Colorforms: Journey To The Magic Jungle

This interactive program aimed towards children aged 3-7 inspires mixed feelings, at best. The half-hour tape comes with a Colorforms jungle playboard and 40 Colorforms pieces, which children are supposed to use while watching the program. Viewers follow the misadventures of Max and Suzie, two wisecracking child puppets, who are led by a flying ball of fur called Flash on a quest to rescue Louie the Lion from a cage. The plus here is that the program is indeed colorful, and many children will enjoy making inventive objects out of the Colorform shapes (but few three-year-olds will be able to manage watching and playing at the same time). The minus is that the package claims are not realistic: the program is fun, but we saw nothing that was systematic enough to warrant the tag "promotes reading readiness and builds vocabulary." Still, an inventive children's librarian could make use of this in a story hour. A second Colorforms adventure Voyage to Mermaid Island is similar in both style and content. Recommended, with the above reservations.