Two for tots makes a brave start

The two programs Griddle and Matchplay prove to be a fairly creditable debut from Clockwork Computing, providing quite valuable practice in early matching and recognition.

Griddle is the less successful of the two, although the idea itself is original and imaginative.

There is a picture which is hidden behind a number of blocks, ranging from four to 36, depending on the level selected.

The blocks can be revealed by correctly answering questions on Shapes. Numbers or Numbers and Numerals.

Although quite attractive, colour is not used sufficiently to hold the attention for long. Matchplay is altogether a far better program, very simple in content and containing three linked parts: Match, Garden and River.

Match gives practice in recognising the relationship between six animal and two human shapes. The child merely has to recognise similar shapes, even though the colours might not be the same.

These shapes then reappear in a delightful little game called Garden. Here the child decides where in a picture each character belongs.

There is better use of colour here, and I found the program was much more successful for that reason.

In River, there is a scene with some constant features. Others appear in a certain place for a little while before disappearing again.

When they have all been shown briefly, one reappears at a time, moving around on the picture when the Spacebar is pressed. The child has to press Return when the character is in its correct position.

To sum up. these are fair first programs from Clockwork.

Phil Tayler