With the explosion of educational software on the market, it’s hard to determine which ones will really appeal to your child, and there are bound to be ones you wish you had never purchased.

I’ve bought my share of these products – some were good and others were just okay. In my opinion, babyWOW! is simply a must for your household if you want to help educate your baby or toddler using the computer. I think babyWOW! is entertaining for both child and parent. When I grew up, education and fun were two words that were typically not found together in most sentences, but this software accomplishes both. An interactive solution, it’s simple to learn and use while offering diverse features and high quality pictures.

The strength of babyWOW! is in its use of high definition photos, integrated with eight different languages for learning. The first feature is Vocabulary, which simply presents a new picture and says the name of the object in the picture. Your baby or toddler simply has to press any part of the keyboard for a new picture to appear in a different part of the monitor. I actually found this entertaining as well, because I did not know where the next picture was going to appear on the screen.

Other features include Peakaboo and lessons in spatial recognition, which use a broad selection of high definition photos to present our world to our children. The software also teaches colors and shapes.

To personalize the program, you can send in your personal pictures to the company for them to use customize the software. This is an additional expense, though.

The software costs $34.99 and can be purchased from the BowWow House Web site at www.babywow.com. You can also place an order via telephone at 888-899-0798. Technical requirements are a 486/66 or above PC, 8MB memory, soundboard, CD-ROM drive and 256 color display panel.

About the Author: Alvin All is the publisher of Babies Today and the father of three children, one of whom loves this software and was glued to it for an hour his first time using it.