klein@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Tony Klein) (05/24/89)
Hello, Amigoid netters -
The other day my first-grade daughter came home from school excited about
the neat stuff they were doing on their computer at school. She showed me
this exciting Logo program:
REPEAT 3 [ FORWARD 50 RT 120 ]
which of course will draw a triangle. Then she said "Dad, you should get an
APPLE computer, then you could do this too!"
I tried to explain to her the advantages of multitasking, the superior
graphics capabilities, but she had raced out the door to play with her friends.
Since our boring Amiga computer does not do Turtle commands, it just isn't
interesting, and remains Dad's toy.
So I ask: Is there a LOGO for the Amiga? Can a 6 year old (excuse me -
almost 7) be convinced that the Amiga is a great computer and Dad is not
a nerd after all? I have searched the ads to no avail, perhaps I didn't
pick the right mags...
Speaking of programs for children:
What about a word processor for kids? Kids love to type on the computer
and print stuff out, but geesh WordPerfect is a little too much to ask.
How about something with:
1) Large fonts possible (i.e double height), both on-screen and printed,
2) easy operation (like one-key printing, simple file requesters
that don't require you to type "DF1:" in a filename, no requesters
flinging up in your face all the time (a la WP), etc (Hmm, maybe
Dad could use something like that too...))
Does anyone think Cygnus Ed is simple enough for kids? I wanna buy it, but
not if it's just for me. Is MicroEmacs my best bet? How about a word
processor that can SAY the text? Gee, that would be fun...
One program that is lots of fun for her to play with is Deluxe Paint. You
may not think of DPaint as a kiddie program, but a lot of the tools are way
huge fun (like the symmetry tools - big WOW to make a perfect snowflake or
flower).
But how about an object-oriented drawing program like MacDraw? Is there
something like that for the Amiga? Then we could draw maps, diagrams,
plans, etc, that are sorta hard with DPaint (too hard to move stuff around
once it's drawn) Entering text into DPII is a bit hairy, also, especially
if you make boo-boos and want to move the words around (after doing some
other stuff so 'undo' doesn't help anymore).
How about joystick-jerking action games that have *a conclusion* rather
than (seemingly) endless ever-more-complex levels of play that just get
a 6-year-old frustrated and mad (since she will ALWAYs lose eventually).
The 'Educational Software' I have seen is dull, dull, dull, we don't want
to do Math or reading drills, we want to PLAY! Draw pictures, write stories,
make Mothers Day cards, diddle about with Turtle graphics, make slide
shows, etc.
Any advice or thoughts anyone?
(Children would be great software testers - to determine if your design is
clean, simple, and robust just try to teach it to a 6 year old (excuse
me - almost 7 year old))
Looking for SIMPLE software for kids to have fun on the Amiga,
____/| Tony Klein NCR Comten, St.Paul, MN 612-638-7861
() \| klein@stpaul.ncr.com ...!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!ncrcce!klein
--
Tony.Klein@StPaul.NCR.COM klein@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM
NCR Comten,Inc., 2700 Snelling Ave. St.Paul, Mn. 55113 (612)638-7861UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (05/24/89)
In article <264@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM>, klein@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Tony Klein) says: > >So I ask: Is there a LOGO for the Amiga? Can a 6 year old (excuse me - There is an old PD logo that will do the basic turtle graphics stuff. >almost 7) be convinced that the Amiga is a great computer and Dad is not >a nerd after all? I have searched the ads to no avail, perhaps I didn't But clearly, Dad *is* a nerd 8-) 8-) > >What about a word processor for kids? Kids love to type on the computer My 7 and 5 year get a kick out of NotePad. I taught them how to use Say to speak the results, too. >One program that is lots of fun for her to play with is Deluxe Paint. You For mine, too. And like ypours, my kids play almost exclusively with the symmetry tool. > >The 'Educational Software' I have seen is dull, dull, dull, we don't want Well, *I* think it is dull, too. I have to admit that my kids really dig it though. I have two programs from Unicorn Ed. Software, Math Wizard and Kinderama. These are essentially drill and practice with flashy graphics and catchy music. *They* like it. > Well, there are a few other things they play which I grabbed from the PD: Mazes, iff2pcs (a puzzle program from Ali Ozer), one of the Tetri[sx] versions, Marble Madness. Or, you could get them an Apple... lee
mcohen@nrtc.northrop.com (Marty Cohen) (05/26/89)
Try "Talking Animator". It is a paint+text program that can say the text and print the combination. It can also allow a series of images to be shown as an animation, although it takes lots of memory to do this - it seems to **not** compress the images. Marty Cohen (mcohen@nrtc.northrop.com, 128.99.0.1, 213-544-5373)