Who Works at Home, Why, and How You Can Join Them How ...

SOFTWARE
FOR THE
TODDLER
Free Discovery
Several publishers have created pro
grams designed to be used in the spirit
of free discover)'.
• Hodge Podge—The Playful Alphabet,
by Artworx, is one example of freediscovery-style
software. Children as
young as 18 months can enjoy pressing
keys on the keyboard and seeing a pic
ture or animation appear on the screen
with musical accompaniment. Each key
produces a different result.
• Muppets on Stage, from Sunburst.
has several activities built around the
Muppet Learning Keys, ranging from
free-form exploration to more struc
tured activities such as counting and
letter recognition. The Sunburst manual
is loaded with ideas for this program.
Recognizing Letters
Letter recognition is a popular topic for
developers of early childhood software.
• Stickybear ABC. from Weekly Read
er, a program that focuses on letter rec
ognition activities, is accompanied by a
hardbound picture book and includes a
parent's manual with many excellent
suggestions. For example, pressing the
N key brings up a nighttime picture.
The manual suggests that if the child
says this is a picture of stars, the parent
should say. "Yes, there are stars in this
picture. Do stars appear in the day? No.
stars appear at " This is welcome
coaching for parents.
• First Letter Fun, from MECC. ex
plores the matching of initial sounds
with letters (it contains examples for all
letters except Q and X). After being
shown a picture, the child has to find
the key representing the initial sound of
the object. The graphics are particularly
well done.
• Stepping Stones, by CompuTeach, ex
plores letter and word recognition
through a variety of activities that fa
miliarize the child with the alphabet,
teach the relationship between letters,
words, and objects, and reinforce the
34 COMPUTE!
concept that words arc formed from a
series of letters.
• Alphabet Circus, by DLM. is another
letter-recognition program that ex
plores, among other things, letter se
quence. Because of the small type used
on the screen and because of its written
instructions, this program needs paren
tal involvement when used with young
children. Unfortunately, Alphabet Circus
uses the standard keyboard, which can be
confusing for the letter-sequence game.
• Charlie Brown's ABC's, by Random
House, has wonderful graphics. The
child presses any letter, and a picture
associated with that letter appears on
the screen. When the same letter is
pressed again, the picture becomes ani
mated and is accompanied by music.
• Getting Ready to Read and Add. by
Sunburst, takes advantage of the Muppet
Learning Keys, although it can be used
with a regular keyboard. The program
contains several activities designed to
help children recognize letters and pat
terns, discriminate between different
shapes, and develop their memory.
• The Muppet Word Book, by Sun
burst, includes a number of activities
designed to help children learn to com
plete simple words and discriminate be
tween letters and symbols. This
program's graphics are excellent.
Thanks for the Memory
Memory development is featured in
many programs for preschoolers.
• Animal Hotel, by Learning Technol
ogies, plays memory games with chil
dren by hiding a group of animals in
several rooms. The child is shown all
the animals for up to five seconds; then
the doors close. When an animal ap
pears on the screen, the child has to
choose the matching room.
• Memory Building Blocks, by Sun
burst, uses a similar show-and-hide
game to get children to pair matching
shapes, pictures, words, or musical pas
sages (this program can even be chal
lenging to adults at some levels).
Another Sunburst product, Muppetville.
provides more activities of this
type, but with greater sensitivity to the
needs of young computer users.
• Math and Me. by Davidson and As
sociates, provides lots of activities suit
able for children ages 3-6. While this
product is well done, it reflects a ten
dency toward the drill programs for
which this company is so well known.
My own preference is geared toward
less structured activities.
• The Learning Library, Volume One.
from Sesame Street, is a series of games
designed to help children develop their
basic counting and pattern recognition
skills through activities based on Sesame
Street characters. As with the Muppet
materials, these programs have a magic
touch that makes them quite appealing
to young children.
Other Stuff
There are a number of other computerbased
activities appropriate to young
children. Here's just one example.
• Stickybear Opposites. by Weekly
Reader, lets children explore opposing
word pairs such as above/below and off/
on. This program is very well done, and
is accompanied by a copy of Yes and
No, a hardbound picture book by Rich
ard Hefter.
The Sound of Little Fingers
In homes equipped with personal com
puters, the patter of little feet is often
accompanied by the sound of little fin
gers on the keyboard. As we explore the
use of personal computers by very
young children, it's important that we.
as parents, don't feel the need to pres
sure our children for achievement, but
instead, that we allow them to develop
at their own pace.
The computer, like books, blocks,
dolls, and toy trucks, may be a wonder
ful tool for child development, but
nothing can compare with the power of
a warm word and a warm hug.