Stickybear is a fictional character created by
Richard Hefter and an
edutainment
Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...
series starring the character headed by Optimum Resource. The character was a mascot of
Weekly Reader
''Weekly Reader'' was a weekly educational classroom magazine designed for children. It began in 1928 as ''My Weekly Reader''. Editions covered curriculum themes in the younger grade levels and news-based, current events and curriculum themed- ...
Software,
[Mucha, Peter.]
Educational programs vary widely in quality and range
" ''Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
''. Sunday August 18, 1990. Lifestyle 5. Retrieved on December 5, 2009. Available from the Houston Public Library
Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States.
History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library
The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in ...
br>newspapers section
accessible with an HPL library card number and its PIN. a division of
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
Education Publications.
Software of the series has been released since the early 1980s. software programs originated on the
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
and were released for IBM PC,
Atari 8-bit computers, and
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
.
As of 2008, the most recent ''Stickybear'' software was developed for
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...
/Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
Books with Stickybear
* ''Babysitter Bears'' (1983)
* ''Bears at Work'' (1983)
* ''Lots of Little Bears: A Stickybear Counting Book'' (1983)
* ''Stickybear Watch Out: The Stickybear Book of Safety'' (1983)
* ''Stickybear Book of Weather'' (1983)
* ''Where is the Bear?'' (1983)
* ''Stickybears Scary Night'' (1984)
Software with Stickybear
The earliest software programs included picture books in colors and posters.
*''At Home With Stickybear''
*''Stickybear Alphabet'' (
IBM-PC,
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
) (Some versions included the book ''The Strawberry Look Book'')
*''Stickybear BASIC''
*''Stickybear Basket Bounce''
*''Stickybear Bop''
*''Stickybear Drawing''
*''Stickybear Early Learning Activities'' (Microsoft Windows, Windows, Apple Macintosh Classic,
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...
/Windows Vista, Mac OS X
*''Stickybear Family Fun Game'' (
Philips CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
)
*''Stickybear Kindergarten Activities''
*''Stickybear Math'' (
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
IBM-PC,
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
,
Philips CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
)
*''Stickybear Math 1 Deluxe'' (
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...
/Windows Vista, Mac OS X
)
*''Stickybear Math 2'' (
IBM-PC)
*''Stickybear Music''
*''Stickybear Music Library 1''
*''Stickybear Numbers''
*''Stickybear Opposites'' (
IBM-PC)
*''Stickybear Parts of Speech''
*''Stickybear Picture Library 1''
*''Stickybear Preschool'' (
Philips CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
)
*''Stickybear Printer''
*''Stickybear Reading'' (
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
IBM-PC,
Philips CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
)
*''Stickybear Reading Comprehension''
*''Stickybear Shapes''
*''Stickybear Spellgrabber'' (
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
Mac OS 7
System 7 (later named Mac OS 7) is the seventh major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. It was launched on May 13, 1991, to succeed System 6 with virtual memory, personal file shari ...
)
*''Stickybear Town Builder''
*''Stickybear Typing'' (
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
IBM-PC)
*''Stickybear Word Problems''
*''Stickybear's Reading Room'' (
Mac OS 7
System 7 (later named Mac OS 7) is the seventh major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. It was launched on May 13, 1991, to succeed System 6 with virtual memory, personal file shari ...
)
Reception
''II Computing'' listed ''Stickybear'' tenth on the magazine's list of top Apple II educational software as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data.
''
Compute!'s Gazette'' in 1986 approved of ''Stickybear's Typing Tutor''s usefulness for all ages. The authors wrote that ''Stickybear Town Builder'' had excellent graphics and was effective and fun. They approved of its teaching map reading by encouraging children's creativity, reporting that their daughter had created ten towns.
Peter Mucha of the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'' reviewed IBM versions of ''Stickybear'' in 1990; ''Stickybear Opposites'' received a B−, ''Stickybear Math'' received a B, ''Stickybear Math 2'' received a B, ''Stickybear Alphabet'' received an A−, and ''Stickybear Reading'' received a C.
''The New Talking StickyBear Alphabet'' won the Best Early Education Program 1989 Excellence in Software Award from the
Software and Information Industry Association
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new nam ...
.
Leslie Eiser of ''
Compute!
''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...
'' magazine said in a 1992 review that ''StickyBear Town Builder'' was dated compared to other games of its time.
[Eiser, Leslie.]
Stickybear Town Builder. (computer game) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
" ''Compute!
''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...
'' December 1992. Issue 147. 164.
''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' in 1993 said of ''Stickybear's Early Learning Activities'', "In the world of early learning software, it's difficult to find anyone who does it better."
References
Further reading
*
External links
* {{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/*/http://www.stickybear.com/, title=Optimum Resource, Inc. (Stickybear.com)
Stickybear ABCfor the
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
at the Internet Archive
Children's educational video games
Video games developed in the United States