Baby Games is the perfect computer introduction for children aged 18 months to 4 years. The program is distributed with a basic plug-in (English1) which helps young children learn to recognize the alphabet, numbers 1-20, basic geometric shapes, colors, and animals with accompanying sounds. Baby Games is non-competitive and encouraging as well as fun to play and educational. The program makes it fun and easy for the young child to interact with the computer while engaged in learning. The buttons are large for small fingers and the instructions are very clear for young children to understand. Baby Games 2.0 supports a plug-in architecture which means that additional games can be added by parents, myself, or other interested parties. You can be assured that your investment in Baby Games will be worth far more than the license fee.
What are the system requirements?
You will need an 030 or higher processor with 3657K of available RAM for 030/040 processors and 6-8MB RAM for PowerPC processor. Virtual Memory or Ram Doubler is OK. The program also requires 7.3 MB of disk space with the English1 plug-in only. Additional disk space is required to install other plug-ins.
What role does the parent play?
The games in all of the plug-ins are designed to foster educational interaction between parents and children. Parents may want to sit with their child during the first couple of play sessions to explain the buttons and how to use the mouse. The level of difficulty in the English1 plug-in is generally as follows (lowest to highest) :
•Animal game
•Colors game
•Shapes game
•Numbers game
•Alphabet game
Children will most likely master animals, colors, and shapes first and then need more help with numbers and letters.
How are the games played?
Each game consists of two exercises. They are as follows:
Identification exercise: Each game will open to this exercise by default. Your child will know that the exercise is active by the verbal cue “Click on one of the squares” and by the color (white) of the middle control button (sound icon). In this exercise, your child can click on any of the squares to hear a verbal identification of the contents (i.e. “This is a tiger.”). This is designed to build your child’s base of information for use in the finding exercise. You can return to the game selection window by clicking on the left control button indicated by the arrow.
Finding exercise: The finding exercise can be activated by clicking on the right control button (indicated by a “?”). A verbal cue will indicate “Find ...”. Each correct answer is greeted with an encouraging response. Each incorrect answer is greeted with a gentle “No. Try again”. Once all items in a game have been identified, the child is notified and instructed to click on the button to play again. You can return to the game selection window by clicking on the left control button indicated by the arrow.
These games are non-competitive and are intended to be fun and educational. They will also help your child become familiar with the use of a computer.
Baby Games is distributed with one plug-in entitled "English1". Additional plug-ins will become available over time. You have several options regarding the selection of a plug-in when Baby Games starts up. If you have several plug-ins in your plug-ins folder, you may elect to choose a plug-in at each program start up. However, you may also elect to have one particular plug-in start-up each time without displaying the plug-in window. To do this, simply highlight the desired plug-in in the plug-in window when the program starts up and click on the "Default Selection" box. This tells Baby Games that you want the highlighted plug-in to load each time Baby Games starts up and that you do not wish to see the plug-in window. You can change this election at any time by doing one of the following:
(1) Hold down the OPTION key as Baby Games starts up. Or,
(2) Click at the top of the screen when Baby Games is running to make the menu bar visible. Select "Clear plug-in" from the plug-in menu. Restart Baby Games to see the plug-ins window.
How can I purchase the game?
Baby Games is available for demonstration prior to purchase, cost $15. The program is time limited prior to registration. You and your child will have 30 cumulative minutes or three (3) consecutive application launches (whichever comes first) to evaluate the program. Once your evaluation period is over or at any time during your evaluation, you may elect one of following payment options:
(1) Click on the Register program included inside the Baby Games folder or click on the Register button in the About Baby Games window under the Apple menu (You can access this window while Baby Games is running by clicking at the top of the screen to make the menu bar visible). Follow the instructions provided in the program. Your registration code will be sent within 24 hours of receipt of payment. All major credit cards are accepted as well as cash, checks, money orders and foreign currencies.
(2) Register on-line at my WWW site at http://www.cyserv.com/dstoll/index . All transactions are secure. You will receive your registration code within 24 hours of receipt of payment.
(3) Enter registration code by doing the following:
•Open Baby Games
•Click at the top of the screen to make the menu bar visible
•Select About Baby Games from under the Apple Menu
•Click on the register button
•Click yes that you do have a registration code
•Enter your name and the registration code where requested EXACTLY as specified in your registration confirmation email (code will be supplied within 24 hours of receipt of payment)
That’s it. You now have unlimited use of Baby Games.
About The Author
I am the father of two children ages 3 and 1. Both love Baby Games. Although, my 1 year old is a bit too young to do more than bang on the keyboard. Many of the child voices in the program are that of my 3 year old, Jonathan. The crying baby is my 1 year old, Joshua. I have a Specialist In Education (Ed.S.) from Georgia State University. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Georgia and a National Certified Counselor (NCC) through the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). I have worked with children and adolescents for the past 8 years. My wife, a high school educator, provided consultation and critique of program features.
I hope you and your child(ren) receive many hours of enjoyment from playing Baby Games. Please contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions for future programs at dstoll@atlcom.net.
***
Special thanks to Bettina Reinemann for providing some of the artwork for the Alphabet game in the English1 plug-In.
***
NOTE TO PLUG-IN DEVELOPERS:
You may distribute plug-ins freely or market them royalty free provided you follow the guidelines provided in the plug-ins instructions. These instructions are found in the Plug-Ins folder.
NOTE TO DISTRIBUTION MANAGERS:
This program may be distributed via CD-ROM, to network archives, or other means as long as the Read Me file and the registration program are included with it. I do request that I be notified when distribution takes place.
