Madeline 1st & 2nd Grade Math
Creative Wonders	Ages 6 to 9

Rating Scale 5 = great,    1 = poor

Educational Value 4.5

Kid Appeal 4.5

Ease of Use 4.0

System Requirements

PC / Mac Price Survey

Product Support

This 2 CD set is judiciously split by grade level. Disc 1, set at the Louvre Museum in Paris, includes 1st grade math, while Disc 2, featuring art from the Musee d’Orsay, encompasses 2nd grade math. Madeline awaits in each museum gallery to invite kids to explore the masterpieces and complete 18 entertaining math exercises.

Educational Value

Beginning math is all about memorization and drill, and this program offers plenty of opportunity for both. While it does not explicity teach math skills, it provides girls with hours of practice in a friendly environment, with beloved and familiar characters. Multi-player games let kids choose to play with friends or alone, against the computer. Skills addressed include addition and subtraction, measurement, problem solving, patterns, fractions, geometric shapes, multiplication, money, and telling time. As an added bonus, girls learn to count in both French and Spanish. Each disc includes a special section with printable, away-from-the-computer activities.

Successfully completed activities earn users coins that can be used to purchase postcards, stamps and pictures at the Museum store. The program also includes a printable progress report.

Kid Appeal

With her endearing enthusiasm and melodic accent, Madeline has earned a special place in the hearts of young girls. Our testers were delighted when they saw her friendly visage and heard her familiar musical accompaniment.

Program activities are entertaining, featuring learning levels diverse enough to challenge all. Clever, girl-oriented themes and recognizable characters successfully engage reluctant mathematicians. The enigmatic Mona Clavel rewards correct computations with a surreptitious wink, a fortuitously dimwitted Pepito offers occasional competition, a dance troop requests help with their steps, an innovative measuring system is used to measure Lord Cucuface for his new suit -- these are just a few of the fun and often silly activity themes.

Ease of Use / Install

This program installs without difficulty. Navigation is intuitive, and Madeline patiently explains each of the toolbar options in the program introduction. She also remains ever available to provide encouragement and advice if responses are slow or not forthcoming.

Our testers found a few activities distressingly complex for the targeted age and skill level. In particular ‘Madeline Tut’, a pyramid adding activity, seemed unconquerable, even for older students. Fortunately, Madeline herself revealed that a click on Genevieve provided the help needed to correctly complete the activity. Likewise, puzzle completion required persistence and occasional adult aid. Although these obstacles initially discouraged users, they did not greatly detract from overall enjoyment of the program.

Best for... / Bottom-Line

Featuring the dynamic French waif and plenty of entertaining activities, Madeline 1st & 2nd Grade Math is a winner for young girls in need of math review and drill.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other math software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and the Mac versions.

PC: Windows 95 and up, 486/66 MHz or faster cpu, 20 MB hard drive space, 16 MB RAM, 256 color (640x480) display, Double-speed or faster CD-ROM, SoundBlaster or compatible.

Mac: System 7.1 or higher, PowerPC or faster cpu, 20 MB hard drive space, 16 MB RAM, 256 colors (640x480) display, Double-speed or faster CD-ROM.

Reviewed on:

PowerMac 6400/200 with 32MB and 8XCD

Pentium166 with 48MB and 12XCD

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