Amusement is the name of this new game, but there’s some learning happening too. CD-Roms that offer to keep your child entertained with games, songs and other multimedia bytes, while at the same time imparting some ‘educational’ information are the hottest substitute to non-stop TV watching.
Parents who have discovered this new medium cry “Eureka”, even as others new to the scene grope to find the CDs they want from a rack crowded with offerings. The trick is to spot the right ones and the price is certainly no indication of a better product.
Most city bookstores sport crowded shelves with piles of CDs to choose from. What makes the choice harder is the fact that most of them look the same, sporting titles like ‘Toddler’(roughly for the two-year-old) to First Grade, Second Grade, etc. Also confusing are various ‘educative’ titles that look like they provide encyclopaediac information on a specific subject, but are actually just games. For instance, one parent picked up a ‘Discovery Channel’ CD titled ‘Evolution’ with the assumption that it would lead her eight-year-old through the story of evolution of life on earth. Sorry guys, that one was a game, even if it was one that featured crocs, reptiles and dinosaurs.
“The Disney Series are good,” offers the shop attendant at Landmark, the Nungambakkam book store, “They are colourful and very popular.” The series are also just a wee bit more expensive than the Scottish series JumpStart(very good, and not to be confused with other similarly coloured and similar sounding JumpAhead or LeapAhead) and Fischer Price(also quite good).
While making a choice, ensure that the CD caters to your child’s age group(mentioned on the CD itself). Also, make up your mind what you wish to buy - if it’s mathematics, language or history or any other specific subject. There are quite a few options in maths, while most history subjects deal with European or American history.
Software Show in the basement of Gemini Parsn Complex(ph:8268434) boasts of a fairly wide collection, and here too, the people in charge spend a lot of time helping you make a choice. The astonishing number of game CDs boggle the mind, even as you attempt to pick ones that serve your purpose. There are quite a few desi productions on the Panchatantra and the Ramayana and some English fairytales too, but it is advisable not to pick them up unless you view a demo first. The Software Show is hosting an exhibition-sale of CDs till the end of the month.
If it’s just pure fun and games you are looking for, then the Phoenix Story Times series(available at any bookstore) on the Panchatantra or Shakal(from Amar Chitra Katha stories) are a good choice. This is one Indian-produced series that stand out in a market clogged with phoren offerings.
A good CD could cost you anything between Rs399(??) to Rs1,400 and more. But like mentioned before, price need not be a criteria. With careful choice, you may just find that the lower priced CD is more useful and interesting.
And psst - read all the fine print on the CD cover!
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