Christmas is around the corner and you want to buy something fun, but
educational for the kids this year. There are hundreds of great educational
software programs on the market disguised as games. So, here is your
chance to satisfy your guilt for buying the computer in the first place, and
teach the kids a few things at the same time. The following six programs
are highly educational, but nicely crafted so that kids will spend hours
having fun while learning.
All of the programs featured here are under $100; actually, most are
around $50, or less. Several of these programs require a CDROM player to
use. Try buying the programs from mail-order houses- they are often
cheaper.
All of the programs featured here run on both the Mac and PC.
McGee and McGee at the Fun Fair. These two programs are designed
for 2 to 6 year olds. There are no words for the kids to read. Simply move
and click the mouse to explore McGee¹s home. The child can bounce a ball,
ride a hobby horse, feed the dog, and more. Realistic animation and even
sounds let the child hear the cat meow, water running, even the door shut.
McGee at the Fun Fair is similar, and has actual digitized voices, sound
effects, and animation. Both programs are great for teaching
object/shape recognition, story telling, and eye/hand coordination.
Lawrence Productions is the publisher.
Stradiwackius the Counting Concert. This is a great interactive
program that teaches kids how to count, color, and learn words in a highly
fun way based on music appreciation. The child can choose to draw
instruments, create instruments from various strange items like ladders,
tires, even toasters, and to play them. There is an educational component
in each of the three choices, since animated worms explain what various
instruments do and encourages the kids to try playing them. The program
actually can work in four languages: English, Spanish, German, and French,
so it is a great language learning tool as well. You need a CDROM Player to
use this program. For 5 year old's, or older, but smart 3¹rs will like it too.
Published by T-Maker.
Wiggleworks. Three animated stories called The Animal Picnic,
Mousetrap, and Rabbit¹s Party on CDROM help children from ages 3 to 8
learn how to read and write in a fun, interactive way. The story characters
are funny and get in situations that encourages the kids to read by saying
letters out loud and reading stories word by word. The Animal Picnic lets
your child share lunch with the animal friends. The Rabbit¹s Party invites
more than enough to his party and learns some lessons, and finally the
Mousetrap deals with a mouse trying to get home to dinner and dealing
with the mousetrap that¹s in the way.
The stories are adventures and the children not only read along, but they
can record their own voices, draw pictures, rewrite stories, write their
own, and print their stories out as a book for mom or dad. Published by
Claris Corp. The first volume of this series, also three stories, titled
Peanut Butter Rhino, Birds on Stage, and Frog¹s Lunch, only works on the
Mac.
Let¹s Go. This series of CDROM discs are created for kids learning
English for the first time by providing vocabulary and language structures
needed for everyday communications. This is truly an educational series
designed by teachers and is based on techniques taught around the world.
The two sets, Level one and Level two, are divided into eight units each.
Each opens with a song and a conversation, then followed by vocabulary,
grammar, and phonic lessons, ending with a game. While education is the
sole purpose of this series, it truly is fun for the kids, and they will spend
hours exploring all the various combinations of activities the discs
provide. Includes a study guide for teachers and parents. Published by
DynED International.
KidPix. This program has been around for a while but is a great favorite.
It¹s a kids paint program, but has many features including sounds, special
effects, hidden pictures, ability to record voices, talking alphabets, all of
which will keep youngsters entertained for hours. Broderbund is the
publisher.
Finally, a true educational CDROM is Grolier¹s Multimedia
Encyclopedia. If you own a CDROM player you must own this program.
Over 6 hours of multimedia, visual essays, timelines, detailed maps, more
than 330,000 articles and 8000 pictures, sounds, and animations. All of
the information can be easily found. Every educated household owns an
encyclopedia. Every computerized household should own this one.
Published by Grolier Electronic Publishing.
Next Month? Software Presents for the bigger kids (aka adults).
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Don Rittner is the publisher of The MESH - Inside Cyberspace and the
author of several computer books.