A.C.E. 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ A.C.E. 2 / ACE CD 2.iso / FILES / DOCS / NODDYPTD.LHA / NoddysPlaytime.doc < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 43.1 KB | 1,043 lines

_______ _______________________ -\ ¬|===/ _____________ ¬\==- | | / /\ _____| ¬| \ \ -=| |==\/ \__ ¬ |=/ /=- ___ \/ |/ / ___________________/|_____ /===- -=-=-=-=-\/=-PRESENTS-=-\______/ NODDYS PLAYTIME EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 100% DOCUMENT TYPED BY SENNA & CYGNUS (MASTER OF DOCS) Introduction: Welcome to Toy Town and the amazing world of Noddy's Playtime, a unique fun-filled educational package for young children. Noddy's Playtime contains no less than ten exciting programs which will inspire, delight and, most importantly, instruct children in a range of different skills. Noddy's Playtime has been produced following extensive research by educationalists and psychologists. The programs contained within this package have been carefully designed, within the framework of the early requirements of the National Curriculum, to make learning an enjoyable process. This is, we believe, the most complete entertainment and learning package for young children. Each of the programs which make up this package can be used, unaided, by even very young children. At the lowest levels of play there is no reliance upon the use of language. Control of each of the programs is by colourful and simple to use icons. To add to their involvement, children should look out for various active areas on each program screen. Some of these are hidden and must be discovered. To find out if an area is active, children should take the cursor around the screen and click on various objects. Those which are active will animate. Noddy's Playtime contains: * Eight educational and fun to play activities: * Railway Station: send the train on its journey by using memory and shape and colour matching skills, * Noah's Ark: match the different parts of each animal puzzle together then watch Noddy as he takes a ride in the Ark, * Farm Yard: match together different halves of animals, * Four-Chimney House: play different tunes and animate characters from Toy Town, * Market Place: find objects which match letters or words and bring PC Plod down to earth with a bump! * N. & B. Works: find the odd-one-out and keep the wheels of Toy Town's factory in motion, * Post Office: use counting and simple arithmetical skills to help Noddy climb a magic ladder, and, * Police Station: guide Noddy through a variety of mazes. * A junior art package, Noddy's Paint Pot, * A linking program in which children can drive Noddy's car around Toy Town. Not only does this link the games and form a unique menu system but it forms a game in itself which children will want to return to time and time again. As children drive Noddy around Toy Town they will be able to control the actions of the characters in the town by using various key depressions. As Noddy drives to various points in Toy Town, children will be able to load the different programs in this package. Program Help While each of the games in this package has been designed to be as easy to use as possible children may sometimes hit upon a problem. If they experience any difficulties Big Ears will always be on hand to help. If children call upon Big Ears (by clicking on the icon in the bottom left of the screen) he will offer a clue to help children complete the task in hand. Controls The controls within Noddy's Playtime have been designed to be as simple as possible for children to use. The programs can be controlled using the mouse, the keyboard or joystick. Full details on how to operate each individual game can be found in section 2 of this manual. The majority of the techniques used are the same for every program: Mouse Every part of this package, except the Driving Menu, can be controlled using the mouse. The left mouse button is used to select an item and the right button is, on occasions, used to confirm selections. Keyboard From the computer keyboard the on-screen cursor (or Noddy's car in the Driving Menu) can be moved around using the cursor or arrow keys. In some games (see section 2) alternative options can be selected using the spacebar. Enter or Return are used to confirm the currently selected choice. Joystick The joystick can be used instead of the mouse with the Fire Button confirming any currently selected choice. A number of operations are controlled in the same way regardless of which input method is used: To leave any game and return to the Driving Menu, click on Noddy's car (which can be found in the bottom right of each games screen) or press Escape on the keyboard. To change the level of play within the game press F10 on the keyboard. You will then see a level selection screen from which you should select which level you wish to play. The Main Option Screen Shortly after you have seen the Introductory Screen you will be presented with the Main Option Screen. Whilst driving around Toy Town, if at any time you wish to return to the Main Option Screen, press Escape. The Main Option Screen allows you to set the parameters which control how children play Noddy's Playtime: Easy, Harder or Hardest Each of the eight games within Noddy's Playtime can be played at one of three levels. The easiest level is designed for very young children of those unfamiliar with this package. The most difficult will tax even bright seven year old. You should set the starting level for each of the games by clicking on the relevant icon. This level will be used in every one of the games when children first enter them. While playing, the level can be altered at any time by pressing F10 and reselecting a new level of difficulty. Play or use Noddy's Paint Pot The Driving Menu contains eight locations from which games can be loaded. At each of these Noddy's Paint Pot can also be loaded. Additionally, Noddy's Paint Pot can be accessed from the Main Options Screen. There is an advantage in doing this. When Noddy's Paint Pot is loaded from a location on the Driving Menu two location-specific outline pictures are made available for children to colour in. If it is loaded from the Main Options Screen all 16 pictures are available to children. If your children wish to use Noddy's Paint Pot rather than enter the Driving Menu, they should click on the icon which shows Noddy holding a paintbrush. If they want to go straight to the Driving Menu, they should click on Noddy's car. Driving Around Toy Town Noddy's Playtime consists of eight games and an art package. These are linked together through a tenth program, Noddy's Driving Menu, in which children can drive Noddy around Toy Town and load each of the games. You can opt to play Noddy's Playtime in one of two ways. Children can decide to drive Noddy around Toy Town themselves. In this way they can explore the map which makes up the Driving Menu. Placed on the map are eight taxi ranks. These represent load points for the remaining parts of the package. If, for example, children wish to play the Noah's Ark jigsaw puzzle game they should park Noddy's car in the taxi rank outside Noah's Ark. Alternatively, children may wish to see Noddy take control of his car and drive it around Toy Town. You should select which of these options you wish to use by clicking on the relevant icon on the final line of the Main Options Menu. If children have opted to take control of Noddy's car, Noddy's Driving Menu will load with Noddy parked outside his house ready to move off. If they have selected the automatic driving facility, they will see a second menu with icons representing each of the eight locations. They should now select one of these by clicking on it. Noddy's Driving Menu will then load and Noddy will drive directly to the selected location. (If this facility is used, each time children leave a game Noddy's car will be returned to outside his house and they will be able to select another location.) The Games Options Screen As Noddy drives into a taxi rank children will be presented with a Games Option Screen which contains the three icons. If they wish to use Noddy's Paint Pot they should click on the first icon which shows Noddy holding a large paintbrush. If they have driven the taxi rank by mistake, they can return to the Driving Menu by clicking on the second icon, Noddy's car. To load and play the game associated with the location they should select the final icon which shows a scene from the game. You can direct Noddy's car around Toy Town using the arrow keys on the keyboard or using a joystick. If you let go of the joystick or the arrow keys while the car is moving it will come to a halt. To the bottom right hand corner of Toy Town is a road which leads off into the countryside. This takes the form of a maze which children can explore. If they should get lost they can magically return Noddy's car to outside his house by pressing Q on the computer keyboard. As you drive along, don't forget to remind Noddy to wave to his friends. You can make Noddy and his car do various things. These are all controlled by keys on the keyboard: Press H to make Noddy sound the horn of his car, Press W to make Noddy wave, Press B to make the car brake suddenly, Press N to make him nod, and, Press E to make the car's engine roar. When the car is being driven manually it will park in a parking place if children take their hand off of the controls as they approach any space or if they attempt to manoeuvre the car into the parking position. Once the car has parked in a space, you will see a menu screen. If you want to play the game, click on the game icon which appears on the far right of the screen. If you want to use Noddy's Paint Pot you should select the icon on the far left. To return to the Driving Game, click on Noddy's car. Loading Games using an Atari 520 ST. If you are using this machine you will be presented with a simplified version of the Driving Menu . This is due to the memory limitations. Furthermore, some features of some of the games (including certain sounds and a few animations) will not be available. On the screen you will see a hand. To pick a letter up you should move the hand over it (using the mouse or the arrow keys) and click on the left mouse button or press Return. You can now move the letter to a post box. Once it is there, click on the left mouse button or press Return a second time and it will be posted. You can also move the hand using the joystick. To pick up or post a letter you should press the Fire button. Level One A certain number of letters appear below the letter boxes and these can be posted in any of the letter boxes. A postman will come and collect the letters. Noddy will then go one step up the ladder. Level Two This time the letters have numbers written on them. There are also numbers above each of the post boxes. Look at the number on one of the letters. Now find a post box with the same number above it. This letter should be posted in that box. Carry on posting the letters by matching their numbers with those above the post boxes. If you make a mistake, the post box will sneeze. When you have posted the last letter, the postman will come on and collect all of the letters and Noddy will rise up the ladder. Level Three Now the letters have sums on them. With each letter work out the answer to the sum and post it in the post box which shows that answer. Level One This deals with initial letters. You should find an object on the market stall which begins with the letter shown at the bottom of the screen. To do this move the hand over the object (using the mouse, joystick or the arrow keys) and click on the left mouse button, press Return on the keyboard or Fire on the joystick. Level Two You should read the word shown at the bottom of the screen and find it on Dina's stall just as you did on Level One. Level Three Here you should find a number of objects on the stall which each begin with the same letter. Find each of these as you did before. As you correctly identify each of them they will float to the top of the screen. In the window on the left of the screen you will see the jumbled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When put back together in the correct order these will make a picture of an animal. To do this you should pick them up, one at a time, and place them into the window on the right. Move the hand over a piece (using the mouse, joystick or the arrow keys) and click on the left mouse button or press the Fire button (on the joystick) or Return (on the keyboard). Now move the piece into its correct position in the window on the right and put it in place by clicking on the left mouse button, pressing the Fire button or Return. If you place a piece in an incorrect position you can pick it up again and put it in a new position in either window. If you want to check that you have placed any of the pieces of the puzzle in their correct places you can do so at any time by clicking on the Big Ears icon. If all of the pieces which you have placed are in the right places, Big Ears will nod his head. If any are in the wrong places, he will shake his head and those pieces will be returned to the left window. Level One There are four pieces in each puzzle. Level Two There are nine pieces in each puzzle. Level Three There are sixteen pieces in each puzzle. The purpose of this program is that children identify objects which are different to others on the screen, the "odd-ones-out". As each game begins a number of items will move on to the conveyor belt (from left to right). On the far left of the screen is a "crusher". To move this above the first item on the conveyor belt, children should press the spacebar, the left mouse button or shift their joystick to the right. Repeating these actions will move the "crusher" onto the next item. When it is above a "reject" item ("an odd-one-out") the "crusher" can be made o squash the item by pressing Return, the right mouse button or Fire. To return the "crusher" to the start of the conveyor belt, press F1 on the keyboard. Once all of the "reject" items have been squashed, the "crusher" should be moved to the far right of the conveyor belt. The program will then check if the choices are correct. Level One Only a single item must be found and crushed. Level Two The number of items is increased to two. Level Three The number of items is increased to three. Children must find and crush the rejects against the clock, the speed of which can be made faster by pressing F or slower by pressing S. The large barn in the centre of the screen forms the playing area for this game. This is divided into two sections: the one on the left contains an animal's head and the one on the right contains a tail. The purpose of the game is to correctly match these two halves together. Level One On this level a complete (and correctly matched) animal appears in the barn with its name at the bottom of the screen. Once any key has been pressed the tail will be replaced by that of another animal. Children must return the correct tail to the animal. To step through the available tails they should click on the tail using the left mouse button, push the joystick to the right or press the spacebar on the keyboard. Once the correct match has been made this should be confirmed by clicking on the right mouse button (with the cursor anywhere on the screen), taking the cursor to Noddy or Farmer Straw and clicking on the left mouse button, pressing Fire on the joystick or by pressing Return on the keyboard. Level Two This level operates in the same way as level one except that children must match the heads of the animals to their tails and they are not shown the correct match at the start of each puzzle. Level Three On this level children must step through the heads and tails and find the only animal which can be matched together. On this occasion children will have to step through both the heads and the tails. To move between the two halves of the barn they should click on the relevant sections using the mouse, push the joystick backwards or forwards or press the left/right arrow keys on the keyboard. This is a game which encourages children to remember certain characters which are present on a railway train. This may be a somewhat tall order for some smaller children so the various helps which are available in the program allow children to use shape and colour matching skills. Level One and Two A train pulls into the station with the blinds to the windows open. Children should at this point carefully examine the position of each of the characters on the train. After a short while, or when a key is pressed, the blinds drop and children are asked where one of the characters is sitting. Children should now select one of the windows on the train. They can do this using the mouse (left-clicking with the cursor on the chosen window), the joystick (pressing fire with the cursor on the window) or the keyboard (by selecting a window using the spacebar and pressing Return). If children do not answer the question correctly the blinds will rise partially and they will then have the opportunity to have another go. In level two there are more carriages and characters. Level Three The train pulls into the station as before. Again children should carefully look at the positions of the characters on the train. After a short while the blinds again fall but on this occasion one of them re-opens. The character which was sitting in that position is now missing. Children must try to identify which character was sitting in that position from the five shown at the bottom of the screen. This activity involves using the large on-screen Keyboard to play musical notes. Notes can be played by taking the cursor to them and left-mouse clicking or pressing the fire button. Alternatively they can be played from the computer Keyboard by pressing the numbers 1 to 8 (which correspond to the notes of the on-screen keyboard). The on-screen keyboard can be played as a piano or as an organ. To change between these modes press O on the computer keyboard for organ or P for piano. Level One Allow children to familiarise themselves with the notes on the keyboard. They can press any of the notes in any order. Level Two Children must first select a tune which they wish to play. Once they have done this they will hear it played by the computer. After the tune has played their task is to now replay it. To help them do this the notes of the tune appear at the bottom of the screen. These are shown as numbers relevant to those shown on the on-screen keyboard. Level Three Is the same as level Two except that the notes on this level are shown as actual notes on a musical stave. Police Station is a maze game where the size and complexity of the mazes increases with each level. At the start of each game we will see Noddy pacing around his cell. Once he is over the point at which children wish him to enter the maze they should make him start digging by pressing the left mouse button, the Fire button on the joystick or Return on the keyboard. Noddy's route through the maze can then be controlled using the mouse (left click in front of Noddy), the joystick or the arrow keys on the keyboard. SECTION 3 NODDY'S PAINT POT Noddy's Paint Pot is a unique art package which has been specifically designed so that even the youngest child can enjoy using it. Using a variety of simple-to-use functions (including freehand draw, line draw, colour fill and pattern fill) it allows children to be as creative as they want to be. Noddy's Paint Pot contains the major functions found in dedicated art packages (such as Electronic Art's Deluxe Paint) which children will be required to use as a part of the National Curriculum. As a result, it will give children the confidence to be able to creatively use such utilities at an early age. Noddy's Paint Pot is very simple to use but, at the same time, it has sufficient complexity to allow children to produce detailed and colourful pictures using a range of simple, icon driven, commands. THE SCREENS Noddy's Paint Pot is presented on two screens: The Menu Screen contains the various icons from which this program is driven. The Drawing Screen is the active drawing area. By selecting a drawing function on the Menu Screen the screen will rise to reveal the Drawing Screen. To return to the Menu Screen children should click on the right mouse button or use one of the functions described below. CONTROL it is recommended that a mouse be used in Paint Pot. However, the controls within this program can be carried out using the keyboard or a joystick. The table below summarises the main functions within this package: -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ FUNCTION | MOUSE | KEYBOARD | JOYSTICK | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ Select a Drawing |Left Button | Return | Fire | Function | | | | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ Move the cursor | Mouse | Cursor | Joystick | | Movement | Keys | movement | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ Start any Drawing |Left Button | Return | Fire | Function | | | | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ Stop any Drawing |Left Button | Return | Fire | Function | | | | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ Move from Menu |Right Button| Spacebar | Spacebar | to drawing Screen | | | | -------------------+------------+----------------+-------------+ THE MENU SCREEN AND THE ICONS FREEHAND DRAWING Clicking on this icon will take the program to the Drawing Screen with Freehand Draw selected. To start to draw, children should click on and release the left mouse button. The mouse can be moved to any point on the screen and a line will be drawn. To stop drawing children should click and release the left mouse button a second time. It should be noted that the left mouse button must not be held down while children are attempting to draw, this will have no effect. The reason for this is that young, small, hands may find it difficult ( if not impossible!) To hold down the mouse button and draw at the same time. This approach has been used for all of the other drawing functions throughout this package. SPRAY CAN A similar function to freehand draw is the spray can. This allows an array of dots to be placed on the screen. LINE DRAWING Using this icon takes the program to the Drawing Screen with line Draw selected. This will allow for the drawing of straight lines. Left mouse clicking on the Drawing Screen will select the start point for the line, a second left click, its end point. OUTLINE BOX This allows children to draw an outline box. Left clicking on the Drawing Screen dictates the start point for the box. If the mouse is moved and the left button pressed a second time the complete shape will be drawn. FILLED BOX This works in the same way as Outline Box except that the shape which is produced is filled with the currently active colour. OUTLINE CIRCLE This allows children to draw an outline circle. Left clicking on the Drawing Screen dictates the centre of the circle. If the mouse is moved away from this point and clicked a second time a complete circle will be drawn. FILLED CIRCLE This works in the same way as Outline Circle except that the shape which is produced is filled with the currently active colour. All of the above functions use the currently selected: Colour, Pen Shape, and, Pen Size. These can be altered using the icons on the top right of the Menu Screen. COLOUR Clicking on the arrows to the left or right of this selector strip alters the currently available colour. Left clicking advances the selector strip by one character, right clicking by three. The active colour is shown in the centre of the strip. A large colour selector strip is also available from the Drawing Screen. This allows children to alter the currently selected colour without either returning to the Menu Screen or altering the currently selected drawing function. This strip can be made to drop away from the Drawing Screen (and reveal the whole of the picture) by pressing the letter Z on the keyboard. Pressing this letter a second time will make the strip return to the Drawing Screen. Oops! On the far right of the colour selector strip on the Drawing Screen is Noddy's Oops! button. Clicking on this will remove the last function which was carried out. Pen Size Four pen sizes are available each of which can be selected by clicking on the required icon. Pen Shape The pen shape can be altered by clicking on the arrows to the left and right of this selector. There are six different pens to choose from, these are: circle, square, triangle, star, arrow and hand. Pattern Fill Selector Paint Pot contains 50 different fill patterns which can be used to flood enclosed areas of children's work. To scroll between the available patterns click on the arrows either side of the selector box. Left clicking advances the selector strip to one character, right clicking by three. The active fill pattern is shown in the centre of the strip. To use the selected fill pattern children must first click on the Fill Pattern icon. Pattern Fill Clicking on this icon will take the program to the Drawing Screen with Fill Pattern selected. The active pattern will be that shown in the centre of the Fill Pattern Selector Strip (see above). To use this function the cursor should be carefully placed inside the area to be filled. Pressing the left mouse button fills this area. If an area is not entirely enclosed the pattern may flood over the whole screen. If this should happen the pattern can be removed from the screen by clicking on "Oops" (see previously mentioned). Colour Fill This works in the same way as Fill Pattern except that the selected area is filled with the currently active colour rather than a pattern. Characters and Objects Paint Pot contains a number of characters and objects which can be pasted onto pictures. These can be scrolled through by clicking on the arrows either side of the selection strip. If children click on any of the three visible objects or characters the program will move to the Drawing Screen with that object selected. This can be pasted anywhere within the picture by clicking on the left mouse button. Two special facilities are also provided: To turn an object upside down, press U on the keyboard. To produce a mirror image of the object, press M. Outline Pictures As children drive Noddy's car into each of the eight taxi ranks on the map of Toy Town they will be given the option to enter the associated game, continue to drive or to enter Paint Pot. If they opt to enter Paint Pot the program will be loaded with two location-specific outline pictures available to them. These pictures can be called up by one program and used as the basis of children's work. Icons representing each of these outline pictures can be found at the bottom of the screen. To select one of these click on it using the left mouse button. After confirming that they do wish to load this picture children will be presented with it on the Drawing Screen. At this stage colour fill is active by default. Children can therefore select the colours with which they wish to shade various parts of the drawing. If they press the right mouse button at any time the program will return to the Main Menu and any other function can be selected as described above. As well as loading Paint Pot from each of the taxi ranks it can be loaded from the Main Options Screen which appears shortly after Noddy's Playtime is booted up. If Paint Pot is entered in this way all 16 outline pictures will be available. To scroll through the different pictures the cursor should be placed over either icon and the right mouse button should be pressed. Erase picture If children select this function and then confirm their choice they will be able to clear the whole of the drawing screen. Save picture To save a picture insert a blank, formatted disc into drive A (or O in the case of the Amiga). Amiga users should, when they format their disk, label it NODDYPICS. Once children have confirmed that they do wish to save their picture it will be saved with a sequential file name starting with pic1. Pictures will be saved in the .IFF (PC and Amiga) or .PI1 (Atari ST) format and can later be loaded into stand-alone, commercial, art packages such as Deluxe Paint or Degas Elite and printed. Quit To leave the program either click on Noddy's car or press Escape. SECTION 4 PARENT/TEACHER SECTION - NODDY'S PLAYTIME AND THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM Noddy's Playtime is a complete learning and entertainment package for young children. Its primary aim is to introduce important educational concepts in a fun-to-use manner. Children are encouraged to develop a number of basic skills while at the same time enjoying themselves. Noddy's Driving Menu links each of the programs in this package. As well as encouraging children to refer to reference sources (in this case, the printed map which is enclosed in this package) it will help them to develop an appreciation of different directions. Children should be encouraged to describe the routes in which they direct Noddy using simple terms such as "turn right", "turn left" and so on. Indeed, this program could be used to encourage collaborative effort between children with one child acting as "navigator" and the other as "driver". The Driving Menu is controlled entirely by the child. Even the various animations which can be found on this menu can be controlled in response to the sound of the car's horn or Noddy's wave which are themselves under the control of children. Noddy's Paint Pot is a unique and amazing art package designed specifically for young children. At its simplest, children will be able to load in one of 16 outline pictures which they will be able to colour in. Beyond this, they will be able to use a number of standard art package functions. The use of these will introduce them to standard art packages which is a requirement of the National Curriculum in Technology (Information Technology). Despite its apparent simplicity, Noddy's Paint Pot will enable children to produce colourful and even complex pictures. Children should be encouraged to experiment with the various available functions and discover for themselves the effects that they can produce with each of them. Railway Station is a program which aims to encourage memory skills as well as shape/colour matching. On levels One and Two a train draws into the station. The blinds on the train are up and children can see the characters on the train. Now the blinds fall and children are asked where a particular character is sitting. They should try to remember where this position is and click on it. If they should get the answer wrong (or call on Big Ears' help) the blinds will rise a short way and they may be able to locate the characters by matching the shape and colour of the partially revealed icons to the one shown in the question strip at the bottom of the screen. On level three, children see ten characters on the train. The blinds fall. Now only one rises with a character missing. On this occasion children must select the missing character from a selection of five given at the bottom of the screen. Again, if they should select the wrong character or if they call on Big Ears' help a part of the contents of each window will be revealed. They may be able to discover which character is missing using shape and colour matching. NOAH'S ARK is a jigsaw puzzle game. While playing this children will see the names of each of the animals as their pictures appear within the puzzles. They should be encouraged to look at these words and use them as "clues" in putting together the different parts of the pictures. The words introduced in this program are: Bear, Camel, Crocodile, Dolphin, Duck, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Kangaroo, Lion, Monkey, Ostrich, Penguin, Polar Bear, Rhinoceros, Snake, Swan, Tiger, Whale, Zebra. FARM YARD is a game in which children must match two halves of an animal together to form a complete, logical, picture. One level One they are initially presented with a complete animal. After a short while the tail becomes "muddled" and has to be found again. Level Two is similar to Level One except that children are not shown the complete animal at the start of each game. Additionally, they must match the heads rather than the tails, and there are more alternatives from which to select. In the final level, children have to discover the missing animal by scrolling through both heads and tails. As with Noah's Ark this program introduces a simple vocabulary of the names of different animals. In Farm Yard these are: Badger, Beaver, Bull, Cat, Chicken, Cow, Dog, Donkey, Duck, Fish, Fox, Frog, Goat, Goose, Horse, Pig, Rabbit, Sheep, Squirrel, Tortoise. FOUR-CHIMNEY HOUSE presents children with an on-screen musical keyboard which covers a single octave. On the first level children are able to play the keyboard in any way they wish. This provides an introduction to this program and familiarises children with the method by which it is controlled. On Levels Two and Three children must select a song (from a list of 14 familiar tunes). After choosing a song they will first hear it play. They should then replay it following simple instructions which are found at the bottom of the screen. On Level Two these instructions take the form of numbers which are relevant to each of the keys on the musical keyboard. On Level Three they must follow notes on a stave. Here, they will gain an appreciation of the way in which musical notation is presented and the fact that each note represents a different sound. The songs used in this program are: * Twinkle Twinkle Little Star * Old MacDonald * London Bridge * Little Bo Peep * Jingle Bells * Oranges and Lemons * This is the way * Here we go Looby-Loo * Pop Goes The Weasel * Row, Row, Row the Boat * Baa Baa Black Sheep * Three Blind Mice * Hickory Dickory Dock * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer MARKET PLACE introduces children to initial letters as well as a simple spelling list of 55 common objects. On the first level their task is to find an object with a certain initial letter. As they move the mouse pointer over the screen the names of each of the objects will appear. They should be able to match the coloured flashing letters at the start of these names to an identical letter on the bottom of the screen. This level introduces children to 13 different letters. The words chosen in this activity each use these letters phonetically. As young children use this program they should be encouraged to say these letters (phonetically) out loud followed by the word of the object that they select (for example: "a is for apple", b is for ball"). On Level Two children must match single objects to the word on the bottom of the screen. This level will encourage them to read each of the words as they appear and to recognise that each object is represented by a unique combination and order of letters. Level Three extends and reinforces the ideas in the previous two levels. Here children must now hunt through the market stall to find a number of objects which each share the same initial letter. The words used in Market Place are: apple, anchor, apron, axe ball, bananas, bat, bicycle, boat, book, broom, bus cake, candle, car, carrot, clock, coat dog, doll, drum, duck, dustbin egg, elephant fire engine, fishing rod, flags, flower, frog giraffe, glove, grapes magnet, monkey, mushrooms nails, necklace, newspaper, nuts oars, orange saw, scissors, shirt, shoes, spider, sock, sweets telephone, television, tomatoes, towels, train umbrella N. & B. WORKS is an "odd-one-out" game where the complexity of the problems increase between each level. This activity will encourage children to recognise and describe differences between objects. They should also be encouraged to realise that they are using the computer to control the actions of the machine which they see on the screen. POST OFFICE has been carefully designed to introduce four important skills: * number recognition, * counting, * addition, and * subtraction. Each of the three levels has been "staged" so that questions gradually increase in difficulty. As children complete one stage they can move onto the next by pressing F10. Alternatively they can repeat the task again. Level One is concerned with number recognition and counting. Here, children must count a number of letters into any of the post boxes. In the first two stages the number of letters available is identical to the number which must be posted. In Stage Three the number of letters available is greater than or equal to the number quoted in the question strip. Level Two extends the ideas introduced in Level One. Now each post box has a number above it. Children have to match the numbers on the letters with those above the post boxes. As with Level One there are three stages. In the first there are three letters at the bottom of the screen. This increases to four in stage Two and five in Stage Three. Level Three introduces simple addition and subtraction facts. The letters on the bottom of the screen now have sums on them rather than just numbers. Children must work out the value of each sum and post the letters in the relevant box labelled with this value. Stage One deals with addition facts where the answer are between 2 and 12 and subtraction facts where no integer used exceeds 10. Stage Two combines addition facts the answers are between 8 and 24 and subtraction facts where no integer used exceeds 16. Finally, Stage Three contains addition facts where the answers are between 12 and 37 and subtraction facts where no integer used exceeds 25. POLICE STATION is, essentially, a fun-based activity in which children must guide Noddy through a maze. The size and complexity of the mazes increase between each level. As in Noddy's Driving Menu and N.&B. Works, children should appreciate that they are using the computer to control Noddy's movements. NODDY'S PLAYTIME AND THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM -------------------------------------------- Noddy's Playtime responds to various early aspects of the National Curriculum, most notably in English, Mathematics and Technology. As such, this package will assist children in acquiring some of the basic skills demanded within the educational sector today. The lowest level of study within the National Curriculum is Key Stage 1. This is directed at children in years 1 and 2 (ages 5 to 7). This package can be used, at it's lowest level, by pre-school children. As such it will prepare children for a number of important aspects of Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum. The highest of level of each activity within this package may tax even the bright six or seven year olds and will therefore reinforce work carried out in school. A summary of the Attainment Targets (ATs) of the National Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Technology covered (in part or in full) at levels 1 and 2 (Key Stage 1) by Noddy's Playtime are shown as asterisks(*) in the following tables. ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Noddy's |Noddy's | Noah's | Farm |Chimney | |Driving |Paint | Ark | Yard | House | | Menu | Pot | | | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ English | | | | | | | | | | | | AT2(Reading) | | | * | * | | | | | | | | AT3(Writing: | | | | | | Communicating | | * | | | | using pictures | | | | | | etc.) | | | | | | | | | | | | AT4(Spelling) | | | * | * | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ Technology | | | | | | | | | | | | AT5(Spelling) | * | * | | | * | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ Mathematics | | | | | | | | | | | | AT2(Number: | | | | | * | counting) | | | | | | | | | | | | AT4(Shape and | * | * | * | | | Space) | | | | | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Railway | Market | N & B | Post | Police | |Station | Place | Works | Office | Station| | | | | | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ English | | | | | | | | | | | | AT2(Reading) | | * | | | | | | | | | | AT4(Spelling) | | * | | | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ Technology | | | | | | | | | | | | AT5(Information| | | | | | Technology) | | | * | | * | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ Mathematics | | | | | | | | | | | | AT2(Number: | | | | * | | counting) | | | | | | | | | | | | AT2(Number: | | | | | | addition and | | | | * | | subtraction) | | | | | | | | | | | | AT3(Algebra: | | | | | | patterns in | | | | | | addition and | | | | * | | subtraction) | | | | | | | | | | | | AT4(Shape and | | | | | | space) | * | | * | | * | | | | | | | AT5(Recognising| | | | | | the outcome of | * | | * | | | random events) | | | | | | ---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ - END - ******************************* LSD ***********************************