JumpStart Kindergarten (1994)

JumpStart Kindergarten is a grade-based JumpStart game developed by Fanfare Software and released by Knowledge Adventure in 1994. JumpStart Kindergarten was the first installment in the JumpStart series, as well as Knowledge Adventure's first curriculum-based product.

It was also re-released by Davidson & Associates in 1998 under the name Davidson's Learning Center Series: Kindergarten.

It was later replaced by an updated version, JumpStart Kindergarten (1997).

Game Play
In the game, the player explores and plays in an interactive classroom, accessing educational activities, songs, and more. The kindergarten teacher is a rabbit named Mr. Hopsalot. Unusually for a JumpStart game, there is no clear "reward system" or defined set of goals.

Like some other early entries in the series, it lacks a toolbar, and the progress report can be accessed by clicking on one on the wall. Most of the activities do not give the option to manually choose the difficulty level.

Activities

 * Bebop's Home - Click on Bebop to play hide and seek with him. After you click on him, he'll disappear and leave behind a clue.


 * Blocks - Mr. Hopsalot will scramble a set of blocks. Rearrange the blocks in alphabetical or numerical order.


 * Bulletin Board - View the different months and holidays. Click on the pictures to see animations.


 * Chalkboard - Mr. Hopsalot will say a sentence. The player must click on the pictures that recreate the sentence.


 * Classroom Closet - Click on each item to see its name.


 * Clock - Click on the clock numbers to see what a typical kindergartner does at each hour.


 * Dolls - Arrange the dolls by height.


 * Paint Set - Create your own pictures.


 * Pattern Blaster - Move the falling pieces to the matching blocks. When all the pieces have fallen into their proper places, Roquefort can move across the blocks to the cheese on the other side.


 * Puzzle - First, choose a type of puzzle. The choices are: Numbers, Letters, Letter Sounds, Rhyming, Opposites, Companions, Pairs, Shapes, Sizes, and Colors. Hopsalot will display a piece, and the player has to click on the one that goes with it. Clear all the pieces from the puzzle to see a picture.


 * Radio - Listen to four songs: Doing What the Animals Do, Monkeys Playing Everywhere, The Mud Song, and Anatomy.


 * Hopsalot's Garden - There are two games here: The Harvesting Game, and The Watering Game. In the Harvesting Game, Mr. Hopsalot will ask for a certain number of a certain item. Click on an item to put it in the basket. Click on the basket when you have the correct number of items. In the watering game, Mr. Hopsalot will grow a series of plants, and you have to figure out the pattern. Mr. Hopsalot will grow several plants, and ask which comes next. Click on the seed bag with the vegetable that you think comes next.


 * Picnic Area - Take a picture outside to add to the easel.

Characters

 * Hopsalot - The kindergarten teacher.


 * Bebop - The class' pet hamster, who likes to play hide-and-seek.


 * Roquefort - A character in the Pattern Blaster game.


 * Bluebird - A bird who resides outside the schoolhouse and helps the player sign in.


 * Gopher - A mischievous gopher who likes to steal crops from Hopsalot's garden.


 * Bonnie Bunny - A young girl who appears in the Clock activity and shows what a typical kindergartner does at different hours of the day.

Songs

 * JumpStart Kindergarten Theme Song
 * ABC in Harmony
 * Doing What the Animals Do
 * Monkeys Playing Everywhere
 * The Mud Song
 * Anatomy

Educational Concepts

 * Alphabet
 * Alphabetical Order
 * Word Pairs
 * Rhyming
 * Colors/patterns
 * Comprehension
 * Listening
 * Numbers
 * Counting
 * Sorting by Size
 * Basic Shapes
 * Sequences
 * Time

Credits
See JumpStart Kindergarten (1994)/Credits

Trivia

 * The Windows release of the game contains some differences from the MS-DOS release of the game, such as:
 * A different title screen
 * A different sign-in screen
 * Different background music for certain sections of the game
 * Different font styles for certain activities (such as the Closet)