jholbach@wright.EDU (Jim Holbach) (12/16/87)
Last year I purchased a 1040ST primarily to use as a terminal for working at home. Now that things have slowed down on the projects I was working on, I have time to explore using the ST with my children. So far however, I've not been very happy with the software I've found (not found? :-) for the ST at local dealers. I don't have terribly specific ideas of what I'm looking for (although I'm really sure I'll recognize it when I *see* it :-), but I'm looking for software of various kinds (i.e. educational, games or combinations of the two) to interest/amuse/even perhaps teach an eight year old and a four year old. So far, everything I've seen seems to be oriented to some other market than these ages. Can anybody give me some recommendations based on personal use? (I really wonder how dealers sell any software when they refuse to have demo copies so you can see what the heck you're supposed to be buying...) In particular, anybody know if software such as "Rocky's Boots", etc. has ever been ported to the ST? I like my ST, but the software situation has me to the point of seriously considering buying an Apple II or IIGS for my kids. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Jim Holbach Wright State University Dayton, Ohio Disclaimer: Who could possibly want to claim any thing I say?
georgew@tekig4.TEK.COM (George Walker) (12/17/87)
Well, I can't recommend anything, but if anyone finds something, I'd be
interested in hearing about it. I have two 5 year olds, and the only thing
they consistently enjoy is NeoChrome. I acquired some public domain games
(Mr. Potato Head, Old MacDonald's "Concentration", a couple "music for
children" games), but they're not very interactive ("click on a square to
select an action"), and the kids had absolutely zero interest in them, so
I would recommend games where the mouse or joystick moves something besides
just a cursor on the screen. I haven't looked in stores lately, but when
I did, I was not impressed. Now that Toys R Us has stopped carrying the ST,
I don't hold out much hope for seeing any decent children's stuff.
It should be a lot easier to find something for a child who can read (something
similar to King's Quest?) Also, everything I've seen runs in low-resolution,
so you'd better have a color monitor.
I think it depends a lot on the child: A five-year old friend came over,
and we finally had to drag him off the machine, because he's a video game
addict (he plays space war games as well as I do!)
George S. Walker {decvax,hplabs,...}!tektronix!tekig4!georgew FLAMENET
Tektronix, Inc. georgew@tekig4.TEK.COM DOMAIN
(503) 627-4669 tekig4!georgew.tektronix@Udel-Relay ARPANETnelson@kodak.UUCP (bruce nelson) (12/17/87)
My 6-year-old likes Little Computer People by Activison. The screen shows a picture of a house with a little man and a dog who walk around and do everyday things like eat, sleep, take a bath, play the piano, etc. The interactive part is that you can type in commands like "Play a game" (He plays 5 different games with the user, like Anagrams, Blackjack, and 3 others), "brush your teeth", "play the piano", "feed the dog", etc. If you ask him to type a letter, he sits down at the typewriter, and writes a personal letter to the user, like "Dear Josh, I am not thirsty anymore since you filled the water jug. Signed, Bill". The kids sit for (it seems like) hours just watching what he will do next.
trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey ) (12/22/87)
In article <1064@kodak.UUCP> nelson@kodak.UUCP (bruce nelson) writes: >My 6-year-old likes Little Computer People by Activison. Me too. >The kids sit for (it seems like) hours just watching what he will do next. Me too...I remember watching that thing for hours on end when I was writing hdscan...That was back when mwc was somewhat buggy and, after a session of programming, I needed something like that to relax (calm?) me. Definitely recommend it for kids :-). -Todd Burkey
tpg@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Terry P. Gleason) (12/29/87)
LOGO isn't bundled with the ST anymore. Is it worth buying? Are there other better ones available? (My daughter uses LOGO on the Apple at school.) Is KIDTALK ($30-$40) a good buy? For what ages is it appropriate? Thanks for any advice - T. Gleason (tpg@mbunix)