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Simple programs for small children? Read what Daphne Sullivan and Mike Gerrard have to say.

Three programs are included on this cassette to provide practice in addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20 for pre-school and primary children. To make the task more fun, the sums are presented in both picture and standard numerical form.

These programs teach or test a child who is learning the basic concepts of addition and subtraction, by both completing computer-set sums and by setting their own questions.

The first program displays a number of blocks at the bottom of the screen. An engine pulling two trucks enters and halts in the centre of the screen. Some blocks are loaded onto each truck, and when the player has correctly counted them and has pressed the relevant number, the written form of the sum is displayed. As soon as the correct solution to this sum has been typed in, the train chugs off the screen, leaving behind the written sum together and the remaining usused blocks.

In the second of the programs, a boat laden with blocks appears. In a similar procedure, blocks are unloaded onto the quayside in order to illustrate a subtraction sum.

The final program Ducks provides practice in both addition and subtraction. A group of ducks sit on the bank of the river. The player is required to count how many leave the bank to take a swim or, alternatively, how many return.

Although this program is great fun for those already confident and competent in manipulating numbers, it is misleading to the uncertain. In each of the programs, the written sum does not correspond to the picture displayed, e.g. in the Ducks program the written sum may be 2 + 3 = 5 but the screen display shows two ducks in the water and 7 more ducks on the bank. Another point worth noting is that none of the programs include the concept of zero.

The graphics are imaginative and attractive and fun to watch, but for any real benefit to be gained, parental help is a must.

Although this program does not profess to be educational, it is concerned with helping children, aged 2 years and over, in the skill of identifying numbers 1-9 and the alphabet letters.

The purpose of the program is to identify correctly the letter or number randomly selected by the computer and to press the corresponding key.

Each correctly identified letter (both upper and lower case are displayed) or number is rewarded by a picture which either shows an article with the same initial letter or with the relevant number of items. Some pictures are accompanied by an appropriate tune/sound, e.g. when the xylophone appears (for 'x') each key on it lights up as its note on the so-fa scale is heard. If a wrong key is pressed the letter remains until correctly identified.

For parents who want to leave a child alone to complete the task, the player's success rate is recorded and displayed in the form of a percentage after each letter or number.

In spite of the imaginative graphics, this program falls short of either teaching or skills of recognition and matching. But since the letters and numbers displayed do not resemble their keyboard equivalent, matching is almost impossible.

The Daily Mirror has entered the software market with Mirrorsoft, and has done so with some style.

Mirrorsoft's aim is said to be "computing for the family", with the purpose of the two games on this tape, Sum Vaders and Robot Tables, being to teach addition, subtraction and multiplication by using simplified arcade-style games.

The packaging is handscome, a large sturdy wallet including screen shots on front and back and comprehensive instructions both here and as options when the programs are loaded.

Both games can be played by one or two people. They are designed so that even the youngest players can safely be left to cope alone by disabling the Break key and including only the simplest of error-trapped instructions to follow. The graphics might not satisfy the arcade addicts, but they're smoothly done and should appeal to their audience.

Sum Vaders tests addition or subtraction and offers five skill levels; the easiest deals only with numbers up to 9, the hardest up to 99. A space ship slides across the top of the screen and a robot starts to descend. There is a number on both the ship and the robot. The player must add or subtract the two numbers and type the answer before the robot reaches the ground. Only one chance is permitted as a wrong answer jams the keys. Right answers score points, but if five robots manage to land then that's the end of the game and the total score is given. There is also a high score record.

If you're proving to be good at the game the space ship flies lower and lower demanding quicker responses.

Robot Tables is naturally enough a test of the multiplication tables. The five skill levels range from two times tables only through to 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables at the hardest level. The setting is a robot factory, with the raw material for a robot appearing on a conveyor belt at the top left of the screen. Each piece of material has a number on it, and you must say if that number is the next one in sequence for the table being tested, which is shown on the side of one of the machines. Only two keys are needed for this game, 1 if you accept the number and SPACE if not.

If you correctly spot the wrong numbers this raw material disappears in one of several ways, and if you're correct with the right numbers then a perfect robot pops out at the end of the sequence of conveyor belts, mincers and machines. You're aiming to get ten good robots in a row at the foot of the screen, but if you get a wrong answer then the robot produced is of distinctly inferor quality. The game sounds easy enough, but it is a good test of your knowledge of the multiplication tables. There isn't much time in which to enter your answer.

This is an enjoyable package of two games, good value for money, and a welcome attempt to bring a little learning into the mass software market.