Mia Reading: The Bugaboo Bugs! Fun Software For Kids

Have you ever heard of Kutoka? I hadn’t, or at least I didn’t think I had, until I looked at their website and saw some of their products. My husband and I had seen their software games before at Toys R Us and were never sure if our almost 6 year old would find them entertaining enough to stick with. When Kutoka asked if we would like to try their newest software game, “Mia Reading: The Bugaboo Bugs!” we were thrilled.

From the moment our son saw the box he was hooked and asking a million questions. He continued to talk as we loaded the software onto our PC and waited for instructions to begin. This particular DVD-ROM is an adventure targeted at children five to nine that focuses on literacy skills and includes lots of games and activities.

The Bugaboo Bugs! is about some pesky bugs. Mia, the mouse and star, lives in a lovely Victorian house where her family has lived for generations. The house has recently been invaded by the Bugaboos. These noisy and disrespectful bugs are going to attract the attention of the humans and quite possibly the exterminators may show up. The Bugaboos must by kicked to the curb and Mia needs the player’s help to find a way to get them to stay out of site.

Our son will turn 6 in one month and enter kindergarten this fall. He did need a parent to help him navigate what to do, but has quickly picked up even some of the simple words on his own. The game is intended for ages 5-9 and has been a great way to prepare him for school. I’m thinking of loaning it to his kindergarten class, because I believe the teachers will find it to be a fun educational way to reward students. The game is very interactive and focuses mainly on literacy skills.

There are two features to this software that I absolutely loved. The first being that none of their games appear to be based on a movie, television show or licensed character. I get very sick of kids getting bombarded with a specific character. You’ll find Spongebob on pajama’s, in Happy Meals, in the cereal aisle, on books and everywhere else you can think of. I appreciate the originality of Kutoka. The second feature I loved was the richness of color and characters. Every detail was uniquely planned and carried through the entire software. The graphics are delivered in HD and the quality is exceptional.

The software retails for $24.99 and you can find other titles that Kutoka has developed on their website. There are five titles in the Mia software collection, four learning adventures and a creativity tool called Click & Create. The four learning adventures cover math, science, reading and an introduction to foreign languages (French and Spanish). This multi award-winning series is available is over 40 countries in 14 different languages.

Written by Emily, who is a married working mother of a very energetic 5 year old son. They reside in Southern Indiana (a little too close to the Kentucky border). Someday she’d like to visit Intercourse, PA and have her picture taken with the welcome sign. She writes at her personal blog, Fenicle and loves free samples and trying new things!