Fisher-Price Fun-2-Learn Computer Cool School

My 4 year old twins received this for their birthday last month. They are really into "learning" stuff like practicing counting, letters, numbers and so on. Yeah, it may not be a really great learning toy but what toy is? That is what school and parents are for. This is a toy that just help to reinforce what they have learned from school or parents.

My daughters like the drawing part the best. It may not have a specific learning objective like other areas but the game itself gives them independence and the navigation helps with dexterity. And of course the stamps are tons of fun.

They also play with the math games where they have to click on a specific number of shapes. It helps with shape recognition and counting. And the letters/sounds help with letter recognition as well as phonics. Everything on the toy helps them to learn something.

Someone else mentioned the Click Start is so much better. I have to disagree. We also have the Click Start by Leap Frog and the mouse on that is so small and so touchy that my daughters get frustrated with it very quickly. Either the styllis or regular computer mouse can be used to navigate and select on this toy and it seems to be much easier for them. And the games on the Click Start (we have most of them) are not any more educational or fun.

The large, simple buttons make it easy for them to navigate from one area of the "school" to the next with little help from me. The Click Start has typical video or computer game menus that 4-yr-olds have a hard time getting back to and understanding what to do next to get where they want to go.

My one gripe would be that the blue plastic cover on the styllis pad comes off often. But, overall it's a fun and educational toy. I can't wait to get more of the CDs.

I bought this for my 4 yo twins. My daughter has taken to it and is on it all the time. I will have to buy the add-on software soon.

My son has played with it but is not as interested in it because it doesn't have cars in it...but he does play with it occasionally. When they do play with it, they are on it for an hour or more, and don't need my help to get around because the buttons and on-screen options are very clear and user-friendly.

It "sneaks" in some education with the base software that comes with it, but it doesn't really do more than expose a child to phonics. I have read alot about the add on software and some of the other SW seems like it expands on the educational portion. I am not holding my breath, but we will end up with the expansion SW.

Let's be realistic; no software or toy is going to teach your child something without either your involvemnet or a child's motivation or curiosity to learn. The basic software on this is fun enough to keep my children actively learning by bits at a time, but they are not going to learn phonics from this thing. Thus, I gave it 4 stars.

They have a great idea here, the human interface is easy for kids to navigate. However, it could be improved upon in terms of educational value without sacrificing entertainment value. It does cover phonics, but does not emphasize the phonics; it will say soemthign like, C says "Ka" (once) and then show how to write it. The child then traces it on the pad after finding the card and inserting it under the flip-up plactic window. My daughter likes searching for the right card, but there are so many cards and they are both upper and lower case, I could see this being frustrating for a child. The program is not able to tell a child if the letter they just drew matches the letter to be copied, but it's fairly apparent visually at a glance if the letter is close to the model on screen. With alot more money in the electronics, this toy could be much, much better...but you get what you pay for. (E.g., I wish the tracing letter activity came with a touch screen/stylus a la palm-pilot or Leapster so the child could be visually guided with dotted lines as to the shape of the letter to be drawn.)

In the end, however, it is practice that makes a child learn how to draw letters. The phonics could be done better, as well. I didn't see anything like "which one of these pictures starts with "KA" (while showing the letter C)? and showing a clock, an apple, and a ball and the child can choose and get immediate feedback, etc...I did NOT see that, but it could have been implemented. I HOPE that the add-on Sesame Street SW has better learning games for phonics. I can't seem to find that add on SW in the stores, however. I have checked 3 so far...

This toy is worth the price (I paid <$50 at a sale), since it does engage my children and they ARE getting some exposure to phonics sounds, letter shapes, and computer skills.

Another good point is that I do not get interrupted for small issues like how to exit an activity to go to another activity. They can do it themselves. The keyboard has some large buttons that when pressed will take a child to that area. A 4 yo can get frustrated pretty quickly with a computer, but mine are completely self-sufficient on Cool School. I bought this as a supplement to learning phonics from ME everyday, the old fashioned way.

We also own the Easy Link Internet Launch pad. Cool school is a better introduction to computers, and is more educational. Both Fisher Price toys are capable of protecting the computer from being accessed by the children to other areas via password protection that the parent sets up upon installation. I recommend Easy Link only for older children, age 3-1/2 and older due to the fact that it only launches the child to a site and the child must understand how to navigate the internet site.

Fisher Price has it down pat on how to keep both your kids and your PC safe.

My kids absolutely love this. My 4 year old is learning her letters, numbers, and colors. She's learning how to actually write the letters. My older kids love the art section and music section also. I think it's a great way to help kids learn the basics without them really know it. They think they are just having fun. Much better for the environment than countless worksheets to practice on.

My 2 1/2 year old is already loving it... he figures out stuff so fast...i was really surprised. The grafic is super. just like a good computer game.And the sounds and special effects in just the basic software is great as well.
He loves to draw and play with the backrounds and stamps. So since he cant count yet or write letters he still find himself alot of stuff to stay busy and have fun. he loves it.

i can only hope fisher price will come up with more software ..maybe for the more little ones too..that cant count and write yet... so...

i would buy it over and over again.

I bought this for my 5 year old and he liked it. The only thing is i don't think it is very educational. To me it was not what the video made it to be. It has the writing and the A B C's but nothing tells them if they are doing it right or not so you have to watch. My child would rather paint all day instead of reading or writing. I don't think it was worth it but we also don't have the extra disk and don't want to waste money if it is gonna be the same.