We have used reader rabbit toddler and learning center (jump start) toddler and my 2-3 year old son enjoyed the jump start more. Now he is 3 and a half years old and after using reader rabbit personalized preschool for awhile, I have to say the Jump Start Advanced Preschool blew us away. My son responds to this game so well! Whereas he often shut down reader rabbit all by himself when he was done, we have to drag him away from the computer when he is playing Jump Start Adv Preschool. The main idea is that kids earn rewards for their baby animals by getting 3 things right in different categories (rhyming, counting, letter matching, etc.) I love the idea that he is rewarded by giving his virtual pet a treat or a bath, for instance, and I think what a great way to reinforce kindness and doing nice things for others and at the same time learn some skills.

Today we went back to reader rabbit preschool to finish it. In this game, kids complete several learning games to earn tickets for a carnival ride. I had to bribe my son with m&ms to get him to complete the last carnival ride games. Instead of letting him 'go' on the carnival ride, the program cut to a parade (since he had completed the game as well) and at the end of the parade it went to credits and then a reward certificate. Then the game crashed. None of his work was saved. I finally managed to get his work saved but the game still crashes if he goes back to the parade.

JumpStart Adv. Preschool also came with 2 other CD-ROMs: Language club and Art for Fun. My son really enjoys the Language Club as well and I feel like we really got our money's worth with this game. In terms of which games motivate him to learn, Jump Start wins hands down.

My 2 boys (ages 2,4) absolutely love the Jumpstart CDs. The older one has been using the Toddlers CD from age 2 - before he could use a mouse. While the keyborad can be used for most acitivites on the Toddler CD, the mouse introduction is fun and simple. There are activities appropriate to different ages and encourage independent play. I find that the kids enjoy being able to do it all themselves. These CDs keep my 2 rambunctious boys occupied for hours!!!

I got this program about 1 1/2 years ago when my son didn't know how to use a mouse yet. The product info. said mouse-clicking wouldn't be necessary, so I thought Jumpstart Advanced Toddler would be a good starter program for him. My children have really liked it, but I have been a little disappointed. I would recommend Reader Rabbit Preschool over this program. Not only is it less expensive, but I think it is more educational and more fun for the kids. In short, here is a plus/minus list for this game:
+The kids like it.
+Fairly good graphics, fun songs, etc.
+Variety of activities with two different play levels.
+Mouse-clicking not required for many activities.
+For younger kids just learning this is a fun choice.

-Mouse clicking still required for painting/art activities, and on games where it is not required, the "feather" must be held over the chosen activity for several seconds or else it will not work. This doesn't work for children with a short attention span or who can't hold the cursor steady for a while. Sometimes I couldn't even get it to work myself unless I held it in just the right spot.
-Like some other reviewers have said, the duck's voice is a little annoying.
-WE seem to get a lot of errors with this game, especially if the kids leave it running and the computer changes over to a screensaver.
-The two levels of play have to be changed manually with each game. There is no "intelligence" in the game to move from one level to the other once the simpler tasks are mastered.
-There is no "point" to the game, so to speak. You just go and "have fun" at and around "grandma's house." It is the same every time and you don't build up to anything or "accomplish" anything like in Reader Rabbit where you are working toward a goal and advancing.
-Comes in a 3-CD set and CDs have to be changed to go from Art to Music to Schooltime. For little kids, this is a bit annoying or could possibly destroy the CDs if you have kids that try to do it themselves and aren't careful.
-Long annoying song/instructions at the start-up of the game every time, and also song and credits at the conclusion. Luckily these can be skipped by clicking the mouse. This may be standard with a lot of games for kids though.

My son used this game at his grandmothers house starting when he was 3. He loves it. He will go in the computer room and stay in there for hours playing different parts of the game. Printing pictures, and catching the shapes, and doing the patterns. He doesn't enjoy the ABC side as much but that is just him. I recommend to anyone with a preschooler. I was very surprised by all the poor reviews. BTW, we use this on Windows 2000 and it runs great. No problems installing at all!

I started our daughter on Jump Start Toddlers.

I homed schooled her on, JumpStart Preschool, JumpStart Pre-K, JumpStart kindergarten, JumpStart Kindergarten Advanced, JumpStart Spelling, JumpStart Music, JumpStart Artist, JumpStart Spanish (we did have conciderable trouble with the Spanish CD not wanting to open, after putting the CD into the hard drive, causing us to delete that program from our learning curriculum) JumpStart 1st. grade, JumpStart 1st. grade Advanced, JumpStart 2nd. grade and JumpStart 2nd. grade Advanced. She not only enjoyed all the programs, she also excelled with them.

After moving to a small town, I put her into our public school system, she's been on the honor roll every quarter (with 1 exception)-(11 times total) I attribute this success, in large part, to the JumpSart Programs we utilized also to the "SchoolZone Workbooks" and of course her having that 1 on 1 attention.

I've come back to the Knowledge Adventure website, to discover JumpStart does not have such a wide and diverse set of CD's anymore but I'm going to order JumpStart 5th. & 6th. grade Advanced and I feel certain that our daughter will love it ( I'll come back here, to Amazon.com and write an update to this opinion, once we've had time to learn the new games.

I'm astonished and incredibly sorry to hear all of the negative responses to the JumpStart Programs, I hope I'll not be joining that chores after trying the JumpStart 5th. & 6th. grade Advanced CD's, I'm hopeful :-)