Pete's Expert Summary
So, my human has acquired what appears to be a set of laminated placards and four small plastic bricks. It is, I’ve gathered, an "expansion pack" for some larger, noisier piece of furniture they call a "desk," which thankfully is not yet present. These cards depict things the small humans are supposed to care about: numbers, careers, and fairy tales where a wolf inexplicably fails to eat a child in a red coat. While the durable, tear-proof nature of the cards presents a delightful challenge to my claws, their true purpose seems to be indoctrinating the young. I noted one card features a "veterinarian," which I find deeply problematic, but another shows a "chef," which has potential. Ultimately, this is a tool to occupy the clumsy, loud toddler, which might grant me a few hours of uninterrupted napping, a worthy goal in itself.
Key Features
- This online exclusive 4-in-1 Kindergarten Expansion Pack comes with all 4 expansion packs intended for age 3-5: Get Ready to Read, Making Math Easy, Get Ready for Kindergarten, and When I Grow Up. Each expansion pack includes a cartridge and four colorful double-sided activity pages, which is for use only with the VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk Deluxe (sold separately). Durable cards easily wipe clean and will not tear. Incompatible with VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk
- Expansion pack - Get Ready to Read: Children can practice early reading skills while exploring the colorful illustrations, learning new vocabulary and listening to the stories Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. Learn to match uppercase and lowercase letters and letter stroke order
- Expansion pack - Making Math Easy: Explore the colorful illustrations while learning counting, skip counting, simple addition, measurement and spatial sense. Free and guided exploration allows children to learn math the way that works best for them
- Expansion pack - Get Ready for Kindergarten: Explore the colorful illustrations while learning numbers, opposites, plants and weather and listening to the story the Tortoise and the Hare. This well-rounded curriculum can help prepare children for kindergarten by introducing them to kindergarten basics
- Expansion pack - When I Grow Up: Explore the colorful illustrations while learning eight different careers including doctor, veterinarian, pilot, scientist, artist, chef and firefighter. Discover a different career on each page while learning vocabulary specific to that job
A Tale from Pete the Cat
The human laid the glossy cards on the living room rug with a reverence I usually reserve for a freshly opened can of tuna. They were offensively bright, covered in crude drawings of smiling letters and anthropomorphic animals. I observed from my perch on the armchair, feigning sleep but cataloging this new intrusion. She tapped the card depicting "Jack and the Beanstalk," then the one for "Making Math Easy." I offered a single, dismissive tail-flick. An object that does not squeak, skitter, or contain catnip is an object beneath my notice. She eventually gave up and left the artifacts scattered like puzzling, plastic refuse. Hours later, under the silver glow of the moon filtering through the blinds, I descended to investigate. The silence was perfect, the house my own. I padded across the collection of cards, their smooth, cool surface uninteresting beneath my paws. Then, I saw it. Tucked within the "When I Grow Up" set was a card depicting a figure in a tall white hat, brandishing a whisk. A "Chef." Next to him were images of fish, milk, and other delectable items. My mind, a finely tuned instrument of opportunism, began to whir. These weren't just pictures. They were a language. With the careful precision of a bomb disposal expert, I began to arrange my narrative. I nudged the "Chef" card with my nose, pushing it until it rested directly in front of the refrigerator door. Next, I located a card from the "Making Math Easy" pack that showed a "1" and a drawing of a single fish. I slid this card to sit atop the "Chef" card. The message was clear, elegant, and undeniable: "One fish, to be prepared by the chef, immediately." To add a sense of urgency, I found the "Tortoise and the Hare" card and pointedly flipped it over to the side showing the speeding hare, placing it next to my empty food bowl. When the human shuffled into the kitchen the next morning, she stopped, looking down at my arrangement. "Oh, Pete! You made a mess with the cards, you silly boy." She cooed, completely missing the sophisticated communiqué at her feet. She saw chaos; I had presented a perfectly logical, itemized request. While the toy itself is a failure as an interactive medium for a superior being, its components are not without merit. They are a canvas. A primitive, yet surprisingly versatile, tool for expressing the profound and complex desires of a cat. It is a failure as a toy, but a qualified success as a medium for protest art. I will continue my work. She will understand eventually. She has to.
