Sunday, January 25, 2009

ItzaBitza

The kids had the opportunity to review a computer game last week.

"Who sent us this, Mama?"

"Someone on the dot com and they want you to be honest and tell people if you like it. Let's play it together."

And played, they did. All three of them! ItzaBitza is a drawing game in which children use a mouse to draw pictures that come alive and create stories. Children can scroll over words and they are read out loud for them, the feature that I loved most.

"Look at my sun!" Lola screamed. "I draw beautiful suns. Look at it sparkle... it's moving, Mama!"

"I see one of my star words from school, Mama. Look the boy read one of my star words." Jay observed.


USA Today wrote:

What makes this game so revolutionary is that it introduces the concept of "Living Ink," which means kids draw a requested object and when they do, that drawing comes alive through animation and it is incorporated into a story. Because it is so cool to watch their drawing come to life, kids are motivated to read the next part of the story so that they can find out what they get to draw next.

And to help new readers, all words in the game can be read aloud in a child's voice by moving the cursor over a word. When you do, the world turns red, gets bigger, and then is spoken aloud so that it is easy to follow along.


Not only did all three of my children take turns drawing and reading and anticipating their next moves... they were QUIET. For a very long time. This game was perfect for their age groups 2 to 7, even the baby played around with the mouse scrolling over words and giggling.

We have lots computer games at home. Some educational and some fun. I can honestly say that this is a game that is both. It is well worth the $20.

I have TWO ITZABITZA game codes to give out to you guys so you can try the game. (You need a mouse) Please leave me ONE COMMENT before Wednesday Jan 28th, 2009.

22 comments:

AmyNaab said...

Sounds fun!

Rhea said...

Sounds awesome. I love games that use the computer, explore creativity and promote learning. woohoo!

keeping the kids occupied is a bonus!

Nicole Brady said...

My kids love computer and love drawing. If I win, I may start swearing at you for making me have to share the computer with the kids!

Michelle said...

Sounds great! My older ones are always on the computer playing games. My almost 3 year old wants to be on the computer too, and it's hard to find something for her to do on it, so I need to try this game out!

C and C Mommy said...

Looks way cool!!

Carol F. said...

I have a very artsy preschooler who would love such a game. Thanks for sharing!

Lindsey said...

Super cool! Looks like a fun game!

Anonymous said...

I have many mouses, or should that be mice? I can never quite tell.
Either way, the boy here would love to play that one.

Mom said...

They were learning and beign quiet? Count me in sounds wonderful!

Anonymous said...

wow the boys would love this...

Anonymous said...

My daughter is starting to want to use the mouse - this sounds like a perfect game!

Kelly said...

Sounds like a great game for beginning readers. Aiden is just now getting interested in the computer. His brothers were on it by age 2!

NikkiSolonToChicago said...

This game looks great - that would free up my computer too! The kids have their own computer but they don't have internet access so this is something they could do on their OWN computer! So many games are not educational so we don't bother with them. They are getting tired of the Leapster games so this looks like a great alternative! Thanks! :D

Anti-Supermom said...

Both my children would LOVE this.

Momma would love the quiet.

Ashley said...

This looks like so much fun! I'm sure it would be great for a 3 and 6 year old! Thanks so much for sharing this with us all : )
Ashley, Tx

Stephanie said...

Looks very cool. Count me in, and thanks for the offer.

Jessica said...

It is really hard to find something on the computer that the kiddos can enjoy on their own. Love the sound of this one.

Diva Ma @ Mommy Fabulous said...

My two younger kids would like something like this. Though they may have to fight me for my computer time.

But quiet sounds goooooood!

Caroline C. Bingham said...

Dude, I totally need this for my crew.

ladybugsnkatydids said...

OHMommy, I (oops, I mean we) need this at our house. I have 3 who are always fighting for time on my laptop and the last drawing program that our daughter's elementary school recommeded caused our computer to totally FREAK OUT!!!

Ellyn said...

This looks so fun. My kids love to draw. I may have to purchase it even if we don't win.

Emily said...

Would love to check this game out! Thanks for the suggestion!