Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ll-xn!husc6!cmcl2!acf5!sterling
From: sterling@acf5.NYU.EDU (John Burr Sterling)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac games for 4 and 5 year-olds
Message-ID: <795@acf5.NYU.EDU>
Date: 2 Aug 89 15:04:24 GMT
References: <8907291527.AA25069@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <118710@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: sterling@acf5.UUCP (John Burr Sterling)
Organization: New York University
Lines: 44


In article <118710@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> rock%warp@Sun.COM (Bill Petro) writes:
>
>Just a quick answer:
>Reader Rabbit, Manhole, KidsTime (even my 3 year old enjoys them!)
>
>{decwrl,hplabs,ucbvax}!sun!warp!rock  Bill Petro

Add to that a painting program.  If your Mac has color, get a copy of
Bruce Ballard's "Easy Color Paint".  It's free and easy to use.  My
almost-three year old has been using it happily for half a year.
(Mail me if you can't find it on an archive.)

Also, note that Reader Rabbit now runs on the MacII.  The version
number should be > 2 (eg. 2.1).  We just got it, and it looks like a
lot of fun.  It "works" on character recognition and spelling of three
letter words.  A little advanced for our son, but the format of the
games entertain him.

In line with Manhole, don't overlook Amanda Goodenough's stacks,
"Inigo gets out", "Inigo takes a bath" and "Your faithful camel".
These were my son's first programs and he loved them.  They are great
for introducing the computer as a thing to explore.  Bram often has
good ideas for how programs could be more fun (eg. "Why doesn't X
happen if I click on the Y?"), and I think he got his initial ideas
from her work.  They were out as shareware, but I heard that they are
being released as a commercial product.

Oh, don't overlook Apple's own tutorial.  The beginning part about
pointing, clicking and dragging is very well done and was a favorite
game around here for a while.

It is amazing how easy a computer can be for a child to use.  It is
too bad that there isn't more software out there for the Mac for young
children.  

Enjoy!

john sterling
sterling@cs.nyu.edu
-- 

				- john sterling -
				sterling@cs.nyu.edu