PRESS RELEASE
November 15, 1999
Public Affairs
Lori Ann Neri, Communications Specialist
(617) 349-8525
CHILDREN'S SOFTWARE FOR HOLIDAY GIFT-GIVING
Recommended by Lesley College
Cambridge, Mass. (Nov. 15, 1999) - Are you looking for something fun and educational to give a child this holiday season?Lesley College, a nationally-recognized leader in education, is offering tips for choosing children's software that are both educational and enjoyable.
"Children's software has become a very lucrative business," says Eileen Barnett, director and educational software specialist of Lesley College's Instructional Computing department. "As more and more families add a computer to their home, software publishers are reaching out with a growing collection of children's software titles. Some are worthwhile - they are child directed, fun and educational. Adults should take the time to do a bit of research before they purchase software for a holiday gift, or they may wind-up with a title that has limited use."
Lesley College, which has sifted through thousands of software programs on the market, is a member of the Educational Software Preview Guide Consortium that annually publishes "The Educational Software Preview Guide." The college's software collection has more than 2,000 titles, the majority of which are educational software packages for pre-school level through college.
Some holiday gift-giving suggestions from Lesley College:
"Thinkin Things Toony the Loon's Lagoon" (Edmark, a division of IBM). Preschool through grade 3. Program is designed to help young children build their higher-level thinking skills. There are six activities that celebrate children's intellectual diversity. (http://www.edmark.com)
"Captain Kangaroo Life's First Lessons" (Knowledge Adventure) Preschool. Children join all of the characters from this popular television show as they search for missing treasure and learn about being responsible, caring individuals. This program offers a wonderful opportunity for parent-child interaction. The "Parent Tips" section provides some hints for playing activities, for encouraging good behavior, a reading list for parents, and some activities to try away from the computer. (http://www.knowledgeadventure.com)
"SPY Fox 2: Some Assembly Required" (Humongous Entertainment) Kindergarten through grade 5. The clever and cool secret agent SPY Fox is back in his second Junior Adventure, which finds him the unlikely recipient of a trash bag containing an empty box for a some-assembly-required evil robot model, made by S.M.E.L.L.Y. (Society for Meaningless Evil, Larceny, Lying and Yelling). This adventure game encourages children to problem solve as they direct the journey and overcome challenges at their own pace. (http://www.humongous.com)
"Blue's Treasure Hunt Adventure" (Humongous Entertainment) Preschool. Children join Steve and Blue and their friends as they search for the treasure chest that holds the keys to the land of Great Discovery. Children use critical thinking and problem solving skills as they collect treasure scrolls, find and collect Blue's clues and explore Blue's neighborhood. (http://www.humongous.com)
"Dr. Seuss Preschool & Kindergarten" (Broderbund, a division of The Learning Company) Preschool - kindergarten. The Learning Company has taken some of the most beloved characters from the world of Dr. Seuss and incorporated them into instructional programs. In "Dr. Seuss Preschool," students follow the adventures of Horton the elephant and baby Elma Sue as they search for Elma Sue's missing mother. At each stop, a different Dr. Seuss character engages students in an educational activity such as practicing phonics or working on number recognition and counting. In "Dr. Seuss Kindergarten," children join Gerald McGrew as he travels to exotic places to collect animals for his zoo. As children successfully complete an activity, such as practicing phonics or developing sentence building skills, they can help Gerald gather the animals. (http://www.learningco.com)
"Tonka Workshop CD-ROM Playset" (Hasbro Interactive) Preschool. This life-size workshop sits on top of a Windows keyboard allowing young children to experience "hands-on" fun using six playset tools to control the many different onscreen tools and activities. (http://www.hasbro.com)
"ClueFinders Math Ages 9-12" (The Learning Company) Elementary - middle school. Children join the Clue Finders as they travel to a small village high in the Himalayas searching for ancient treasures that have disappeared. There are 24 mysteries to solve. By solving puzzles, playing arcade-style games, and using problem-solving skills, they will have fun with numbers and build the math skills necessary for the fourth, fifth and sixth grades. (http://www.learningco.com)
"Diorama Designer" (Tom Snyder Productions) Elementary - middle school. An easy-to-use tool for designing, printing, and assembling 3-D dioramas. Children may choose from almost 400 ready-made elements in four historical periods - Medieval, Native America, Colonial American, and Contemporary American - to help make their diorama unique. (http://www.teachtsp.com)
"Wild Africa: Okavango, Chobe, Makgadikgadi" (Sumeria) Middle School and up. This second in a series of CD-ROM's focusing on Africa's national parks and the endangered animals that inhabit them. Filmed entirely on location, this CD-ROM takes the user to Botswana and Zimbawe to explore the Okavango Delta, Chobe, Makgadikgadi, and Hwange national parks. (http://www.sumeria.com)
"Music Ace 2" (Harmonic Vision) Elementary school and up. Designed for both beginner and intermediate music students, this program presents fundamental music skills and music theory through 24 lessons, challenging games and a creative composition tool. http://www.harmonicvision.com)
"Stagecast Creator" (Stagecast Software, Inc.) Elementary school and up. With Stagecast creator, users can develop original "worlds" for their own-interactive stories, games and simulations. They can create characters, the rules by which they interact, and the worlds in which they exist. (http://www.stagecast.com)
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