Re: Game for toddlers
On Monday 04 July 2011 21:51:20 T o n g wrote:
> Or, a bit OT, your *first hand experiences* of online games for toddlers
> please?
I used them with my granddaughter some years ago with great success. The BBC
had educational broadcasts for schools and had matching Internet pages,
including several games. I also found a few games on other educational
sites.
I say "had" because this was ten years and more ago. But I know they still
have online stuff, to link with other children's programmes now. And the
quality is likely to have gone up rather than down.
She was convinced that the reason that my computer was so much fun was because
it ran Linux; and put some effort in in the school playground to convert
others!!
There are also games in Linux for children of all ages (including 68!!) that
she enjoyed. I remember the she particularly liked Frozen Bubble, but I
think that was probably 5 or 6 on rather than 4. She also liked Tuxpaint and
was so pleased with her "picture" that she took a photo of it! (It couldn't
be saved, unfortunately.) I simply don't remember the other games, but there
were others.
But my experience suggests that what the games etc. _are_ is of secondary
importance. She had a Mac of her own with plenty of good children's software
installed, but barely touched it. The school complained that she barely
looked at their Windows box(en). The real difference wasn't that I ran
Linux, when the others did not (though I am all in favour of brainwashing
them young!!), but that we did it together.
My computers gained ascendancy in her enjoyment for 2 reasons, I think. 1) I
did it *with* her, which actually led to her using the computer when I wasn't
there, say because I was cooking supper. I used still to pop my head in
fairly frequently and have a word with her and look at what she was doing and
discuss it, but also 2) I told her that she couldn't do any harm. She could
explore all she liked and there was no danger that she would cause problems.
So that for that much the fact that it was Linux was indeed relevant. I
simply didn't tell her that root existed, let alone how to get at it.
She wanted to do the games enough to learn the necessary motor skills. But
throughout it was done because she wanted to do it. She didn't perceive my
initial prods, which I kept very low key.
It was "Would you like to play a game on my computer?" not "Come on, time for
the computer."
HTH - rather than bores you ;-) -
Lisi
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