We're proud to offer both of these CDs, but there are differences between them which some of our customers ask us to explain. For many years the Birth of Jesus CD was the only good Christmas CD available. But after having used it, I knew my kids, especially my older kids, were ready for something more meaty. That's why we created Fluffy & God's Amazing Christmas Adventure. We wanted a CD the was reusable each Advent, without covering the same content. We wanted a CD that did more than just retell the familiar parts of the story. And we wanted to create a CD that teaches Advent the way most curriculum does --from a different perspective each year -and not simply rehashing the same 'birth' story each year. Read the detailed outlines of Fluffy and Birth of Jesus CDs.

Here are some of the differences:

Price is one obvious difference. Fluffy is $10 more a copy, though that goes down when ordering in quantity. And because Fluffy can be used for several years in a row with a wider age range without repeating content, it's the better deal if you have the computer horses which can run it.

Upper Age Range: Fluffy's age range ranges higher than Birth of Jesus. The CDs in the Interactive Kids Series max-out at 5th grade. Fluffy has enough content and sophistication to appeal even to young teenagers.

Lower Age Range: Birth of Jesus is a little easier to use with non-readers, though its meaty Discovery the Bible section won't appeal to the non-readers. Fluffy can be used with young children, but they'll need help doing some of the reading.  Like most of Sunday Software's titles, we put in extra content for older kids and for deeper study which you'll need to skip when using it with young-ish children, or with little time.

System Minimum is a big difference. Birth of Jesus will run on a 100mhz computer. Fluffy requires a minimum 400mhz computer. Both run on Windows or Mac. Fluffy's higher system minimum is due to its generous multimedia content designed for more modern computers. Birth of Jesus was made in 1997. Fluffy was made in 2002 and updated in 2003.

Content:   Birth of Jesus mostly covers the familiar birth narrative -but in brief fashion without a lot of explanation or background. Birth of Jesus includes a couple of interactive narrated story pages and two video clips. The angels, magi and birth of Jesus get short treatment in each area. The Discover the Bible read-aloud section in Birth of Jesus has some good study notes (not narrated) for older children. The modest and young-ish games section has nothing related to Advent in it, other than the memory verses. You can get through most of the CD's usable content in one lesson time. It was this lack or reusability the next year, which also spurred us to create Fluffy because churches turn to the Christmas story every year.

Fluffy's content is split into four main areas, each of which can be used as a separate section per year or per lesson.
 

1) The Promise of the Messiah/Old Testament Prophets
2) Mary, Joseph and the Angel's announcement. This area also has a sub-section on Mary's visit with Elizabeth and her son John the Baptist.
3) Luke 2, the Birth of Jesus & The Shepherds. 
4) The Magi and Herod.

Each area in Fluffy is a complete lesson, with story and discussion content, plus reflection activities and additional background material to explore. Our intention with Fluffy was not merely to tell the story of the Magi, for example, but explain what a Magi was, and how we can be like them in search of Jesus.

We didn't make Birth of Jesus CD, and it does cover many of the same subjects that Fluffy does, but with much less depth and much less multimedia.

Built-in Questions and Reflection Activities:  Birth of Jesus has non-narrated study notes in the Discover the Bible section. But they are rather static. Fluffy boasts study notes and discussion questions all over it for teachers to center on, and it has several "Fluffimation" reflection exercises. Fluffimations take advantage of the computer's ability to speak aloud whatever the kids type. They are asked to reinterpret familiar passages and concepts in the stories and their input is combined with those passages to create a fun new way of hearing the story.  There are several Christmas quizzes in Fluffy.

Amount of Multimedia Content:  This is one of the BIG differences between the two CDs. Birth of Jesus has a nice 'living book' main story that lasts for about 8 minutes in lesson time. It has two 2 minute video clips showing parts of the story from an animated video. The games found in Birth of Jesus are similar to those found in all the others CDs in the Interactive series.  They are mostly unrelated to the content itself. The Bible Quiz Show all about Christmas is fun. Discover the Bible section has narrated scripture but no multimedia per sae. Fluffy, on the other hand, if animated throughout. Fluffy and God walk through the various scenes and God carries on a conversation throughout. Characters in the story animate, and there are numerous places where the user is asked to select an answer, make a selection, navigate to learn more. There are several quizzes, and two games. The Fluffimation reflection activities require typing and then play back what the kids type while Fluffy animates on the screen.   Fluffy is native 800x600, whereas Birth of Jesus's is native 640x480 resolution. In other words, Fluffy's graphics hold up better on a newer computer.

Style:   Birth of Jesus' content is straightforward. It does have some fun goofy little animations. Fluffy's "style" is more lush and God has a funny sense of humor in all four of the major learning areas. Birth of Jesus' narrated story voices are professional and sound nice. Fluffy CD's voices are more fun. God has a "down home" dialect. Fluffy reflects my own sense of humor. The "Luke 2 Theater" in Fluffy has bombastic "newsreel" voice punctuated by a few sight gags. We know kids know these stories, so we want to make them memorable, and repeatable. When the Angels appear to the Shepherds in a blinding light, Fluffy puts on sunglasses.

ETC....    Fluffy also has the DJ Fluffy Jam "Christmas music altering machine." Rather than just include a game, we created a really fun "extra" learning activity around two familiar Christmas hymn. In DJ Fluffy Jam the kids change the words of the hymn and add their own sound effects and instruments. The results are hilarious, but also open for discussion.
 

CONCLUSION:   Fluffy was created BECAUSE we had used Birth of Jesus, and came to understand "what else" we wanted in a Christmas CD. We'll continue to carry Birth of Jesus CD for our customers with older computers or very young students, but the choice is clear. Fluffy is the one to get if your computers aren't that old.