Disney Junior is a block of child friendly programs found on the Disney channel designed with children aged from toddler to pre-teen in mind. It plays on the Disney network every morning from six in the morning to two in the afternoon. Those wanting more of the kid friendly programs can switch their televisions over to the Disney Junior channel and watch things like the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins and Chuggington all day long. Advertisements during the Disney Junior block, or on the Disney Junior channel, make mention of the various games that can be found online at the website and for download at the App Store for iPads and Kindles.
So what sorts of games are available at the Disney Junior Games website? Due to the age range of the intended audience, none of these games are particularly difficult. Players will find a multitude of educational games, teaching math and colors, as well as numerous puzzles, memory matchers and music makers. I decided to play around with an action game and a math game.
Action - Pooh Sticks - How anyone can call Pooh Sticks an "action game" is beyond me. For those unfamiliar with the game, the premise is to drop a stick in a river and watch it move from where it was dropped to a specified spot in the river that serves as a finish line. This is generally played with a number of people; the winner is the one with the stick that gets to the finish line first. The online version requires moving the stick, the cursor, up and down the screen to avoid obstacles such as rocks, logs and lilypads. There are no power ups, no prizes, just a timer and it really doesn't matter how fast or slow you play. Piglet will always hope you will play again.
The graphics are bright and well drawn, the music is annoying but the animation runs smoothly. Pooh Sticks is visually appealing but that's all it has going for it.
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| Without a second player, this is an incredibly boring "action" game. |
Math - Manny's Pinata Birthday Bash - Handy Manny is an engineer with a toolbox full of sentient tools, most of which speak Spanish. The purpose of this game is to create a pinata for Manny's birthday party. There is a mix and match aspect where the player can customize their pinata using three different shapes, three patterns and two different colors. After the pinata is constructed, it needs to be filled with toys which involves a short memory game, if you can call it that. A list is provided, featuring three different objects that must be selected to continue. The list provides both the English terms for the items and the Spanish terms. Getting passed that, we finally get to the math part of the game, where players must solve very basic math problems (all addition from my few playthroughs) to hit and break open the pinata.
For some reason a score is kept yet I have no idea how the points are figured out or even what the purpose of scoring is. There isn't a different ending, no consequences, so it seems pointless to keep score.
As expected, neither game offered any sort of challenge, though both were brightly colored with cheery repetitive music. I suppose if a parent or babysitter had no qualms about letting their tiny tots play with the internet for a while, the games on the Disney Junior website could entertain.
Rating:
Demographic: 2 - 5 year olds, boys and girls.
System(s): PC
Players: 1
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