What is Big Thinkers Kindergarten?

Big Thinkers Kindergarten is a point and click adventure / puzzle game aimed at a younger audience. You control Ben and his sister (?) Becky. Ben has the ability to transform into different animals and shapes, just like Fred Clever (Mort in English) from the Clever & Smart (Mortadelo y Filemón, in English "Mort & Phil") comics by Francisco Ibáñez Talavera.

The objective of the game is to collect five kinds of stars and then win twice an end challenge that plays like a board game. For that I used around 50-60 stars, so one must collect quite a few to even begin with.

When first playing, one can (with the help of parents probably) enter his name and birthday, the name will be shown at the end of the game after beating the final challenge (although the game itself is seemingly an endless mode, so there is no end afterwards but rather can still play on and on).

The whole game is controlled with the mouse. It consists of a hub world and separate minigames. The hub world is a house and garden, the minigames range from spelling words over finding out what trash can be recycled to painting a face - or any picture. There are several flaws in this game, for example the menus can be brought up only by moving the mouse outside the screen (something that however was normal at the time the game was created, seeing as a similar mechanic was used in Sam & Max Hit The Road). More severe are game-specific flaws. The trash game is difficult if you're a foreigner, but the severe flaws are in painting and the "hide & seek" game. The painting has an undo option that however seems to undo one action only (or maybe very few). The "hide & seek" makes it not always possible to solve the game with the given clues. Outdoor, on a dry place, on the left side of the map can by my definition have several possibilities. The other times I played the hints were enough, so maybe I just had bad luck the first time. Another flaw is that in the creative parts (painting, making music) your creativity is interrupted when you get stars.

The end of the game can be reached in an hour or maybe less, but this should not be a turn-off, since it is possible to play on afterwards, and I suppose children will take their time with it and not rush through like I did for review purposes (as such, I also did not play all minigames), so the asked price is fine, although the games by this publisher also go on sale sometimes. Personally I picked up the Humongous Complete Pack when it was 66 or 75 percent off, so if there is time, this is a great option to wait for.

The sound is nothing special, but it is noteworthy that the voice samples of each game repeat often. The graphics are not too good, but not bad either. The style easily allows for creative transformations of Ben. Interestingly, the minigames, especially the one where you read a book and replace words, sometimes have better graphics. They all look like just painted in 2D by a skilled but not master artist.

What remains is a compilation of minigames that might be an interesting learning tool for the intended audience - kindergarten children - with the possibility for them to learn a few basic things - spelling short words, addition up to the number 10, counting to 12 (via the clock game) while also having basic creative tools at their disposal. The characters Ben and the girl as well as the side-characters will surely be lovable at that age.

A positive technical point at the end: The game is emulated via ScummVM. Upon starting it, one can choose between starting normally or without OpenGL.

A word of caution must be said: As Steam is intended to be for age 13 and up, parents are advised to always watch their children when they play something, especially if the community features are enabled. As a protective measure, I suggest turning the Steam Overlay off for this game, that way the play can also go uninterrupted by popup messages / group announcements.

Recommended: For the targeted audience = kindergarten children. Turning Steam Overlay off advised.

I played this game when I was 5 and loved it so much. Fourteen years later, I decided to pick it up and play it for nostalgia's sake. This game brought back so many memories.

This game goes through many different topics and most games can be adjusted in difficulty: Easy (!), Medium (!!), or Hard (!!!). The difficulties will progress by themselves but if the progression is not maintaining your child's speed, then you can adjust to fit their needs.

This game is sily enough to keep a child entertained but maintains its educational status incredibly well. You can have them complete patterns, learn measurements, learn reasoning, logic and problem solving, and all while having a great time. It may not be as effective as a workbook or classwork, but this game will build the basis for your child's kindergarten career.

My kindergartener heartily recommends.

Big Thinkers Kindergarten is a game for kids, mainly those that can't read or learning to read. In other words, it's for kids under 6 or 7 years old. In it, you have a brother and a sister that can tranform themselves in many things and that are explaining the games and encouraging kids. Ben and Becky are searching for Smart Stars around their house. And these can be obtained by playing minigames.

For example, you'll find in the kitchen three minigames that will cover three domains: Alphabet Skills, Measurement & Estimation and Sequencing & Patterning. Solve them and you'll get stars, showing your progress in these. The chart can be found in the living room. Or if you go to the library, you can let your imagination wander thanks to the Art Creativity field or the Reading & Sentences one.

The games are really varied and use mechanics that you still find today in educational applications. So, yeah, I do think that Big Thinkers Kindergarten can be still in use nowadays. However, what may be a little hard to get past at is the graphics.

Not that I mind old graphics, as you know. After all, I began playing with Super Mario Bros and Doom II triggered a real passion. But some of them aren't aging well. Big Thinkers is among them. It's like seeing an old cartoon. True, back then, these were frequent in the adventure genre. However, today, it seems not at all clear. There are many information on the screen that it's nearly making you scream that it's not user-friendly. I understand that the education behind is probably the main reason but I don't care about words like Pantry or Rightly, though I suppose that for the kids, it's showing them something that is obvious for the adult.

Anyway, you can interact with nearly everything, as far as your cursor is a white arrow. As an adult, it can seem to be too much but for a kid, it's amusing. Myself, I got intrigued by what can happen.

If I have to say something for the soundtrack, it's correct. It's more the voice acting that is a pain in my ears, mainly Ben's voice. I'm always under the impression that he tries to be louder than Becky.

Big Thinkers is in English. Total English. I don't know if there were any translated version because it would have been interesting for the other languages. If as a teacher or a parent, you have no problem in English as second language, you can guide your kid in the game. I didn't understand the super challenge however. And it's not always easy to understand the clues in the sandbox game. But at least, many of the games aren't oriented towards English. Alphabet Skills is purely focused on the order of the letters (the 26 are there) or on recognizing the letter in lowercase. The Art Creativity game is focused on making a new head for Ben, the Sequencing and Patterning games is about guessing the end of a sequence though shapes and color, etc.. On 15 games, 9 of them are accessible for people not fluent in English.

Big Thinkers Kindergarten is a good educational game, whether for the classroom or for home. The graphics may have aged not so well but the rest is still "modern".

Ah and if you don't manage to find how to exit the game, put your mouse at the bottom of the screen, the menu should appear. It's sad that there is nothing to indicate it though.

"Hello there! How are you? It's great to see you here! I'm Ben… " And I'm Becky; let's start off with a cheer!"

Big Thinkers Kindergarten is an educational game for toddlers and young kids. You follow the two hosts (Ben and Becky Brightly) as you play mini-games and learn things like colors, numbers, spelling, etc.
I loooooved this game in elementary school, so in the name of nostalgia, I'm going to write an unnecessarily long review of each mini-game. Hopefully it helps parents or teachers who want to buy the game and doesn't just take up half of people's Steam activity page. Alright, let's go!

Time Telling: In this game, you learn how to tell time. Ben's head will turn into a clock, and the player has to turn the hands to match the time that Ben gives the player. Do this three times, and you win! This game actually made me wonder: will telling time be a useful skill to learn in the future when most clocks are digital?

Measurement and Estimation: You and Becky warp to the kitchen fridge, where Becky will turn into objects and ask you to stack food items next to her to match her height. Ex: How many olives match Becky's height as a rocket? The game isn't as educational as it could be since Becky tells you what to stack and has you stack the items next to her instead of the player having to visually imagine what the items stacked would look like.

Thinking Skills: A puzzle where the picture is jumbled up and you have to move the tiles around to fix the image When the picture looks as it was intended to, you win! 

Art Creativity: Ben jumps into a painting and allows you to use him as an art experiment. You can drag different facial features on him, like different mouths, noses, and eyes. You can paint on him and change colors. It's your basic art mini-game. This is probably a favorite among kids because who doesn't love arts and crafts!

First Letter Identification: We've moved onto the playroom now and are jumping headfirst into the fish tank. Ben and Becky turn into fish and ask you to finish the word at the bottom of the screen. You have to choose the first letter that will finish the word. For example, the word is -at. You can choose either an "L" to make the word "Lat" or an "H" to make the word "Hat."This game is great at teaching spelling quickly and efficiently. 

Spelling and Phonics: We're finally heading outdoors and into the isolated forest. It doesn't sound like the safest idea, but no worries! We've run into some friendly, talking squirrels living in a big tree. This is the perfect time for Ben to empty his never-ending Tardis pockets, which contained 12 items. He throws the items onto the tree and asks you to pick which items begin with the letter he gives you. For example: which items begin with the letter Z? You would click on Zebra and Zipper. The animation in this game is fun. You pick the correct item, and the squirrels vacuum up the rest. It's very cute. 

Geography and Directions: We were back in the safety of our backyard when Ben decided he wanted to play hide and seek. Ben, we just got back in one piece! A map will appear with locations you can click on. Becky will give you clues, and you have to choose where you think Ben is hiding. The clues in this game can feel vague, and it's definitely not my terrible directional skills that confused me on this one. 

Garden Maze: A maze game with a twist. You're objective is to lead Ben out of the garden maze. Then in the next maze, there is food blocking the path. What are we gonna do?!? Luckily, we know Ben can shapeshift. You are given a choice of two different animals, and you must match the animal to the food. For example: a horse eats hay or a monkey eats bananas. This is like a two for one game. You solve the maze while also learning about animals.

Alphabet Skills: You're soaring in the sky now. Becky presents you with three letters and asks you to put them in the order that they appear in the alphabet. Upon clicking on a letter, Becky will inform you what the letter is, then turn into something that starts with the letter. For example, if you click on a B, she'll turn into a balloon.

Reading and Sentences: We excitedly run to the library and find books! So many books! You open a book that contains a beginner-level story. There are some words in the story that are highlighted in green. If you click on the green word, you can change it to a different word! Changing the word also changes the image in the book to match.  Each time you play, it's a different story with a different title and image. You can create your own stories, which makes this a very creative game!

Counting and Computation: We're in space on top of a board game setting where you can move your pieces forward. Each space on this path is a different color, and Becky wants to get to the end of the path. Ben will spin and give you two random colors. You have to choose which color will get Becky farther along the path. So if the path has a red, blue, grey, and yellow spot and Ben spins a grey and blue, you would choose grey since it is farther than the blue on the path. You are basically picking the color that will get Becky farther along the path. Once you win with colors, the same game is played with letters. The letters are not in alphabetical order, so it takes some thinking. The way the game is set up is pretty advanced for young kids, which makes it one of the better games. 

Environmental Science: We're back in the forest to do some good! Some nasty people left a bunch of trash in the forest, so Becky and Ben turn into a trash can and a recycling bin. You then just have to figure out which pieces are trash and which you can recycle.

Music Creativity: We head into the music room. Yes, they have a music room… There is still so much to learn about Becky and Ben's past and present lives. Do they have parents, jobs, or school? Are they from this world...? Anyway, the three of us have a jam session. You pick an instrument for them to play, and then you can choose how fast or slow they play it. You can have them both play at the same time to mix and match your music. There is a concerning moment where, if you pick the violin, Becky fuses with the violin. She stretches her upper half, and her neck becomes the neck of the violin. They do this with other instruments as well, but it's not nearly as creepy. I'm still trying to get the human-violin hybrid out of my head.

Sequencing and Patterning: A Standard Pattern Game Ben has a pattern above his head like (orange square, blue triangle, red circle), and then you have to finish the pattern with the choices you have. This is the only game that feels more like work than an actual game. 

Counting and Computation:  Birds will land on Ben and Becky's arms, and you have to count how many birds there are in total. This game is all about adding or counting; there is no subtraction. It's easy, straight to the point, and there are cute birds (unlike the pattern game).

We just completed all 15 games… That can only mean one thing….

WE ARE A BIG THINKER!

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TLDR: It will probably take you longer to read this review than to beat the game, but if you are a teacher, parent, babysitter, etc., I think this is a good learning tool. There are probably more up-to-date educational games out there, but this still holds up with memorable hosts and wholesome education. If they make a version for adults, I'm all in!

Am smart now

Brain Larger

It's so good it helped me math

Classic gaming right here! Very nostalgic, I wish HE was still making games. <3

I know this is aimed for children but the whole thing is just so badly made. The game is so needlessly annoying and there is no sound setting that I could find (menus are beyond horrible) and neither there was a "quit" button.
Not sure about Windows but on Linux the game just takes over your PC/monitors and it doesn't let you tab out or alt + f4 it, so I had to restart my PC to quit it...

I am 100% sure I would despise this game even as a child.