Video game:I Spy: Brain-Building Games for Kids

Scholastic Press began publishing a best-selling children?s book series by the name of I Spy in 1992. Based on the ageless search-and-find children?s game of the same name, these books consist of photographs of familiar and household objects. The pictures are accompanied by rhyming riddles that prompt children to find certain objects within the picture. In the late 1990s, Scholastic began publishing PC and handheld versions of these popular books in which a single player would move through similar pictures locating objects. These I Spy games fall into the educational software genre, because they encourage visual discrimination while engaging and expanding the child?s vocabulary of common objects. The games are compatible with Leapfrog?s Leapster and Tag technologies for interactive learning as well as for consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, and mobile devices. Interactive consoles such as the Wii add a further element of physical movement into the gameplay through the use of its motion-sensing controller. The games target children aged four to seven and involve reading, search-and-find, and matching games. The I Spy games have won several Parents? Choice Gold Medal awards and several National Parenting Center Seals of Approval. This popular license has also expanded beyond picture books and video games to board games, puzzles and even a television series.