The Child's Play tape consists of the following four programs: 'Numberbond', a program designed to help the child learn simple arithmetical bondings; 'Spellaway', a spelling and multiplication tables tester; 'Shapes', a program to show the relationship between objects of different shape and colour; and 'Fractions', which tests and develops perception of the relationship between a fraction and the original whole.

All these programs are brightly presented in a pleasant format and are easy to use. As they are intended for the early learner they need to be set up by an adult ready for the child's use. They all appear to do what they set out to do but there are aspects that mar the overall picture. Spelling programs should be scupulously checked for spelling and grammatical correctness and yet Spellaway contains at least two major spelling mistakes as well as misplaced apostrophes. Moreover, the categories of words and their contents were peculiar - especially as this is supposed to be Child's Play! How many adults would expect to know the meaning of 'frequentative' or 'quadrumanous'? And is 'intumescence' really a child's word? This criticism applied to most sections of this program but fortunately was counteracted by the fact that one could create one's own word lists.

Having made that criticism it must be said that the simple and straightforward programs offered by Dial represent good value for money, especially if the programs fill a particular need for your child or your class, and - yes - they can be transferred to disc!