Finding good quality software for pre-schoolers is always a challenge. And even if you did locate some good programs, you might well hesitate before investing $30 on a disk for your "young genius."
Well, look no further, because a fine public domain disk holds the answer. The Toddler and Preschool Gameroom disk, created by Linda Van Zee, is exceptional in every way. The programs are colorful, musical, and fun for both kids and kids-at-heart. There's even two challenging memory games for older kids too.
For starters, the disk comes with complete documentation on disk. These instructions can be viewed on the screen, or sent to your printer. The instructions are complete and concise, including suggested age-ranges for each of the twelve programs on the disk.
The disk boots up with two colorful opening screens, accompanied by a catchy little melody. Next you're presented with the first of two menus. The menu is an "icon-based" menu, with pictures and words describing each of the first five programs. The idea here is that even pre-readers will be able to easily navigate thru the two menus of this disk.
The last choice on the first menu gives you the second menu. The second menu presents seven additional programs, the above mentioned disk documentation, and a return option to the first menu. While testing this disk out on some enthusiastic pre-school "guinea-pigs," the kids quickly understood the intuitive way of going from the first menu to the second menu, and back again.
Now, on to the programs themselves. The first program titled, "Baby Box," is for one to two year olds. As you can imagine, very little thinking is required in playing this game. You press any key, or move the joystick, and the computer displays a full colored screen, along with a random musical note. The idea behind the program is to teach cause and effect. A baby friend of mind highly recommended this program, commenting on the scarcity of quality programs for this age group, and the alarming haughtiness of software publishers in regards to this growing user population.
The next program, titled, "Doodle," allows you to use a joystick to make crude drawings on the Apple's high-resolution screen, very much like an Etch-A-Sketch (tm) drawing. Press either of the two joystick buttons, and the screen clears to black.
The sketching you can do with Doodle is limited by the fact that you cannot pick up the "pen." In other words, all drawings have to be made with one continuous line. Still, you can get children to be creative in drawing rectangles inside of rectangles. Older children can be challenged to draw an outward growing spiral, starting from the center of the screen. With practice, you can get a decent looking "snail-shell" spiral.
The next program, titled "Letters," draws large, low-resolution letters in random colors. You can type up to six letters on each of four lines. The obvious use of this is to get children to type out their names, their friends' names, their favorite color, their favorite animal, and any other short words they happen to know. Some children will enjoy typing out the alphabet, even though there won't be able to fit the last two letters onto the screen. Note: the "Caps Lock" key must be pressed down for this program to work.
The Letters program is followed by a program titled, "Ding Plot." Ding Plot is another joystick drawing program (with an option to use a mouse too). Ding Plot draws simple pictures on the low-resolution screen. Like the Doodle program, this program is limited in its artistic capacity, yet can be used playfully by pre-schoolers. A nice challenge is to try to get kids to draw a straight line right across the screen. Such a feat takes both concentration and coordination.
Jumping Jack is a great eye-hand exercise. The object of the game is to use the joystick to move a flashing dot on top of a randomly located face. If you succeed, the program plays a short little song, and moves the face somewhere else on the screen for your next challenge. The short song rewards vary for each Jumping Jack you win, making the audio reward a great motivator. You'll need to coach children on how to move the joystick slowly, so that they get the idea behind using this "fine motor-control" program.
The second menu of games starts out with "Reflex," a simple game to test your speed of perception. The object of the game is to press the space bar right after a small colored box appears on the screen. The program then tells you the exact amount of time it took for you to press the space bar. Sometimes the randomly colored box turns out to be the exact color of the randomly colored background, making the box impossible to see! So if the box doesn't show up within a minute or so, try pressing the space bar anyway. Applesoft programmers might want to list the program and correct this minor bug.
Following Reflex is a program titled, "Shooting Gallery." The title of the program refers to those much-beloved amusement park stands with the ducks crossing across the landscape at the back of the stand. The object of shooting gallery is to use your joystick to steer along the bottom of the screen, and then shoot down the shapes crossing the top of the screen. If you do hit a shape, the shape comes falling down the screen with a merry sliding scale sound.
Some might object to Shooting Gallery as being too much like an arcade game. True, the educational content is not overt. But still, the game is fun to play, and does develop important coordination skills (for adults, ahem, as well as children). Children take to it like ducks to water. In moderation, this type of game has its place - - - especially with pre-readers.
In contrast to Shooting Gallery, "Same/Different" is a simple visual discrimination exericise. A pair of large shapes is shown on the sceen. If the shapes are the same, you press the Open-Apple key. If the shapes are different, you press the Closed-Apple key. (On new models of the Apple II, the Option key replaces the Closed-Apple key.)
If you are successful in telling different shapes apart, a funny looking robot appears in the center of the screen, making appropriate robot sounds. Then a pair of new shapes appears on the screen.
This program is a good reading-readiness type of program, getting children to compare the differences and similarities between shapes. By getting children to discuss the simililarities and differences as you play, you can also use this program to give them practice articulating their thought processes, a valuable exercise in its own right.
"Car Race," the next program, is just for fun. The object of the game is to use a joystick to drive a car through a series of simple mazes. The program adds realism by making authentic engine puttering sounds. If you succeed in driving through the maze to the garage at the end, you're reward with some stunning color graphics.
This program is an all time favorite among the Sesame Street set. An added attraction is that your car can "eat" up the walls of the maze if you drive into the walls at just the right angle. Doing so requires sophisticated eye-hand coordination, yet children leap at the opportunity of trying out this not-so-simple challenge.
To continue on the eye-hand coordination theme, the program, "1 to 9" gets children to steer a little man around the screen, picking up randomly scattered numbers along the way. You pick up a number by bouncing right into it. Once you've picked up a number, the number disappears from the screen.
Adults can prompt children by asking, "Good, and now what number comes next?" After you pick up the number nine, a breathtaking color graphics reward is displayed. This is a most gentle intellectual exercise, perfectly suited to the mind of a pre-schooler. By combining a motor-coordination task with a simple intellectual task, this program involves the young child in an exciting, multi-goal activity. In my view, this program is what educational computing is all about.
But wait, there's more.
"Simple Simon," is a simplified version of the popular electronic memory game Simon (tm). The object of Simple Simon is to repeat a random sequence of two colors. But unlike the hand-held electronic game, this version actually allows you to make mistakes without starting over!
More precisely, you can make up to four mistakes without having to start over.
Children need guidance in learning how to play this game. Play a couple of games together with them, until they get the hang of it. Note that new Apple II's have replace the Closed-Apple key with the Option key. You can also use the two joystick buttons to play Simple Simon. On Apple II's with the Option key, using the joystick buttons makes the most sense to children.
Finally, the last game on the disk, "Simon," is the more challenging version of the two Simon games. The object, once again, is to remember and repeat a randomly generated sequence of colors and sounds. Once again, you are permitted to make a few mistakes without starting over. (A gigantic improvement over the frustrating hand-held game.)
Once you put the kids to bed, you can sneak back to the computer for a couple of rounds of Simon. It's actually possible to win the hardest level of the game. All you have to do is develop strong concentration skills. And with the kids fast asleep, your distractions will be kept to a minimum.
Before wrapping up this review, I ought to mention something about purchasing joysticks. Since six of the programs on this disk use a joystick, you might be in the market for buying one in the near future. Here are some tips.
Avoid Apple-brand joystick. Like all Apple-brand peripherals, they are way overpriced. You can get a fine "Apple compatible" joystick for about $30 to $35. My own favorite is the Mach II, by CH Products. Kraft also makes decent joysticks. The Kraft KC3 is a good quality joystick, priced at about $20.
Also, make sure the joystick you buy will fit on your model of the Apple II. Some of the older Apple II computers require joysticks with a 16-prong connector. All the newer models (Apple IIe, IIc, IIGS, IIc+) use a joystick with a 9-prong connector. Atari, Radio Shack, and Commodore joystick are not Apple compatible. Some IBM joysticks have an Apple adaptor.
Well, this has been a lengthy review only because this public domain disk has so many outstanding programs. Linda Van Zee, of the Washington Apple Pi, deserves a lot of credit for this disk. But, to give due credit, many of the programs were based on programs originally written by Gabor Laufer. Together, these two skilled programmers have put together a fine public domain treasure.
Phil Shapiro
(The author teaches computers in elementary school, and develops educational software for the Apple II family of computers.)
