JumpStart Phonics

JumpStart Phonics is an educational game for children aged three to six and teaches early reading skills. The game uses animal characters (Casey, Cecil, Eleanor, Frankie, Kisha and Pierre) to guide the player through the location Camp Readalot. It is a hub location that leads to different activities where 26 alphabetical merit badges can be earned. The game also contains a lot of songs. The educational concepts include Consonants, Digraphs, Letter Blends, Letter Recognition, Phonics, Rhyming, Short and Long Vowels, and Spelling.

The five activities are:

• River Raft: find the letters that Casey needs
• Shipwreck Rhymes: Cecil guides the player to find rhyming words.
• Storybook Cave: Eleanor needs help to complete stories. The player either has to choose the correct word to complete the sentence of choose the correct letter to complete a word.
• Totem Pole: Kisha hosts this activity and consonants or consonant blends need to be found for totem poles.
• Vowel Bees: bees need to find the correct hive by choosing the right vowel or vowel blend.

The game uses Read 'n' Respond speech technology. Players can use a microphone to sound out words and letters. The input is analyzed and feedback is provided.