Dora the Explorer: Dora's Cooking Club - Nintendo DS

Bought this for my 7 yr old Dora fan. She loves this game and plays it more than any other DS game that she has (some titles include Hello Kitty, Littlest Petshop, Tinkerbell and Mario). The game is also enjoyed by my 6 yr old son and 9 yr old daughter. This is the only game that she has (besides Super Mario Bros.) that she can play totally by herself. No reading required - no help required. As with most things Dora, this game is in English with Spanish vocabulary for some things like the vegetables, numbers, etc. There is an "Adventure Mode" where you do things like help Dora's teacher make 5 pizzas - chop ingredients with stylus, toss pizza dough, build pizzas using fractions of pieces, put toppings that match shapes of ingredients shown. Not a lot of free choice except when time to put the ingredients of your choice on the 5 pizzas. In adventure mode you can also help Dora's mom make a salad. Similar type of stuff, use the stylus to mix, chop etc. Has some pattern recognition (like carrot, tomato, onion, carrot, tomato - what comes next). The down side to the adventure mode is that if you exit out of the adventure mode and go back in later you have to finish where you left off before being allowed to something different in adventure mode (like if you left off making pizzas, you have to finish making pizzas before you can make salad with mom). Another mode is "Replay a Game" where you can choose the specific mini game for each recipe or you can remake an entire recipe. Again, most recipes include chopping, mixing and then some other math concept like counting tomato slices and matching to the correct #, putting #'s in order forward or backward, etc. Each recipe has a skill that it focuses on such as measurement. There is also a "Serve Food" option in the "replay game mode" where you drag the correct # of plates to each table. All mini games get progressively harder and the game uses encouraging phrases like, "fantastico" "great job" "that's it" and when the child gets something wrong it says, "That's not it." in a nice way. If they get it wrong a couple of times the game shows what it's looking for on the top screen. If the child still gets it wrong, sparkles appear right on top of the correct answer to tap. Finally, there is a "Progress Report" on the main menu. Definitely more meaningful for the adult than the child. It breaks down the game skills. They are listed as: number identification, number sequence, count sets of objects, enumeration, shape identification, silhouettes, parts of a whole, and pattern completion. It indicates your child's overall average and last play. One more thing... when you turn the game on it has 3 user profiles available so 3 kids could potentially keep separate files - provided they don't sneak on someone else's profile! :) Overall great game! Great value for price and playtime. Highly recommend.

I picked this game up at Target for $20 for my almost 5 yr old daughter to play on the DSi XL. She wanted a game she could play by herself. After reading the reviews on all the Dora games I settled on this one because it sounds the best (and she likes cooking). Overall it is a great game, however, it's just like all the other Dora games I've read reviews about. This game can be completed in one day, couple hours actually. My daughter had only played it for a little bit and when she was done it said she had completed 76% of the game already! The next time she played, she completed the game. So on that note I was a little disappointed. She says she will go back and do some of the recipes again. I think $20 is a lot to spend on a game that can be completed in 3 hours or less.

We're always on the lookout for educational games for my 3 year old and this one fit the bill perfectly. When we purchased the game my daughter had familiarity with all of the concepts, so she was able to play it independently, which is a huge bonus especially in the car. There were some skills, like fractions, which we had only talked about briefly so it's a great opportunity for her to practice and challenge herself. The premise of the game is that Dora is helping friends and family prepare meals for a fiesta. She prepares a wide variety of items from appetizers to desserts. Each meal covers 6 skills. Most of the skills are math based, but some are related to fine motor skills, such as slicing cucumbers and carrots. I like that each meal has different skills (some repeat, but in different contexts), but sometimes each skill drags on a bit. For example, in one of the meals she needs to grate cheese for a pizza. You are supposed to trace a circle with the stylus over and over to simulate the grating of cheese. The game has you do it for five seperate pizzas, so my daughter often asks when she gets to move on to the next part of the recipe. All of the math skills, like fractions and patterning, increase in difficutly as your child shows mastery. If the child begins to struggle, the game immediately reverts back to the easiest questions. My daughter was able to identify that two halves make a whole, but once 1/4 and 1/3 were introduced she began to struggle. As soon as she missed two questions, the game immediately went back to the questions she answered correctly. This prevents her from ever getting frustrated and gives her a chance to gain some confidence and independence with the questions she does answer correctly. If there is anything I don't like about the game is that it isn't long enough! There are 5 recipes to make and we could definitely use more. I do like that you can choose to work on any recipe, rather than always having to start from the beginning. That helps keep the game exciting. If you are looking for a game that covers a wide variety of preschool and early elementary math skills (patterning, fractions, greater than less than, shapes, size, and numbering)and fine motor skills, this is definitely the game to get. We also love Freddi the Fish and Crayola Jungle Adventures.

It is a very nice game for toddlers, it is educational and fun it is keeping my girl entertained! I feel like at some point it gets repetitive (as there is not many options) so they give up on it but if you introduce it a little later again it becomes interesting!

I think writing down a review should be optional. Just like how it used to be. I just want to give a couple of stars, clear my order history and get on with the rest of my day. But now we can't send a rating until we give a review on the product we ordered. I used to only write a review if there was something wrong. I f not, then I give five stars. I don't time to write a review for everything I order so I'll just copy and paste this on every order. MAKE THIS SECTION OPTIONAL. Thank you and have a great day!

My girls both like this game. Easy enough for a 3 year old to play on her own. Reading is not required for this game. The 5 year old prefers Cooking Mama, but will play this on occasion.

I enjoy this game and feel that the stylus gameplay works well. I bought this for my daughter and she has enjoyed playing the game.

I purchased Dora Cooking as a Christmas gift for my 5 yr old daughter and it was a great choice. The game reviews math skill such as addition, subtraction, and fractions. The game is very entertaining and interactive while teaching the skills listed above. My daughter loves playing the game and it's her game of choice when playing with her DS. I would recommend this for ages 4 and up. Dora the Explorer: Dora's Cooking Club