While playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 last week, little Isaac wanted to get involved and kept taking my Wiimote to play the “mouse game.” (Somehow he mistook Mario for Mickey Mouse.) While this was cute and all, it made me want to find him a Wii game of his own to play with and learn how to use the Wiimote and possibly let me play my game in peace.
Learning with the PooYoos is a game developed in France and available via WiiWare download on the Wii for 500 points ($5.00). The game is designed with two different levels: Little PooYoos (ages 3-4) and Big PooYoos (ages 5-6). Given the age levels, the graphics and catchy theme song are perfect and will capture the young players’ attention. After you pick you level, there are two different games to play. One involves matching the shape of a PooYoo with the shape in a cloud (first picture below) and the second involved popping balloons with the water from the elephant PooYoo’s trunk.
Isaac can not yet handle the shape matching game so I can’t speak as much to that part of the game, but we have played the balloon popping game several times. In the little PooYoo level of this game the player simply shakes the remote and the elephant PooYoo shoots water at balloons until they are all gone. (As shown in the video of Isaac below.) In the Big PooYoo level, the player actually has to point the Wiimote at the screen and aim at the balloons to pop them.
After you pop the balloons the first time, the game has an intermission and asks what shape the balloons were and then goes through a second round of balloon popping followed by a question of what color the balloons were. Then the PooYoos lead you through a nice dance routine. During the dance routine, by pressing different buttons on the Wiimote various effects happen on screen like spot lights, confetti and other fun. After the dance, you take a boat ride where again, pressing buttons on the Wiimote causes different effects on the screen. Isaac especially enjoys pushing the buttons and causing lights and the sun (a fan to him) to go across the screen.
Isaac has not played the big PooYoo level, but he enjoys the little PooYoo level quite a lot. Simply shaking the remote is a nice way for him to learn about the cause and effect relationship of the Wii. As I said, he truly enjoys pushing the buttons on the Wiimote that cause various visual effects to appear on the screen.
My biggest complaint with the game is that the few questions it asks are always the same. At one point the game asks what color the bubbles are or what color an umbrella was but the answer is always the same color. I would like it better if the color would rotate to make Isaac think a little more. There is a version 2 released, but I have not looked at it yet.
Ultimately, this game did exactly what I wanted it to do, especially for only $5.oo. Isaac is able to use the Wiimote and learn how it works. He is learning more about cause and effect relationships and a little about hand-eye coordination. Another learning piece I didn’t think about was that it counts on screen and out load to help re-enforce math skills. I have a feeling I will download the second episode before the end of the summer for Isaac to play. If you have a two – six year old who you want to introduce to the world of Wii, this is the game for you.
Mill Creek Park is one of the Grayslake Park District’s must full featured playgrounds (As you can see from the picture at the bottom, Isaac gets a little overwhelmed there.) There is one large structure as shown below on the left. The side of the structure with the large red twisty slide is well suited for intermediate climbers and is relatively safe without too many places to walk off. The piece on the left with the straight slide, after the gazebo, is very difficult to access unless you are an advanced climber so the play structure offers fun and challenges for all climbers.
The pictures on the right above are of the smaller play structure adjacent to the larger one. The small structure is good for youngsters who have just started moving. If they can crawl or get up stairs, then they can have fun. If nothing else, parents can help the tykes on the small structure and let them go down the slide. Isaac really enjoyed this area when he was 1 because he do almost all of it on his own and it has a steering wheel on it, which he always likes.
Another nice feature of this park is the picnic pavilion. This is located very near the play area so you could have a large outing here and still be close enough to supervise young children. The picture on the left below shows the pavilion, the picture in the middle shows Isaac trying, unsuccessfully to climb up the harder side of the play structure, and the picture on the right is Isaac making his way to the twisty slide.
The park also has swings (I think two baby and two regular) and is adjacent to several soccer fields.
Cullen Park holds the distinction of being the Grayslake Park District”s only all metal park. It is located off of 120 in the Grayslake Apartment area. There is one large play structure there with slides and areas for both little and big ones so multiple kids can be entertained in one place. The pictures here show the large twisty slide on the left side of the structure and the smaller straight slide on the right. (You can see Isaac in action on the slides in the pictures at the bottom.) You can also see the chain link ladder in the right that can give the more skilled climbers a good challenge.
The park also includes two real swings and two baby swings along with two bouncy animal things (picture below on the left). The other feature that sets this park apart is that it has a half basketball court (which you can see in the picture on the right below and in the map below). Now, this can be a mixed blessing. One of the times we were there several guys were playing basketball and swearing quite a bit. It wasn’t anymore than you would hear in a YMCA gym pickup game, but I wasn’t a big fan of it with Isaac near by.
One of the things Isaac likes best about this park is that he can smash and bang on the metal parts (either the slide of the tube) to make lots of noise.
Well, Isaac is now 15 months old. He continues to master the control of his muscles and his body. He can now control his face muscles pretty well. He can also make funny faces. Here is a video really showing this off.
Isaac has now been alive 13 months and I wanted to recap his adventures this month.
The summer began which meant we were starting our time with our pool passes. Isaac loves the water and he runs around in it and even when he falls in over his head you just pick him up real fast and then he is ready to go again after spitting the water out.
We also recently discovered the Grayslake Park District Splash Park, and Isaac loves this place too. It is just an adventure land with water toys he can run around in. He has been “bumping into” girls there also and saying, “Hi.” He is a gonna be a heart breaker I fear. (I love the one on the left!)
Much like the pool and the park. Isaac loves bath and is still quite exciting to get to splash around. I think really it is just that he likes violence and destruction much like Continue Reading…
Issac loves to take this water toy frisbee and put it in my mouth and then I flap it around and he gets a kick out of this. He also likes sticking oher things in my mouth too. He likes to feed me food and pit fridge magnets in my mouth. Here is the video:
Isaac used a fork today. I don’t know that it was the first time, but it was adorable. Gina had to put the food on the fork, but he got it into his mouth.
