Soleil Software Announces Zurk's Rainforest Lab

CD-ROM helps children learn math and science skills in nature's most
beautiful classroom

Palo Alto, Calif., August 10, 1994 --- Soleil Software announced today
Zurk's Rainforest Lab, a CD-ROM software toy for children ages 5 to 9.
Designed by experienced educators, this product features five challenging
and engaging activities that invite children to learn life science and
math concepts, as well as critical thinking skills. It teaches and
entertains them in one of nature's most diverse and colorful classrooms --
a Central American rain forest. This second installment in Soleil's
discovery learning series features rich watercolor graphics, similar to
the art found in the best children's books, and original music with a
Latin beat. Zurk, the program's friendly mascot, also sprinkles words of
Spanish and French while encouraging children throughout the program.

Child-centered Approach Encourages Open-ended Learning

Child-centered learning is a distinct focus of the program according to
Ragni Pasturel, president of Soleil Software. "Educators and parents alike
gave us tremendous feedback on Zurk's Learning Safari, our first program.
They love the educational content and rich graphics but especially
appreciate the open-ended learning approach featured in the program. We've
included those elements in Zurk's Rainforest Lab and extended the content
range so that older children can explore and learn in this unique
setting," she reports.

Five Fun Learning Activities with a Touch of Salsa and Magic

With a scrollable screen that illustrates the ground level, under-story and
upper canopy of the rain forest, and real jungle sounds recorded on-site
by a naturalist, the Jungle Discovery activity takes children on an
unforgettable tour of a Central American rain forest. Moving the cursor
over the colorful flora and terrain, children can click on animals and
insects to call up an informational text box. The text can either be
narrated or simply read by the child as he or she desires. After selecting
the camera icon, a click of the mouse "snaps" a shot of the subject and
transfers the image to the Photo Album. This electronic travel journal
lets children catalogue their rain forest snapshots and practice their
creative writing skills as they keep a nature diary, compose stories or
weave traveler's tales about their imaginary excursions.

Later they can color a hardcopy of their rain forest mementos or simply
keep them as travel souvenirs.

In Seek and Sort, the friendly Zurk is at the command of a wondrous machine
that helps children identify animal types and practice basic
classification, an essential skill used in both math and life science.
Children choose whether the rain forest animal pictured is a mammal, bird,
reptile, amphibian or insect while Zurk offers words of encouragement.
With three difficulty levels and a separate graphing ability that plots
how many animals they've classified in each category, Seek and Sort is a
two-layer learning exercise that encourages children to think
mathematically. It also includes an open-ended learning option that
enhances creativity as children can test their camouflage know-how by
hiding animals in the jungle for friends to find.

In the Egg Hunt, children come to the aid of Nita, an animated cursor
margay cub and Mico, a mischievous spider monkey. As they steer Nita in
search of the randomly hidden eggs, they practice multi-step problem
solving and observe the animal habitats and behavior of up to 48
realistically animated rain forest animals. Pure fun and effortless
learning of critical thinking skills are features that will bring children
back again and again to this whimsical and beautiful game.

With colors and geometric patterns as bright and beautiful as an Inca
textile, the Pattern Puzzle activities let children explore shape
relationships and basic geometry An angle-setting option lets them rotate
any of the 6 different polygon pieces in varying degrees, creating a wide
variety of shape combinations to complete any one of 12 different puzzle
templates. Children are prompted with pattern-making ideas for their own
creations. Graphing of the puzzle pieces reinforces skills such as number
grouping and shape concepts.

All activities feature original music, from lively salsas to lyrical Inca
flute melodies that provide an engaging backdrop for learning.

Zurk's Rainforest Lab will be available on CD-ROM for Windows and
Macintosh. System requirements include 640x480 resolution graphics, 4MB
and 6MB of RAM respectively. The program is distributed by Maxis, Inc. and
will be available in consumer software stores nationwide in October 1994
for approximately $35 - $45.

Soleil Software, Inc. is a company dedicated to developing discovery-based
educational tools for home and school markets. Founded in 1992, the Palo
Alto company creates multimedia learning products that combine
developmentally constructive content with the highest quality graphics,
music, sound and animation. Its first title, Zurk's Learning Safari was
awarded Silver Honors by the Parents' Choice Foundation, and the Seal of
Approval of the National Parenting Center.

Soleil Software
3853 Grove Court
Palo Alto, CA 94303
415-494-0114,  fax 415-493-6416

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