Cheap Fisher-Price Fun-2-Learn Computer Cool School

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List Price: $49.99
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We have tried a few 'early computer learning toys' and found them wanting. This is the first one I have seen that is properly interactive, bug free, and well built.

My kid is only 2, so he is officially too young. But frankly, he has mastered the paint part of it already; he is quickly learning the rest.

A few technical points:

1. Yes, its like a USB keyboard but it does not act as a keyboard if the software is not running. So, the kid is not going to be able to mess with your PC outside of the software--a good thing. The software auto-launches and closes with the on-keyboard "power button" so the kid can start it up without help. My kid is 2 yrs old and learned that fast.

2. The tablet is like a tablet, not a mouse. Its position on the screen is absolute rather than relative. It might take the adult (me) a bit to get used to. My kid finds it easy, but he doesn't have 20 years of habit to overcome :).

3. The docs are evasive about where the kids drawings are saved. Here is the answer for Windows XP users:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Fisher-Price\Computer

Cool School\US\User0\Base

The 'Application Data' directory is normally hidden. Substitute 'User0' with the relative position on the log in screen. The files are regular .png graphics files. Fair warning: don't change these files. The software won't expect that. This is simply a hint for making a copy of them to email to friend/grandparents :).

If there is any downside to this thing, it is that it contains a limited amount of content. The kid hasn't explored all of it yet, but I suspect I'll end up buying the software expansions.

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FOLLOW-UP: A few friends of mine have tried running this product with Windows Vista. Very buggy. I only now recommend this for XP users. Typical of many toy manufacturers, they simply don't get software. It is not a "make once and forget about it" thing. You have to keep and plan for updates as the industry changes. The price they sell it to distributors for should account for those future costs.

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I bought this when it was first released for my 2 1/2 year old. I hooked it up to my old Dell with Windows XP (this is not Mac compatible and I converted to iMac in Dec). I bought the additional Dora & Diego software, and the Clifford software will be installed on her 3rd birthday in 10 days.

She LOVES this thing! I LOVE THIS THING! It keeps her busy, and she easily mastered all the navigating. The first month we had it, the old Dell had no sound she still managed to use it and enjoy it in silence. Now, I almost wish I hadn't gotten the sound fixed! HA!

I'll definitely purchase the additional software to keep the variety in the activities.

The only problems I've encountered: sometimes a warning pops up that the keyboard cannot be detected. I just unplug it and plug it back in. Problem fixed. The cards that are the templates for writing are very slick and impossible to stack neatly get a small basket or something for them.

I've found it quite durable.

The best feature for parents is that it requires a password to exit the program, so if you install this on your main computer, the child cannot get out of the Cool School program and into your computer! Brilliant!

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I bought this for my 4 year old daughter and although she enjoys playing it, I really question the educational value. There are different subjects for her to explore, but the product is not really teaching her anything substantial. We have a lot of Leapfrog products and I have to say that this product does not teach her anywhere near as much as those do. Some of the product is hard to use as well the letter writing part seems like a great idea but in reality it is next to impossible to actually recreate the letters and not have them look like disjointed pointy things (that look nothing like the actual letters). My daughter got pretty frustrated with that activity and now doesn't even try that one anymore.

My niece has the ClickStart from Leapfrog and now I'm wishing I'd bought that instead it's really helped her learn how to spell 3-letter words and it's great that there's so much focus on computer skils too (another thing the Cool School does not do).

All in all, definitely not worth my $.

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We bought this for my daughter last Christmas, only to find out that the $15 games are going for over $200 (wonderpets) The product has been discontinued by Fisher Price so now people are price gauging like crazy! It is a very fun toy my daughter loves it and has 4 or 5 games that I bought in the $30 range from Ebay, but if I knew the games weren't going to be made anymore I never would have bought it. Just wanted to make you people aware of this, especially since now I see it is at a lightening deal price.

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I bought this toy mostly for my 5 yr old but my 7 yr old also likes playing it. Very simple to install I had no problems at all. Each game add-on has a lot of things to do. Very educational, highly recommend. It is somewhat similar to to the Digital Arts and Crafts Studio but this is more of an educational toy than just pictures.