home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Software Vault: The Sapphire Collection
/
Software Vault (Sapphire Collection) (Digital Impact).ISO
/
cdr16
/
cyberr01.zip
/
LEARNTO
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-09-08
|
8KB
|
131 lines
Learn to Read in Wordland
by Wayne Macleod
Learn to Read in Wordland is designed for children aged 4 to 8
and includes activities geared towards increasing your child's
vocabulary and word recognition skills while having fun. It offers
digitized speech through your SoundBlaster compatible sound card or
PC speaker.
Installation is simple and painless. A neat feature of the
process is that it installs a menu system on your HD that can be
used to start Wordland or several other children's programs
available from the same company. The menu also offers an option to
uninstall the software. The menu is a convenient and safe way for
children to start the program on their own, but is not required and
can be deleted. The program is a DOS program, but comes with an
included PIF file and icon for use under MS Windows. Wordland runs
equally well from DOS or Windows. If you do not have a SoundBlaster
compatible sound card, you will need to run Windows in Standard mode
in order to hear the digitized speech of the program through your PC
speaker. The installation occupies just under 1 MB of disk space.
Loading Wordland takes you to the opening screen with
instructions on how to get help or start the program. Once past
the opening, you are presented with three choices, the
"Exploration" activity, the games area, or a detailed help system
with an excellent explanation of using both your mouse and the
keyboard to navigate the activities. Navigation via mouse is
simplest, but it is possible to use only the keyboard. A joystick
is not supported.
The "Exploration" activity consists of a typical barnyard scene
with animals, equipment and buildings you would expect to encounter
on a farm. Moving the cursor to one of the included pictures and
clicking will result in a visual display of the object's name, an
appropriate sound and an animated sequence. The cow moos and shakes
its head, a tractor roars and has smoke come out of its stack. The
sequences are very well done. This area also includes the option to
view the same scene in a winter setting, with different animals and
equipment more appropriate to the season. All screens also have a
button that offers very nice on-line help with an explanation of the
purpose of the activity as well as how to complete it. Within this
activity is a secondary activity. Clicking on the door to the house
takes you inside the house where you can explore and identify many
household furnishings . There are several rooms that can be visited
by using the doors in the picture to move about. Again, a change to
the Winter changes those items found in the house to things more
appropriate to the season, for example, ice cream becomes hot soup
and so forth. The purpose of this area is to give the child a
chance to associate the correct written word for many familiar and
some new objects that they will encounter in the games section. It
does this very well.
The games section consists of four games, Word lottery, Paint a
Word, Words in Space and Candy Factory. Each of these sections has
from two to six levels of difficulty you can select depending upon
your child's age and capabilities.
Word Lottery presents the child with three pictures and rotating
words he must move to the correct picture. Completing each section
provides a reward of a short animated sequence. At the top level,
the picture disappears after a short time and tests the child's
ability to not only match the word to the picture, but to remember
which picture was in what position.
Paint a Word brings up a scene such as a typical kitchen with
varying numbers of items blacked out. The object is to move the
correct word to the matching blacked out picture with success
yielding the picture being filled in, the name "spoken," and an
animation of the object.
Words in Space provides a picture of a single object and four
words to choose from. A correct selection earns a gold ball, and an
incorrect selection loses one. The child must earn 22 gold balls to
win the game and be rewarded with another cute animation. This
presents one of the few negatives I found with this game. The
number of correct selections, 22, required to finish a round is too
high to maintain many children's' enthusiasm. At higher levels this
game becomes more difficult in that the word choices move around the
screen if you wait too long to select them.
Candy Factory offers a picture and three possible words, but in
this game the words are numbered and the child must press the
correct number on the keyboard to answer. Each correct answer is
rewarded with a piece of candy on a conveyor belt. Ten correct
answers causes the belt to start operation and fills a box with the
candy that is then wrapped by an animated figure. In the upper
levels of this game, the program will answer before the child if
they are not quick enough.
Overall, I found this to be an excellent program for the
specified age range. It is fun and it is educational. The graphics
are acceptable and the digitized speech is good even through the PC
speaker. The animation sequences are top rate and enjoyable. But,
the major test of any children's program is...what does a child
think of it? To this end, I turned loose, my 5 year old Wyatt, to
put it through "the drill." He is capable of using a mouse and had
little difficulty maneuvering about the different sections of the
program. I found that a short explanation of how to play each
section was all that was required, a tribute to the programs
simplicity and well-planned layout. He played for a couple of hours
before getting bored and was back at it less than an hour later. It
is unusual for a game to hold his attention this long or lure him
back so quickly. As a parent I highly recommend this game, and as a
child, Wyatt states, "I like this the best!"
Optimum Resource, Inc.
5 Hitech Lane
Hilton Head, SC 29926
(800) 327-1473
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tired of pumping money into your BBS? |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|THE BBS CASH MACHINE is a book written by a sysop who has experience |
|running a profitable BBS. With over 10 years sysoping experience, |
|you'll gain the knowledge and know-how to attract .- ~ ~ -. |
|and keep paying customers to your BBS! .~ ~. |
| / \ |
|Even if all you want is for your BBS to break | .o~o~o~o. | |
|even, the author shows you how! Did you know: | \ / | |
| * The easiest ways to hook customers costs \ \ / / |
| less than your average store soda. `. | | .' |
| * You can have all the new files you want without~. | | .~ |
| paying a dime of long distance or a service fee!| | | | |
| }~_~_~_~{ |
|To order THE BBS CASH MACHINE, send $13.95 to }~_~_~_~{ |
|Readables, POB 31351, St. Louis, MO 63122. Check/MO. }~_~_~_~{ |
|Satisfaction is guaranteed! |___| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+