malis@bbn.com (Andy Malis) (08/05/89)
I said: > Does anyone out there know of any shareware or freeware games for > 4 or 5 year-old kids on the Mac? Here is the summary of replies I directly received. Many people mentioned Macpaint, which my son has been using since he could hold a mouse, and rolling your own HyperCard stacks. One of the best suggestions I got was to check the wsmr-simtel20.army.mil archives, where I found much that is not in the info-mac archives on sumex-aim.stanford.edu. I am sending, as a following post, a guide to using the simtel20 archives via FTP. Andy ------- Forwarded Messages Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 13:27:15 EDT From: "Alan R. Hill" <ahill@BBN.COM> Subject: re: mac games Andy, My kids favorite Mac games and programs are: Macpaint with the brush mirrors set Risk Stuntcopter Hangman Pinball Crystal Raider Puzzles MacConcentration Leprechaun Although my kids are young 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 there are well versed in Macs Even though they can't read they have word regonition and can completely understand the concept and controls of games like Risk. In fact, Risk is their favorite game. It blows my mind to watch a two year old play the game alone. Alan ------- Message 2 Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 16:45:20 EDT From: Jeffrey Naiman <naiman-jeffrey@YALE.EDU> Subject: Mac games for kids RobotArm is a PD kids' game that I'd bet is at sumex-aim.stanford.edu. It's kind of fun. You'll have to tyr it out. The instructions are not great, so you'll have to figure it out and then explain it to your son. - - Jeff Naiman (naiman@yale.edu) ------- Message 3 Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 22:47:16 EDT From: James F Whitehead <jfw1%homxc.att.com@relay.cs.net> Subject: Re: Mac games for 4 and 5 year-olds Not shareware or freeware but I can heartily recommend Numbermaze, which is about 25 bucks from mail-order houses; when I bought it from MacConnection it had a 30-day no-questions-asked return policy (look in MacUser, MacWorld,...). Anyway, Numbermaze has kept my 4 and 6 year olds busy and happy for hours on end. It's a combination maze game (easy and non-threatening) and math-skills quiz. The program keeps track of each kid's progress and presents problems geared to demonstrated ability. It continually reviews "easier" fundamentals, mixed in with the more advanced problems as the kids progress. For example, my 6-year old has a pretty good grasp of arithmetic, and can do any word problem he can read. BUT he's impatient and sloppy, so he just plain mis-counts and hasn't memorized addition and subtraction tables reliably. Since the program insists on good performance in all skills up to the current level, it keeps giving him counting and "6+3=?" questions mixed in with the more advanced problems until he's more careful and does the "easy" problems right. Amazingly, none of this old-lady-discipline ever becomes frustrating- the fundemental review questions are mixed in with the more interesting problems and the maze game well enough to keep interest strong. On top of that, there's some neat graphics and sound effects. If you don't already have Numbermaze, splurge the 25 bucks and give it a shot. BTW, Kid's Time is ok but not nearly as good. Jim Whitehead. ------- Message 4 Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 10:45:18 EST From: GIBBSM@ll.ll.mit.edu Subject: games for a 4-1/2 year old You might try "Inigo gets out" and "Inigo takes a bath". They are shareware hypercard stacks, and can be found in the SIMTEL archives (26.2.0.74) If you need help using the SIMTEL archives, let me know (they're not at all like standard unix directories). Margaret Gibbs gibbsm@ll.ll.mit.edu ------- End of Forwarded Messages Andy Malis <malis@bbn.com> UUCP: {harvard,rutgers,uunet}!bbn!malis
lbaum@bcsaic.UUCP (Larry Baum) (08/07/89)
>Not shareware or freeware but I can heartily recommend >Numbermaze, which is about 25 bucks from mail-order houses; >when I bought it from MacConnection it had a 30-day no-questions-asked >return policy (look in MacUser, MacWorld,...). > >Anyway, Numbermaze has kept my 4 and 6 year olds busy and happy >for hours on end. It's a combination maze game (easy and non-threatening) >and math-skills quiz. The program keeps track of each kid's progress and >presents problems geared to demonstrated ability. It continually >reviews "easier" fundamentals, mixed in with the more advanced >problems as the kids progress. For example, my 6-year old has a pretty >good grasp of arithmetic, and can do any word problem he can read. >BUT he's impatient and sloppy, so he just plain mis-counts and hasn't >memorized addition and subtraction tables reliably. Since the program >insists on good performance in all skills up to the current level, >it keeps giving him counting and "6+3=?" questions mixed in with the >more advanced problems until he's more careful and does the "easy" >problems right. I too got Numbermaze for my 6 yr old son. I agree that it is well done and keeps the child's attention much more than other arithmetic drill games. However, I have encountered some problems. 1) On the word problems the child is supposed to read the problem and choose the correct operator (+, -, *, /). Clifford is on the addition/subtraction level so he knows that it is either + or -. He has discovered that if he guesses wrong the cursor stays on the operand space and if he guesses right the cursor moves to a different field. Consequently he doesn't try to figure out whether the words mean to add or subtract, He just tries an operator at random. The program doesn't count this behavior as incorrect, so he has no disincentive, other than my disapproval (which I really don't want to express). I consider this a serious flaw. 2) It apppears that unless I take a lot of trouble to design an individual curriculum for him, that he is inevitably going to suffer a lot of frustration. For example, he has breezed through the first 7 levels (using the above "cheat"); i.e. he can do any addition or subtraction problem not involving carries/borrows. Howver, the next level involves those concepts and he gets very frustrated. I have tried to explain them and I especially do not want him to feel ANY pressure from me that he understand these now. He has a very good mind and will undoubtedly grasp the concepts in good time. I just want him to enjoy the program. We are at a point now where unless I devise a lot of levels for him that do not push him, then he will just be totally frustrated. He definitely wants to use the game. But the game keeps pushing him too fast. So I would recommend the game, but don't expect that you can just turn it on and let the child learn independently. It requires a lot of parental intervention. -- Larry Baum Advanced Technology Center Boeing Computer Services uucp: uw-beaver!bcsaic!lbaum (206) 865-3232 internet: lbaum@atc.boeing.com