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"The
wise person makes learning a joy. . . Proverbs 15:2"
This area is for information on computer books and software to help
children learn about computers, programming, and creating multimedia
programs.
Programming for Kids
 | Stagecast Creator lets kids,
parents and teachers build programs - everything from simulations to games
to animated storybooks. The interface is very easy to use! They have
downloadable demos at their site. (Win and Mac). |
| Klik and Play - highly recommended to me by a parent whose
child has built many programs with it, and says it runs on a machine as
slow as a 386. It is now available for FREE to schools at
www.clickteam.com The fee for
others to register is only $9. It has been replaced by The Games Factory -
below. (PC - 386, Win 3.1 up)
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| Adam Stamper (14) writes:
The Games Factory by
Click Team (Hit multimedia) is a useful Windows (16 or 32 Bit) tool
for making graphical games, screensavers, and presentations. You mainly
Drag & Drop items onto the "Level Editor" screen, then assign them things
to do in the "Event Editor", and arrange the order/atttributes of the
levels in "Storyboard Editor". Ages 10+ (Unless computer Whizz-Kid).
Crashes less than Klik & Play, its predecessor.
|
| Softronics, Inc. has FREE
MSW Logo for Windows, with Tutorial documents.
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| Softronics, Inc. has a
evaluation copy of MMLogic, a Multimedia Logic Design System (Win
95)
|
| Logomation is a beginning programming package that lets you
program cool graphics. Free download to try it. Review and download for
the Mac
or PC.(Mac,
Win 95/98/NT)
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| The MIT Media Laboratory
FTP site has several different free logos, for the mac, pc, and unix.
|
| Visual MacStandardBasic is an
easy to learn programming environment - and the standard version is only
29.95. You can also download a demo for a look at the program. (Mac)
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| Don
Sleeth has been teaching his daughter to program using MicroWorlds
Project Builder, a commercial product for the PC and Mac. Check out
the examples of how he and his 9 year old daughter began to program.
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| And here's a link to LCSI, the
makers of MicroWorlds, available for the PC and Mac.
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| Terrapin Software offers
Logo products for PC and Mac including stuff for Robotics, curriculum
materials (with site licenses available) and a selection of books.
|
| Ron Nicholson has FREE
Chipmunk Basic, and pointers to other Basic programming pages. (Mac is
complete - Windows is under development,)
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| The Liberty Basic Homepage
has a lot of Basic tips and information.
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| HyperCard has been used successfully by students to make books,
animations, small games, and the like.
HyperCard Heaven has a lot
of information, including where you can download the player if you don't
have it. (Mac Only)
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| Conrad Weiler (conrad@outlawnet.com) recommends:
HyperGasp, a very useful Hypercard
stack creation helper that allows color, animation, sound, text, etc.
including creating WEB materials. Very useful helper for those who don't
have time to learn Hypercard scripting (Hypertext language). You can
download HyperGasp Light
for a free demo.
|
| Run Mac Programs on your PC using the
ARDI Executor.
Guy Louis says, "It's GREAT. It
runs fast. HyperCard 2.2 runs on it. You can download a full demo at the
ARDI site."
|
| Run Mac Programs on your PC using
Basilisk II for
Windows.
|
| Paul Mace's Xpower is a set of
visual composition tools that let you do those things that are naturally
visual by pointing, clicking, dragging and drawing for picture, text or
window placement and animation path creation. An Editor and interactive
debugger are built around the 'G' language. 'G' is simple, English-like,
and free of inscrutable programming symbols and conventions. Add a few
commands, such as BUTTON, SHOW, FLY and COUNT to a presentation, and you
can be finishing interactive Windows applications. Demo available from the
web site.
|
| GamesBasic is a game creation
package available for free download. It is currently in beta test. Win
95/98. |
Multimedia for Kids
| PC WholeWare has
Slim Show, a with a 5-star ZDNet rating. Create and play
professional looking, interactive multimedia projects. System
requirements: IBM PC or compatible computer running Windows 3.1x or
Windows 95. Sound card.
|
| HyperStudio is another neat
multimedia program, and you can download the player and projects built by
students, or order a free CD-ROM and check it out for yourself. You can
also download a copy to enter their yearly contest! (Mac and Win) |
Books' About Computers for Kids
| Bill Rubin rubin@ibm.net writes:
I've been looking around for a good book which my 9 year old could use to
learn about how computers work (on the inside, she already knows how to
use them) and I think I finally found one at my school's Scholastic Book
Fair last week! It's called "Computers for Beginners" from Usborne
Computer Guides and the copy I have is a special Scholastic edition. It's
only 46 pages long, but it explains how various things in a PC work,
including ink jet, CD-ROM, monitors. [...]
The ISBN is 0-590-67311-4, although that is likely the Scholastic
edition which book stores can't get. The price on this edition is $3.95.
Oh, and the authors are Margaret Stephens and Rebecca Treays. [Grace adds,
"I have liked almost every Usborne book I've seen, they are excellent
books for kids"]
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| Gary Hunt recommended the above book, and added:
Usborne also sells the book "Computers" as part of their Young
Scientist Series, which is my favorite. It is filled with great
illustrations and explanations, along with projects the children can do,
such as building a paper computer that uses Basic to generate 16,000
limericks and creating a binary to decimal converter with your fingers.
It's terrific and my children agree.
|
| Frank Caggiano wrote:
One book I highly recommend you add to the books section is "The Great
Logo Adventure" by Jim Muller.
|
| Jacob Abrams (starfire@netwiz.net)
wrote a document (mac only) about computer hardware. It was written to
enable anyone who knows a little about computers to be able to read it,
and still appeal to those whom are trying to learn more. This document
doesn't cover macintosh hardware only. It does have some misspellings in
it, but it also is free. Many good illustrations along with the text. This
seems good for older kids. (1897 k,
download info-mac/info/how-computers-work.hqx) |
Back to Activities
We strive to keep all of the links provided up-to-date and functioning
properly, but as you can image, with the measures in which technology is
expanding, it's tough to keep current with everything. So, if you come across
a broken link (i.e., a link that is not connecting properly), please
contact us. We will investigate the issue and contact you as soon as we
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