ekins@infonode.ingr.com (Brian Ekins) (12/07/90)
Since Christmas is almost hear I was wondering if anyone could recomend some software (commercial or PD)that would be appropriate for preschool age children (3-5). Thanks +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | __ o Brian Ekins | _ </- Intergraph Corp. 205-730-7633 | /> ...uunet!ingr!b17d!ekins!brian (UUCP) +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
seh@pmafire.inel.gov (Steve Holaday) (12/15/90)
In article ekins@infonode.ingr.com (Brian Ekins) writes: >Since Christmas is almost here I was wondering if anyone could recomend some >software (commercial or PD)that would be appropriate for preschool age >children (3-5). Thanks > May I suggest My Paint (version 2.0). It is a new version that I feel is really worth getting. It is icon driven and simple for preschoolers to use. You have the ability to save your colored pictures (or print too). It has great sound effects. I believe they are digitized. To hear a sound click on the sound icon to hear a dinasaur. My 8-year-old has come back again and again to use this program. I've also heard that The Talking Animator (again ver. 2) is a good package, but I've never used it. I do plan on getting it, but It might be more approxiate for an 8 to 10 year old instead of 3 to 5. It is published by JMH Software. Sorry I forget who publishes My Paint. It used to be distributed by Centaur. You might also consider getting some of the talking story books from Hilton. These include The ugly duckling, Aesop's Fable, Chicken Little, etc. It's deficiencies are 1) using the computer to speak the words and 2) it defaults to the same slow speaking speed, ie. you can't save a default speed. I think with a little programming (hint, hint..) and AmigaVision you could come up with some great storybooks like the Hilton series. -- mail: seh@pmafire.UUCP Steve Holaday or !uunet!pmafire!seh Long signature files? Just say NO!
xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (12/19/90)
ekins@infonode.ingr.com (Brian Ekins) writes: >Since Christmas is almost here I was wondering if anyone could recomend some >software (commercial or PD)that would be appropriate for preschool age >children (3-5). Thanks Well, many years ago, on an Apple ][+, I tailored a subset of Logo for my four year old daughter and taught her to program in this little language. There exists an extremely unimpressive, but functional, Logo for the Amiga from Commodore, and Logo as Logo is a wonderful way to make anyone, and kids most of all, comfortable with programming. You don't want to push something like this on kids who aren't quite to the right developmental level; you'll just frustrate them beyond belief, but if you have one of these burning flames waiting for intellectual fuel around the house, Logo could be a good choice. Another thing I did that little kids enjoyed was write a paint program in AmigaBASIC; my youngest loved to sit and draw pictures, then mess with the color sliders for R, G, and B for half an hour at a time. Go to your dealer and find the paint program with the _least_ controls, to simplify the interface requirements for developing motor skills. Your kids will get more entertainment out of being creative than from any game or "educational program" you can buy. A third choice: I believe MasterType exists as an Amiga Port; my kids loved the Apple version. This is a typing tutor disguised as a game in which you type the correct letter (to match one shown on the screen) to ward off the alien spacecraft converging on your space station. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (12/19/90)
In article <1990Dec18.163352.5965@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: > in AmigaBASIC; my youngest loved to sit and draw pictures, then mess with > the color sliders for R, G, and B for half an hour at a time. Go to your > dealer and find the paint program with the _least_ controls, to simplify > the interface requirements for developing motor skills. According to AmigaWorld, that program is "My Paint" by Centaur, $49.95. They rave about it, but they'll rave about anything. I'm certainly going to try it. My son goes nuts over two programs: "The Dinosaur Discovery Kit", a sort of paint by numbers program (among other things), and "Artlife", a PD version of the old "life" game from the Scientific American Mathematical Games column. Dinosaur discovery kit claims to require 1 MB, but runs fine on my stock 1000 if I disconnect the second drive (thus freeing the buffers) before booting. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.
kevint@hpsad.HP.COM (Kevin Taddeucci) (12/20/90)
My son is now four years old and began using the amiga at three years
of age. The following is the list of programs he has and a brief
discription of his responces to them.
ABZoo - This was his first program. At first he played it often (it
was the only program he had.) but now he rarely plays with it. He did
play with it for about six months and learned to use the amiga's
keyboard and mouse interface. He also learned most of the letters of
the alphabet using this program. I would recommend this program for
very young children.
The Dinasor Discovery Kit - This is the program that my son now plays
with the most. He loves the match game and the story builder. He also
plays this program with his friends since two people can play the
match game. Highly recommended.
Barney Bear Goes to School - My son plays with this one now mostly
for the coloring program. It is very easy for young children to use. He
became board with the other activities relatively quickly and they
seem to have limited educational value. (Not interactive enough to
hold my sons intrest.) The drawbacks to the paint program are that
you cannot save a colored pictures. The eaisy to use coloring program
and the opening sequence, which my son still enjoys, is probably worth
the $23 I spent on this one.
Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles coloring book - I may not have gotten the
title exactly right on this one since we just bought it last night.
So far my son loves coloring the Turtles which appear at historic
landmarks. The coloring book controls are eaisy for him to use and it
offers a pallet of 22 colors as well as the colors all dithered by
any one of the 22 colors. It also allows the user to change each of
the colors. This program allows printing and storing of the pictures.
It is also supposed to allow printing of banners, calenders,
descriptions of landmarks and user messages with the pictures
although I have been unable to get this feature to work. (can't find
the required fonts.) I have called the company and they were unable
to verify the problem but were willing to send me a new copy if I
returned the original. If the printing features really work this one
is worth the $13 I paid for it. This program is the same as the
Dianasors are Forever program except it does not have sound effects
and it has 30 Turtle pictures to draw.
Most of my comments here have related to how my son has reacted to
each of these programs which I think is the bottom line but if
anyone wishes to send me detailed reviews on other educational
programs I will send detailed reviews on any of these, including my
own personal grips and praised.
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| Kevin J. Taddeucci | e-mail: kevint@hpsad.hp.com |
| ATE Software Supervisor | HPDesk: Kevin TADDEUCCI /HP5300/A0 |
| Telnet: 794-4192 | HP Mailstop: 1UR-M |
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