For generations, Sesame Street has taught kids their letters, numbers, and other lessons on TV. Last year, kids could play two new Sesame Street games on their Wii, and a third joins them this year. Grover has set up an obstacle course challenge, and Elmo and fairy-in-training Abby Cadabby want to play! Your child can help Elmo and Abby take on Grover’s Challenge and learn healthy habits along the way in this game for Wii and DS.

Your child can play Ready, Set, Grover in English or Spanish, and can try the games all in a row, or each one separately. Some mini-games encourage physical movement and exercise play, like running, jumping, stretching, dancing, or riding a trike. Others teach about nutritious foods, fruits and vegetables, as well as other healthy habits like the proper way to brush your teeth, or covering your nose with a tissue when you sneeze. The games also teach other skills, like recognizing colors, shapes, counting, and classification.

If your child needs help, a parent or older player can pick up a second Wii remote and take over controlling the game. Plus, parents can access a special page and view their child’s progress, manage save files, set a game play timer, and select the difficulty of the activities. The controls are pretty simple, and only require youngsters to shake or tilt the remote. However, sometimes the games don’t register the movements correctly, which might frustrate young players. But since you aren’t penalized for making mistakes, it shouldn’t be too bad.

There is also a version of Ready, Set, Grover for the Nintendo DS handheld. It’s essentially the same game, except with stylus and touch screen controls, which actually work better than the motion controls sometimes. No reading skill is required as the games use voices and pictures to explain each activity. The only other problem with these games is that for a full priced title, they could’ve used a bit more content. Both games are rated EC for Early Childhood.

One cool thing is that the Wii game comes with a special remote cover that is soft and easy for small hands to grip, and it also covers unnecessary buttons. But parents will need to help their kids if they decide to use the cover, because it blocks the remote sensor and you need that to start games on the Wii. The DS version comes with an even better goodie. A special stylus with Grover on it that is thicker for little hands to hold, and it is like a clicky pen in that the pointy part of the stylus comes out when you click the top button. Kids can use this stylus for other touch screen electronics, too, and I might even keep mine and use it myself!

It’s too bad that Grover didn’t wait tables and serve that one hapless blue man, or change into the comedic Super Grover in the game, but I guess that’s too old school. When I was a kid and me and my best friend would watch Sesame Street, whenever Super Grover would come on TV, my friend would run to the bathroom and get a towel for a cape so he could be like Super Grover. And when Oscar the Grouch was on, I would run to the kitchen and get a paper plate to put on my head like a trash can lid since Oscar was my favorite. Maybe Oscar will get his own video game someday. In the comments section, let me know who YOUR favorite Sesame Street characters are (and your kids’ favorites, too)!

Tags: Game Reviews