Software of the Month Club 1996 November/Software of the Month Club 1996 November.iso/pc/win/child/mpmg20/readme.doc

Text File | 1996-09-24 | 13.5 KB | 288 lines

Mattie's Preschool Math Games Help


Introduction

Mattie's Preschool Math Games is a collection of games designed
to teach 3- to 6-year-olds number recognition, counting, and number
order, all while the child is engaged in fun activities.  Problem
solving and analytical thinking skills are developed as the child
finds his or her way through these very hands-on games.  The colorful
graphics, voices, sound effects and background music all add to the
highly interactive, very intuitive play.  Mattie is there to help by
giving instructions and clues.  And, incorrect responses are treated
humorously, without pressure, allowing the child a relaxed, pleasant
atmosphere in which to learn. The additional painting activity is
included as a fun way for the child to paint Mattie's living room in
colors of their choosing.  Instructions are provided for saving and
printing the child's art work.


Order

The full program contains a total of six main activities.  Four of
the games have three different levels: level 1 - uses numbers 1 - 5,
level 2 - numbers 1 - 10, level 3 -  numbers 1 - 20.  There is an
automatic increment to the next level after forty games, and the
option to set or reset the level for each of ten saved names is
easy and intuitive.  Additionally, in "Mattie's Fun With Music"
game, there is the option to save and get created songs, and to
change the instrument for a completely different sound.  Also in
"Mattie's Moon Guess Game" there are a total of six different planet
puzzles to solve.  The puzzles consist of 4, 6, or 8 pieces, depending
on the level.  Order the full version by clicking on the phone in
Mattie's living room, selecting 'Order' and following the instructions,
or by selecting Start/Programs/Mattie's Preschool Math Games/Order,
filling in the order blank, and choosing File/Print.


Installation

Click on Start/Settings/Control Panel.  Double-click on "Add/Remove
Programs" and click on the "Install" button.  You will see the
message "Insert the program's first installation floppy disk or
CD-ROM, and then click Next."  If the program is on a disk or on
your hard drive, click on "Next".  To find the install program on
your hard drive, on the next screen click on "Browse" and select
the directory or disk where your unzipped program files are located
(e.g., if you downloaded this program from CompuServe, select
c:\cserve\download, or if the files are on a disk on a: or b: drive,
select a: or b: ).  Double-click on install, and click on "Finish.".
If the program is on a disk, Windows 95 will find the install
program, then click on "Finish."  On some systems, installing the
program to the same directory where the unzipped files are located,
may cause a problem completing installation or running the program.
If this occurs, install  the program to a different directory.  Once
the files have been copied, install will place the program in
Start Menu Programs.  To start the program click on
Start/Programs/Mattie's Preschool Math Games/Mattie's Preschool Math Games.


Play

The six games are easy to find.  The mouse cursor changes when it is
moved over the toy corresponding to a game.  Click on one of the toys
to play that game.  In addition, there are four other fun things to do.
Try clicking on the teddy bear, table top, mouse trap and the
phonograph player.



Mattie's Trapeze Save

Levels 2 and 3 of this activity are available only in the ordered
version of the game.  Start "Mattie's Trapeze Save" by clicking on
Mattie.  Your child saves the day by finding the missing number and
placing it in the correct order on the trapeze.  Mattie starts the
game by asking, "Where's the missing number?"  Notice, when moving the
mouse cursor over a numbered block at the bottom of the screen, the
block will brighten.  This shows the child that something can happen here.

To play, click once on a numbered-block.  Then, when moving the mouse,
the block "sticks" to the cursor.  When the chosen block is near the
blank block on the trapeze, click once more.  To put that block back
and choose a different one, just click that block anywhere else on the
screen, away from the trapeze, and it will float back to its original
position.

If an incorrect number was chosen, Mattie humorously responds, and
that number is bounced from the screen.  If your child often seems
to choose the incorrect response, don't worry!  Incorrect responses
are so much fun that the child may choose them most of the time
knowing the correct response.

After a correct response, Mattie counts the numbers in order and
provides further encouragement.


Mattie's Lazy Cat Catch Game

Levels 2 and 3 of this activity are available only in the ordered
version of the game.  Play Mattie's Lazy Cat Catch Game by
clicking on the cat on the bookshelf.  In this activity your child
learns to count and find the fish with the correct number.

Play starts with the cat on a skateboard in the lower right-most
area of the waterfall.  From this position, no fish can be caught.
Mattie says, "Count the little fish and catch the correct number."
To play the game, the child counts the small fish on the right part
of the screen below Mattie, and moves the mouse back and forth,
thereby moving the cat.  Position the cat under the correctly-numbered
fish.  Notice that the small fish are organized to allow the child
to begin learning to count by fives.

If an incorrectly-numbered fish was chosen, Mattie responds humorously
by, raising her umbrella and bouncing the fish from the screen.  If
you child often seems to choose the incorrect number, don't worry!
Especially in this game, incorrect responses are so much fun that the
child will want to bounce as many fish from the screen as possible.
If he or she does nothing more than bounce fish from the screen, with
an occasional catch, you know they know the correct number - they're
learning!  After a correct response, the fish is caught, Mattie says
the number and encourages the child further.


Mattie's Driving Count Game

Levels 2 and 3 of this activity are available only in the ordered
version of the game.  Play "Mattie's Driving Count Game" by clicking
on the car on the bookshelf.  The object of this game is to pick
up as many circles or squares as Mattie requests.

Mattie says, for example, "Pick up two circles, and click on the
stop sign."  The number (2 in this case) and object (a circle) blink
where they are located below Mattie to show what to collect.  Below
the road in the car's interior with glove box.

To play the game, move the mouse to the left, stopping to click on
objects to be collected.  The car must be at least partially on the
object in order to be able to pick it up.  Collected items are stored
in the car's glove box.

As the car moves further to the left, the road starts scrolling to
the right, so that more parts of the road are visible.  When the
mouse reaches the end of the mouse pad, just pick up the mouse and
put it down on the right most part of the mouse pad to continue.
This very quickly becomes automatic for the child.

When all of the items are picked up, click on the stop sign located
in the lower right part of the screen.  If an incorrect number of
items was collected, Mattie counts the items and says "You need more"
or "You have too many."  If there are too many items in the glove box,
just click on any one of them to remove it.  After a correct choice,
Mattie counts the items in the glove box and displays a multimedia
treat for the child.


Mattie's Fun With Music

Play "Mattie's Fun with Music" by clicking on the birdhouse on the
bookshelf.  This activity was designed to teach preliminary music
concepts while the child is having fun exploring this musical environment.

To make it easy to explore, the cursor changes over different parts
of the screen.  Click on one of the "grumps" and it will sing its
note.  Watch out for naughty grumps if there is no activity for a
period of time!  Pick up a musical note by clicking once on the whole,
half or quarter note at the bottom of the screen and moving it to a
position on the staff.  Click once more to place that note on the
staff.  Place many notes on the staff and click the "Play" button to
hear your new song.  To try something different, in the ordered
version only, with the same newly created song, click on one of the
four instrument numbers for a completely different sound.  Also
available in the ordered version, your child's songs can be saved to
disk and played again another day, or changed and resaved.  A number
of songs are provided with the ordered version.  There are no levels
in this activity.


Mattie's Moon Guess Game

Levels 2 and 3 of this activity are available only in the ordered
version of the game.  Play "Mattie's Moon Guess Game" by clicking on
the moon on the bookshelf.  The goal of this game is to guess which
number Mattie is thinking of.  This game encourages problem solving,
analytical thinking, number order, and the concepts of lower and
higher, less and more.  Hints can be turned on or off at any time
during game play.

Mattie will ask your child to "Try to guess the number" she is
thinking of . When the mouse if over any number, the cursor will
change to a pointing hand.  To play the game click on a number.
Mattie will float to that number and say its name.  If the number
was not the one Mattie was thinking of, Mattie will say either,
"Try higher" or "Try lower."  If the number was the one Mattie was
thinking of, she will give you a piece of the puzzle, and tell you
"Now find the next puzzle piece."  When all of the puzzle pieces
are collected, Mattie will say, "Now put the puzzle together."
Now the mouse cursor will show the pointing hand only over the
puzzle pieces.  There are a different number of puzzle pieces
depending on the level.  Level 1 has 4 pieces, level 2 has 6 pieces,
and level 3 has 8 puzzle pieces.

Moving the puzzle pieces around is very easy.  Click on any piece
and it will now have a brighter blue border around it to show that
it has been selected.  Click on the same puzzle piece and it will
be de-selected.  Click on two puzzle pieces and they will be swapped.
The child will enjoy not only putting the puzzle together but also
the multimedia show waiting for him or her.  The ordered version
contains a total of six different planet puzzles to solve.

Dimmed Numbers

Notice that when in Level 1, numbers from 6 to 20 are dimmed and
unavailable for play.  This shows the child that only some numbers
can be chosen.  Likewise, when in Level 2, numbers 11 to 20 are dimmed.

Hints

Hints are always set off at the beginning of each journey into the
Moon Guess Game.  When hints are on, only the numbers which can be
selected are shown in bright colors, the other numbers are dimmed.
If a child is in level 3, where all the numbers are available for
play, none of them will be dimmed.  With hints on, only those numbers
which have not been eliminated are bright.  When the child selects,
say, 10, and the correct guess number is 5, Mattie will say "Try
lower," and the numbers from 20 down to 10 will now be dimmed,
showing the child that the correct number is less than 10.  To turn
hints on click on the 'Hints Off' button.  This button will change
to 'Hints On' and blink a few times.  To turn hints off, click on
the 'Hints On' button.


Mattie's Paint

Play "Mattie's Paint" by clicking on the round colored box in the
bookshelf.   Mattie's Paint is a fun way for a child to experiment
with colors, while painting Mattie's living room.  Pick a color
by clicking on it.  This color now fills the larger box at the
right of the palette.  Then click on a part of the screen and it
will be filled with the selected color.  Clicking on a black outline
on the screen will have no effect.

Your child's art work can be saved and printed at a later time.
To save the picture when it is on the screen, click the "Paint
Screen" button on your keyboard.  This puts the picture into the
Windows clipboard.  Then when your child is finished playing with
Mattie, open a paint program.  You can use the paint program that
comes with Windows 95 by clicking Start/Program/Accessories/Paint.
When in Paint, select Paste from the Edit menu.  Your child's work
can be changed, if desired, and printed by selecting File/Print.


Levels

Three levels of play are available in the ordered version only.

After forty correct responses, the level of this activity is
incremented.  Level 1 teaches numbers 1-5; level 2 teaches 1-10;
level 3 teaches 1-20.  Repetition is very important for children
learning math.  Even though the child has learned numbers 1-5 and
are on level 2, numbers 1-5 are still chosen in play.  Children also
need to continue to play at levels at which they are competent to
build self-confidence.

You can easily set a new level yourself by clicking on the Level button
within an activity and then selecting the desired level.  Levels for
each activity are saved to disk for use the next time your child plays
the game.


Help

Click on the phone in the main screen to get help about playing the
game, ordering the game, and playing the various activities.  Click
on the Help button (question mark) in any activity to get help
about playing that game.


Back to Mattie's Living Room

Click on the Back to Mattie's Living Room button (curved arrow) to
get back to the main activity screen in order to select another
activity or to exit the program.

Quit

Click on the door in Mattie's living room to quit the game.