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 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/201107042304.55645.lisi.re...@gmail.com
