Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show

Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show is an educational game for children aged five and up. It is based on the 1999 Madeline book by Ludwig Bemelmans, which also spawned a media franchise and a US TV series. The game was released to coincide with the premiere of the animated TV series The New Adventures of Madeline. Madeline's neighbor, who takes care of animals, is about to lose her home, but staging a puppet show could bring in the money needed so he can pay the rent to keep living there with his animals. Madeline and various kids journey through Paris in the neighborhood of her boarding school with different learning activities presented as mini-games and collecting items such as curtains, a cape, a chain, bread, gumballs, a balloon and puppets for the show along the way.

After entering a name the player chooses to play the game with French or Spanish words. Madeline can freely explore the different environments and clicking hotspots triggers short animations in the background. She meets various characters she can talk to. Madeline learns new words in French or Spanish by spelling them and then plays a matching game in the classroom to practice them. With an artist in the street she can freely paint backdrops for the show. At the print shop Madeline creates invitations for the show and decorates them. A large part of the game plays out as a simple adventure game with minor puzzles too. It ends with the show being performed.

Skills that are developed are creativity (painting, design and sticker activities), problem solving (critical thinking, logic and memory), spelling, typing, and vocabulary (300 new words in French, English and Spanish). The game also lists cooperation, kindness & compassion as skills that are built.