Home Computing Weekly
31st May 1983
Aimed at children aged two upwards, this program for the 48K Spectrum uses colour, sound and hi-res graphics to give practice in selecting letters of the alphabet.
It loaded first time and concise instructions are given on screen and cassette insert. The program auto-ran, always a good idea with educational programs, and an option of three levels is offered.
Level one lets the parent limit the number of letters used in the program, and level two uses the complete alphabet. The program works by selecting and displaying a picture in colour hires graphics - subsequent pictures follow in alphabetical sequence, and the child enters first letter of the name of the object.
Level three displays a graphics lower case letter, large size. The child types in the corresponding uppercase keyboard letter and, if correct, the picture is then drawn.
The computer plays a verse of Baa Baa Black Sheep for a correct answer - good, positive motivation.
The pictures do tend to take a while to be drawn and after the first few times are easily recognised. I found that children got impatient because they wanted to enter their letter before it was complete. Nevertheless a valuable program.
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