Were you one of the lucky parents to be pressured into buying a Nintendo Wii for your oldest son or daughter a few Christmases ago? Have they given up with Wii Sports and left the Wii to be used by the youngest in the family whilst they experience all the fun that hormones deliver? Well fear not. The lovely white box of magic doesn’t have to be packed away just yet because your littlest kids can now experience some fun interactive learning from the comfort of their own home.
Learning with the PooYoo’s is a cartoon-styled educational series for children aged 3 and up. It’s available exclusively on Nintendo’s WiiWare digital download store which you can find after connecting your Wii to the Internet and heading into the Wii Shop Channel.
Learning with the PooYoo’s is being released episodically which gives it that air of a weekly television show. If you’re kids are already glued to the TV this shouldn’t upset their rhythm too much. So what are these PooYoo’s anyway? Well the PooYoo’s are a colourful race of cartoon beings which partly resemble regular fluffy animals such as Rabbits, Cats and even Elephants. Now I’m no expert when it comes to educational games. Yes I did own a couple while I was growing up but they hardly got my attention when I had Super Mario Bros and Sensible Soccer to keep me busy. The good thing about aiming an educational game towards the younger crowd is that they’re too young to be distracted by real games. Here in the world of the PooYoo’s the kiddies can start off by learning to distinguish shapes and colours and as they progress to the slightly harder difficulty are then introduced to words and numbers. The whole game is professionally narrated by an encouraging female voice and with the help of the PooYoo’s jumping around your child should easily raise a smile. All they have to do is point and shake at the screen with the Wii Remote when requested during activities such as popping Balloons of a certain colour. It’s very simple but much more interactive than a typical educational show on TV.
Overall Episode One of Learning with the PooYoo’s for Wii seems a unique and fun casual educational title. There are only a handful of activities to choose from but being able to raise the difficulty as your child gets older is a nice touch. On its own this isn’t going to turn your child into a genius but as part of a good home style and nursery schooling I think it could be a little beneficial.
Whilst graphics and sound aren’t the most important thing for a game aimed at such a young audience it’s nice to see that a lot of care has been taken to create a very nice looking and sounding experience here with the PooYoo’s. The only negatives I can mention are a lack of 16:9 widescreen support and that there is no two player mode to keep twins happy. For just 500 Nintendo Points from the Nintendo WiiWare store this seems a bargain for any parents keen to get their kids doing some basic home learning when they’re home from Nursery school.
Learning with the PooYoo’s for Wii scores 7 out of 10.
Related: Sea Life Safari review