JumpStart facts for kids

Quick facts for kids JumpStart
Series logo used from 1996 to 2011.
Genres	Edutainment
Developers	Fanfare Software (1994–1995) JumpStart Games (1995–present)
Publishers	JumpStart Games
Creators	Barton Listick
Platforms	Windows, Macintosh, Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Wii, DS, Mobile app
First release	JumpStart Kindergarten November 14, 1994

JumpStart (also known as Jump Ahead in the United Kingdom) is a popular series of educational games and media for kids. It's made by JumpStart Games.

The series first started with computer games for PCs. But it has grown a lot since then! Now, you can find JumpStart workbooks, movies, mobile apps, and even a huge online game at JumpStart.com, which launched in 2009.

How JumpStart Games Are Made

What the Games Are About

Most JumpStart games are designed to help young players practice important school subjects and skills. These include things like math, reading, and science. The learning parts are often hidden inside fun games.

Typically, the games have a story where animated characters need your help to solve a problem. This means the games always have a goal for you to work towards. The stories are kept simple so you can focus on playing and learning.

The Art and Look of the Games

In the early days, the art for JumpStart games was made almost entirely without paper! Artists used a mouse and a special tablet to draw everything digitally. Ann Pickard and Maurice Kimball also helped create the artwork and backgrounds for the first games.

Later, in the mid-1990s, David Rees joined the team as the Art Director and music composer. He worked on the games until 2002. Marcela Cabrera also created illustrations and directed the art for games around 1998 and 1999.

Maurice Kimball sketched the backgrounds for the JumpStart World games. For the JumpStart SpyMasters games, Brian White hand-drew the backgrounds, while Brian Reynolds made the background objects and characters move.

How JumpStart Helps You Learn

The main idea behind the JumpStart Learning System is to keep track of how well a student is doing. It helps teach a whole grade level or subject by mixing puzzles, games, and education.

To help different students with different goals, JumpStart products are put into three groups:

• Grade-based products: These cover all the subjects usually taught in one year of elementary or secondary school.
• Subject-based products: These focus on one specific topic, like math or reading.
• Learning products: These teach basic skills while letting you explore a new world.

The series uses a "strict method" to make sure the games are good. They get ideas from kids' groups, family tests, child development experts, teachers, and other education specialists.

The creators of JumpStart also developed three special ways to help you learn:

1. JumpStart Assessment Technology: This helps the game adjust to your individual skill level.
2. JumpStart Adaptive Learning Technology: This changes how hard the game is based on what you can do.
3. JumpStart Tutor Technology: This helps you when you get stuck on something.

In 1995, JumpStart was one of the first educational software series to cover entire school subjects by grade level. They did this by using cartoon guides to help reinforce what you learn in class. For example, in JumpStart First Grade, kids aged 5-7 could learn 92 different skills. These included math, geography, science, and reading from 18 different activities and 52 stories.

These games also added cool new features. They had "Progress Reports" so parents and teachers could see how you were doing. And "Adaptive Learning" meant the game would automatically get easier or harder depending on your performance.

The people who make JumpStart believe it's important to balance learning with fun. Diana Pray, a senior producer for JumpStart, said they give players "enough story to make them feel like they are in a game." They also offer rewards to encourage you to keep going.

In 2011, David Lord, the CEO of Knowledge Adventure (the company behind JumpStart), said that JumpStart and Math Blaster have helped millions of students learn in a fun way.

Games in the JumpStart Series

Game Collections