Reader Rabbit® Playtime for Baby™

Reader Rabbit® Playtime for Baby™ Onscreen Reference Guide ABOUT THE LEARNING COMPANY Since 1980, The Learning Company has consistently produced the highest quality educational software available. Our award-winning products help develop your child’s underlying thinking skills and creativity, while reinforcing important areas of the basic curriculum, such as reading, writing, and mathematics. Every product under The Learning Company brand undergoes extensive research and testing, with input from educational professionals, parents, and children. Each product features a precise balance of educational content and entertainment value, so your child has fun while learning! How do we do it? Enchanting characters. Challenging situations. Rich game environments. State-of-the-art graphics and sound. Progressive skill levels and game segments that can be customized to meet your child’s individual needs. As parents and educators, we recognize that education is a continuous process. So we developed a complete system of age-appropriate programs. Carefully sequenced by age groups, this system makes it easy for you to confidently choose the right products for your children at each stage of their educational development. As an integral part of The Learning Company’s system, each of our products addresses a specific age group and subject area with appropriate themes to heighten your child’s interest in learning. © 1999 The Learning Company, Inc., and its subsidiaries and licensors. All rights reserved. The Learning Company and Reader Rabbit are registered trademarks and Playtime for Baby is a trademark of The Learning Company, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. READER RABBIT ® PLAYTIME FOR BABY ™ Hardware and System Requirements ............................................ 2 Setting Up and Starting the Program ............................................ 2 Accessing This Guide Onscreen ...................................................... 4 Visiting Us Online ............................................................................ 5 Educational Focus ............................................................................ 5 Baby Development ........................................................................ 6 Play and Learn ............................................................................... 6 Tips for Parents ............................................................................. 8 Getting Started ............................................................................... 10 Main Menu .................................................................................. 10 Using POP ................................................................................... 11 Playing the Activities ..................................................................... 13 The Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby Songs ................................ 25 Troubleshooting.............................................................................. 26 Windows® .................................................................................... 26 Macintosh® .................................................................................. 29 Appendix ......................................................................................... 32 HARDWARE AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows version Macintosh version Runs on: IBM® PC and Runs on: PowerPC® Macintosh compatibles—Pentium® 75 MHz or better or better With: With: ■ 16 MB of memory (RAM) ■ 16 MB of memory (RAM) ■ Hard disk with 20 MB of ■ Hard disk with 20 MB of free disk space* free disk space* ■ Double-speed CD-ROM drive ■ Double-speed CD-ROM drive (quad-speed recommended) (quad-speed recommended) ■ DirectDraw-compatible video card ■ 256-color display ■ Windows 95/98 or higher ■ System 7.5.1 or higher ■ DirectSound-compatible sound card ■ Mouse ■ Mouse *An additional 7 MB of disk space may be required to install Adobe® Acrobat® Reader. SETTING UP AND STARTING THE PROGRAM Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby runs from your CD-ROM drive. However, you need 20 MB of free hard disk space to store some program files. You can also register this product via modem using a toll-free number. 2 Windows 95/98 These instructions assume that the AutoPlay feature of Windows 95/98 is turned on. (AutoPlay is usually enabled when you install Windows 95/98 on your computer. See your Windows documentation for more information.) To set up the program: 1. Insert the Fun & Discovery CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. Click on Yes at the install prompt to begin the setup process. 3. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the setup process. Once you’ve completed the setup, the program will run automatically any time you insert the program CD into the CD-ROM drive. To start the program: 1. Insert the Fun & Discovery CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. Click on Play. Whenever you exit the program, you return to the desktop. You can restart the program directly from the desktop as long as the CD is still in the CD-ROM drive. (These instructions also apply if AutoPlay is turned off.) To start the program from the desktop: ■ Click on the Start button. Then choose Programs, The Learning Company, and Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby in that order. 3 Macintosh To set up the program: 1. Insert the Fun & Discovery CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. Double-click on Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby Launcher, and follow the onscreen instructions. To start the program: 1. Insert the Fun & Discovery CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. Open the Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby folder on your hard drive, and double-click on the Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby program icon. ACCESSING THIS GUIDE ONSCREEN You can use Acrobat Reader to view and print out a copy of this reference guide. To install Acrobat Reader, follow the onscreen instructions during the program setup process. To access this guide, click on Help in the introduc- tory screen (Windows), or double-click on the Help Guide file in the Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby folder on your hard disk (Macintosh). Then choose Print from the File menu to print out the guide. 4 VISITING US ONLINE Visit The Learning Company’s homepage to learn about our products, get help from our Technical Support Center, and visit our online store. Windows: ■ Insert the Fun & Discovery CD into your CD-ROM drive, and click on Visit Us Online. Macintosh: ■ Using your Web browser, go to http://www.learningco.com. EDUCATIONAL FOCUS For small children, there is almost no difference between playing and learning. Toys and other playthings serve as fun tools that babies can use to find out how the world works. Like a baby’s other playthings, Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby helps babies learn in a fun way. Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby creates a stimulating environment in which your baby creates music; listens to songs, rhymes, and stories; experiments with colors and shapes; and builds language skills. Its ten onscreen activities and related away-from-the-computer activities are carefully designed so that children between 9 and 24 months can grow with the activities. Babies will experience each activity in new ways as they pass through the developmental stages. 5 Baby Development Babies change dramatically between their ninth and twenty-fourth months. Nine-month-olds may be just beginning to crawl. Their world is one set firmly in the here-and-now, and they are busy making sense of things around them. By 24 months, babies are moving around in every which way— running, climbing, jumping, pushing, and rolling. These babies have spent time exploring objects for their similarities and differences, and they are now able to classify and sort. They have also learned how to make many things work. And they are talking—many times in short sentences. Play and Learn The onscreen activities in Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby provide exciting play experiences and build important skills that babies need for future development. You should sit with your baby on your lap when your child is first learning how to use the computer. The program is designed to allow babies to focus on the activities without having to worry about pinpoint control of the mouse. They can simply move the mouse around the screen, and they don’t need to click to play. The activities are designed to encourage babies to visit and play them over and over again. The activities in Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby will contribute to your baby’s growth in the following areas: 6 Mat Says Sound patterns Language development Cause and effect Auditory discrimination Coordination Coordination Peekaboo Bubbles Kinesthetic development Language development Cause and effect Tracking Kaleidoscope Symphony Predicting Sound patterns Cause and effect Visual patterns Beginning literacy Cause and effect Mat’s Faces Rhyme Time Language development Language development Cause and effect Kinesthetic development Shape Slide Sound patterns Visual discrimination Coordination Tracking Cause and effect Matching My Storybooks Cause and effect Language development Hide-and-Seek Animals Beginning literacy Language development Cause and effect Cause and effect Musical Drawers Discovery House Auditory discrimination Language development Kinesthetic development Cause and effect 7 Tips for Parents Here are some tips to help your baby get the most out of the experience with Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby. Help your baby develop healthy habits during the first experiences with the computer. ■ Your baby should sit 16 to 20 inches away from the screen. ■ Make sure

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