mps@duke.cs.duke.edu (Michael P. Smith) (10/27/87)
Christmas is coming, and I'm thinking of getting some software for my
Mac 512KE that my children will enjoy and learn from. They both enjoy
playing with it, especially my 4.5 year old, who is quite adept at
inserting and ejecting disks, opening and quitting applications, and
the like. She's crazy about our PD 'Wheel of Fortune' game, and wants
more letter games. My younger will be 3 this Christmas. She is less
verbally and more mechanically inclined. She likes the 'Concentra-
tion' games more.
I'm more interested in software they can do things with than in
computerized flashcards. I remember hearing good things about
Electronic Arts' "Pinball Construction Set," but I know this was not
developed for the Mac, and would not especially want ported Apple II
software. Does anyone know anything abour Broderbund's "Toy Shop"?
I'm open to shareware suggestions, especially if you can tell me where
to get it.
General discussions of chldren's software should be posted, but please
check newsgroup header. Mail specific recommendations to me; I
promise to post if I get more than a couple of replies. Thanks,
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Michael P. Smith mps@cs.duke.edu / {seismo,decvax}!mcnc!duke!mps
"III. No one can be bound by a double love." A Capellanus' "Rules of Love"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) (11/02/87)
In article <10486@duke.cs.duke.edu> mps@duke.UUCP (Michael P. Smith) writes: >Christmas is coming, and I'm thinking of getting some software for my >Mac 512KE that my children will enjoy and learn from. They both enjoy >playing with it, especially my 4.5 year old, who is quite adept at >inserting and ejecting disks, opening and quitting applications, and >the like. I don't think I've ever seen greater evidence of what an amazing machine the Mac is than my friend's 3.5 year-old daughter walking into the room we were sitting in, flipping on the Macintosh, plugging in a disk and starting (and then using!) MacPaint. Yikes! Soon the 10 year-olds will be competing for our computing jobs :-). I digress... one thing I am amazed at, in all the attention that has surrounded HyperCard, is that it is rarely (if ever) mentioned as a fantastic tool for education of children. Bill Atkinson, the creator of HyperCard, has constently harped on what a great education program it can be. It's very easy for parents to create guided stories and primers for their children -- I think of the two shareware stack's I've seen (Laura's letters and the cat adventure) give the child a wonderful chance to interactively view the story or the lesson, with built-in sound effects. Of course, Hypercard pretty much demands 1 Meg of memory; and for parents who want to have the computer say things when a button is pressed on the screen, a sound digitizer (~$100) would be very helpful, though MacInTalk could be used instead (a computer-generated voice, but not as clear as digitized sound). And a hard drive would probably be neccessary after a while (though it is getting to be de rigeur for a Mac to have a hard drive). But if you have the drive and the 1 Meg, the $49 investment into HyperCard (along with Danny Goodman's HyperCard Handbook) could be a wonderful construction kit for parents to create their own "learning programs" for their kids. "He's a bit too theatrical for my taste." "Mr. Rogers is too theatrical for your taste, darling..." Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, hplsla, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind... <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>