Published by Infogrames in 2002, the same year as Blue’s Clues Kindergarten,
_Blue’s Clues Preschool_ offers a similar game experience. The story takes you
and Blue, star of the paper-cutout-animated television show, to her pre-school
classroom, where Miss Marigold assigns a neighborhood adventure to the class.
You, Blue, and other members of Blue’s class will visit five places and bring
back something from each location.

After you choose a color and level and sign in, clicking on the cloud in the
upper left corner of your screen takes you to a “Likes” page – the color,
animal, food, song, and sport you choose here will be used somewhere in the
game. The Parent’s area is also accessible here, showing the curriculum goals
for the game, and giving parents suggestions for additional activities
connected to each neighborhood location. Gameplay uses the mouse (point,
click, and drag) and an optional printer for the printable pictures and games
available in Miss Marigold’s classroom.

As you and Blue travel through the neighborhood (escorted by Blue’s human
friend, Joe, who drops you off at each location), you’ll visit these places:

* The Music Store – Listen to Purple Kangaroo and play instruments in the same order he does
* The Bakery – Learn how to wait your turn and practice finding shapes and colors
* The Library – Match letters or find the first letter describing a picture as you help shelve some library books – choose a book to read as a reward
* The Present Store – Wait on customers; help them find the gift they can afford and count the money
* The Grocery Store – Find ingredients described by Mrs. Pepper, put them in your cart, then check and bag them

As you finish each area you’ll receive a special shape and the neighborhood
location is checked off on Miss Marigold’s List, which appears as an icon on
the top right. Once all the locations are checked off, return to the preschool
classroom to discover what the teacher will do with the items you’ve
collected.

On it’s most basic level, _Blue’s Clues Preschool_ introduces the toddler to
some of the places in a community and what they’re for, using characters the
child is most likely already familiar with. While he plays, he’s practicing
some of these skills: color/shape recognition, auditory memory and
discrimination, letter recognition/pre-reading skills, number recognition,
counting/addition, spatial and size relationships. A higher difficulty level
will change the game somewhat to suit the child’s learning progress.