JumpStart Review and Giveaway!

With school coming to a close and Summer rapidly approaching, which is Thursday for us, I am really into trying to find some educational and fun activities to fill up the days with. I really want to keep my kids in the school spirit of things even throughout the Summer months. They are really into video games and playing the Wii so I was thrilled to learn about JumpStart.

JumpStart is an award winning adventure based 3-D virtual world that allows your kids to explore magical lands and problem solve their way to victory. JumpStart teaches math, reading and critical thinking skills all in a really fun and imaginative environment. The games are designed with 3-10 year olds in mind. Here are some examples of screen shots so you can get an idea of how 3-D it really looks.





You can choose different worlds depending on your childs age. I got Oscar and Benji started by creating their Jumpee's. The Jumpee is similar to the Mii that you would create for the Wii. They both had a lot of fun picking out what their Jumpee was going to wear, or as Benji lovingly refers to as his "dude", then the learning began. It took a little bit of figuring out but soon Oscar and Benji were well on their way to navigating the JumpStart World. Here they are having a great time, fully engrossed in the game play. This picture is taken about an hour and a half into the game play. The first day the boys played for about four hours straight taking turns.




The directions are really easy to follow. Kids follow the missions and then complete the reading or the math games to build up their skills and collect coins. Oscar had a bit of a time because he really wanted to complete the games at a higher level than he was ready for. Once I got him more interested in more age appropriate skill games he did a great job on his own and didn't need my help much. The hardest part for him to realize is that there aren't any screens to read like the Wii games. Normally he asks what the screen says so he knows what to do. With JumpStart the characters talk and tell you what you need to do. He hasn't learned to listen to them...yet. Benji is very excited about the games that are at his level. Once he completes a task and computer screen pops up with a "good job!" he grins from ear to ear, completely proud of his accomplishments. Playing the JumpStart games have been a wonderful experience for all of us.

If parents need advice on any of the game play or they feel "stuck" in any way they can post a message or search for the answer to their question on the JumpStart Discussion Boards. On this forum you can find out a lot of great info and get feedback from the JumpStart Staff. I love forums. This is also a good way to find out about other parents opinions on the JumpStart line of products as well.

Not only is JumpStart a great place for the kids but it is also a great place for the parents as well! I checked out the Jumpstart Blog that in addition to info all about JumpStart it is full of great learning tricks and creative activites for your kids. One of my favorite posts was about an activity that involved creating a family tree for your kids to learn about their ancestry. There is a ton of useful information for parents to read through on the JumpStart Blog.

Both the kids and I really like the style of the JumpStart games. The 3-D action is just like playing their favorite Wii games, which is a major bonus! I get the satisfaction of knowing that they are leaning new skills and they get to have fun while they are doing it! There are so many things to learn and discover! This is definitely a win-win for everyone. I for one think that adding education in the mix of all the techonolgy that kids are exposed to these days is awesome. It is a lot easier to encourage the boys to play a learning game than to write in their Summer workbooks. This will be a welcome addition to our in home learning program during the Summer vacation.

I really encourage you to check out JumpStart for yourself. You have free limited access and if you want to upgrade to a JumpStart Membership that will provide unlimited access to over sixty essential skills and hundreds of customizable games it is only $7.99 per month. Go to Jumpstart.com to learn more about the games offered, parent discussion forum, blog and the awards, reviews and press coverage that this great learning program has received.


JumpStart is offering a three month complimentary membership to one very lucky Pretty Pink Momma reader!

Here's How to Enter: Visit JumpStart.com and comment back on this post telling me what you like the most about JumpStart. Please leave the email address in your comment that you would like to use to activate your membership with if you are chosen as the winner. This must be done before any extra entries will count.

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Good Luck to all that enter! This giveaway is open until Tuesday June 30th. The winner will be announced Wednesday July 1st. Winner will be chosen using the Truly Random Number Generator widget on my right sidebar. The winner will only have three days to claim their prize.