Hey, Hey, are you ready to Play to the Music with the Tweenies? An amazing 50 per cent of pre-school children in the UK watch the loveable characters on TV, and this new package picks out the element they love the best: singing action songs. When the Tweenie clock stops on "Dance Time", Bella (as usual!) takes the lead, and youngsters can either help Fizz copy Bella's moves, or they can boogie along, copying the steps on the dance mat (included, with a microphone). In the "Music Garden", you must help Judy and Jake grow a song bush, whereas in the "Tunearoonie Maze" your task is to guide the Tweenies around a maze and collect musical notes. But beware of the dinosaurs, or you could be singing the blues sooner than you think. Meet the "Tweenie Band", find out what instruments they like by trial and error and then sing along with the tunes they play. These somewhat prescriptive activities are fantastic for the target age group: they improve colour recognition, musical awareness and singing ability, basic mouse and PC skills, as well as artistic awareness, concentration, hand-to-eye coordination and finer motor skills. But the real fun comes in the more open activities, where children can plug in the microphone and sing along with the Tweenies. The special video clips included are taken from the live, sell-out shows of early 2001, TV programmes and the Tweenies' unforgettable appearance on Top of the Pops. Karaoke wannabes can even record their voice and become a real Tweenie pop star themselves. If this all sounds a bit raucous, concentrate on the educational value: BBC production values mean this is fun, entertaining and wonderfully designed, but it also stays true to the underlying developmental slant of the TV show. [+]

Guest-starring those Digital Monster superheroes Yolei, Cody Hida and the Emperor Ken, the Digimon Comic and Music Maker CD-ROM allows you to become your very own Japanese-style animator and composer. The on-screen console is pretty easy to master; younger children might need a little assistance. Central to things is the Container, which stores all those music and video blocks with which you are going to make and soundtrack your own cartoon. Using your mouse, simply drag and drop any of the ready and waiting Digimon cartoon characters into a scary scenario of your own devising, and then add suitable noises to bring to life the animated conflicts. Upwards of 500 sound effects can be found on disc, as well as a library of digitised "Digivoices". More intriguing techniques allow you to create your own pop, electro, hip-hop or techno songs, to enliven and accompany, say, the Armadillomon as he horribly savages the Upamon. The Song Wizard will help you write your special music, not least by making suggestions of his own. For older children, or easily bored younger kids, the CD-ROM has more advanced features including an e-mail facility for sending arrangements, a "self record" tool for adding your own silly noises and lots of links to the software writers' home pages for expert advice and nifty tips. Happy animating. -Sean Thomas.

Adiboo The Mysterious Music Machine imaginatively introduces children aged 4-7 years to musical instruments and sounds. Adiboo and his pals arrive in a strange world and are surprised to discover a bee that doesn't buzz but sounds like a horn. After a short boat trip they find a bird that imitates a helicopter and a leaf that explodes. They have arrived in the land of the mysterious music machine. In a conversation with Adiboo, the sad music machine admits he's feeling miserable because he has lost his sounds, the unusually named zicabongs, and as a result all the inhabitants of the land have started to make strange noises. The aim of the game is to help Adiboo bring back all the zicabongs to the music machine so he can play his tune again and restore the proper sounds to the land around him. Children are encouraged to find their way around the colourful and imaginative land and carry out various tasks before they can successfully retrieve the zicabongs. In one of the challenges, you have to drag a singing shell through a set of pipes that play different noises; and in another you have to assemble an animal band who play different instruments. Games can be set at different levels and there is a booklet to guide you. Children will learn how to put low and high sounds in the right order; how to distinguish between rising and falling sounds and they are encouraged to detect the tones of instruments which are being played at the same time. [+]