a superficial language tutorial either. It goes deep enough into the subject to cover sentence construction and even grammar. My favorite thing about how this game is played is that your child will be forced to use context clues to deduce the meaning of certain words and phrases. That is brain exercise in the purest sense and indicative of how many real-life situations actually play out (putting things together yourself). You gotta love that!
Mia’s Math Adventure: Just In Time!
In this installment Mia is seeking to build a time machine so she can go back in time. There are four levels of difficulty and your child will learn everything from basic arithmetic to geometry, fractions and more. The unique factor on this title is the concept of inductive reasoning and mental computation. That is going several steps above expectations for a chidlren’s software title, imo. And yet, these are necessary skills that will serve your child well throughout life. So we have a range of mathematical topics being covered from one source. There’s even a bonus Sudoku game included. Sweet!
Mia is cute and fun, coming to your home in 3-dimensional living color. But most important she is smart. Even better, she loves to share what she knows with your little one. In today’s society, children want to play on the computer quite often but as parents we are rightfully concerned about all the inappropriate things they could be doing right from the family PC (or Mac). Mia is something you can feel comfortable and confident having your kids play. They will think they are getting a special treat while all the time you will know that they are learning something new. Mia’s welcome in our house for sure. We’ll be adding all the titles to our software collection.
