Introduction

In children's literature there are numerous examples of "gateways to other worlds"; wardrobes, police boxes and chalk pits being three such portals which, to the unknowing eye, are no more than what they appear to be.

And so it is with Granny's Garden. Whenever her grandchildren and their friends come to stay, Granny wonders why they spend so much time in the garden. She has always been very fond of it but, since the operation on her leg, she finds the weeding and the pruning a little too much. As soon as they have finished their cornflakes the youngsters are outside and they seem to disappear for hours on end. Granny can never find them until, miraculously, just as lunch is ready, she hears their young voices chattering excitedly about witches, dragons, magic ravens and other such nonsense. "My word!" she always says, "What adventures you do have in my garden!"

The Action

The action takes place not in Granny's garden itself but in the Kingdom of the Mountains, a magical land to which the children (or other program users) are spirited. The King and Queen of the Mountains have been imprisoned in a secret cave by the Wicked Witch (well, who else?) and their offspring have been hidden away in four strange locations. To complete the adventure these missing children must be found.

[illustration]

Note for Cassette Users: If you are about to use this program for the first time you may wish to load "GG1" now. (See Loading Instructions).

GRANNY1

When the program is run (and following the title pages) the question "Ready to start?" appears.

If 'T' is entered the magic tree is set to be A1.

If 'OFF' is entered the sound will be switched off.

When 'Y' or 'YES' is entered the program begins.

(NB. 'T', 'OFF' and 'Y' can all be entered although RETURN must be pressed after each.)

Twelve trees appear and the correct one (different each time unless A1 has been selected) must be found.

Kingdom of the Mountains

"Do you have a password?"

If the program is being used for the first time or success has not yet been achieved in the Woodcutter's Cottage then the answer must he 'N' or 'NO'.

If a password has been given (as a result of finding the first missing child) the answer is 'Y' or 'YES', after which the password will be requested.

If a child types in a password derived from "GG2" an instruction to seek adult help is given.

Woodcutter's Cottage

Once the cottage has been entered there are four locations to be visited.

When the question "Where do you wish to go?" is asked it is only necessary to give the first letter of the location; eg. 'K' for kitchen.

Children who have explored the cottage without success may need to be encouraged to try again because things can change.

Once the missing child has been located the first password is issued. This password is needed to arrive at the Giant's garden.

Giant's Garden (See "Kingdom of the Mountains")

At this location there are five difficulties to be overcome and five creatures to provide assistance. Each creature can help once only, although this information is not given to the children. Success is rewarded by the issue of a second password.

It is now necessary to use the second program "GG2".

GRANNY2

As with "GG1" the question "Ready to start?" appears. This time the input 'T' will have no effect as the tree sequence is not used. 'OFF' will again turn off the sound.

Once 'Y' or 'YES' has been keyed in a password will be requested. "GG2", therefore, cannot be used without the input of a password derived from "GG1".

City of Dragons

Following a graphics sequence a problem is presented. Four baby dragons have to be tempted out of their cave and collared. Each dragon has a favourite food and (while luck may provide the solution) it is quite essential that children keep a record of all happenings. Most children will require to re-visit this section before solving the problem.

Land of Mystery

A grand finale features a map showing five locations. Two children have to be found and, as the area is riddled with hazards, problems, and uncooperative natives this section will require several visits and careful planning.

Using The Program

If a child is using the program at home they should he allowed to attempt to solve all the problems without help other than, of course, the minimal assistance required to ensure keyboard competence.

The average 7 year old can complete the program although it should be mentioned that the program increases in difficulty as one progresses and, of course, individual levels of reading skill, reasoning ability and motivation vary so much that achievement predictions are difficult to make.

Hints, tips and, above all, sympathy and interest, should be made available when required. While determination should be encouraged it should not be at the expense of success. Nevertheless, if you are in the middle of bathing the baby to the accompaniment of a ringing telephone when your son or daughter rushes upstairs to inform you that the Wicked Witch had got them again .....

In The Classroom

One of the great features of the micro is its ability to stimulate purposeful discussion. "Keep quiet and get on with your work!" must be used in school but, when heard too often, suggests that all work requires silence. In fact a far greater amount of "work" (eg. planning, logical reasoning, using the imagination and "WHAT-IFing") can result from discussion.

Granny's Garden provides opportunities for group work but groups should be encouraged to avoid disturbing other children. (After the 99th Wicked Witch it may be advisable to tell children how to turn the sound off!) Also passwords should be kept secret.

The program can be used by a whole class at the same time. While one group is catching dragons at the keyboard the rest of the class could be filling up their "Granny's Garden" scrapbooks with exciting accounts of journeys by butterfly or making models of Dragon cities. Indeed it was with the whole-class project in mind that the program was written.

Young children are bubbling over with fantastic notions and all they require is a little stimulation and encouragement to allow their ideas to assume a degree of reality. Most children will love the opportunity to extend the fantasy world of the program to include their own scenes, characters and happenings.

Almost all teachers of young children are equally adept at capitalising upon opportunities for creativity. Assuming that normally you are one of those teachers but it has been a long term and there are sports or parties to organise, here arc just a few ideas:-

1. the twelve trees: grids, co-ordinates, "battleships"
2. Land of Mystery: plans, maps
3. Castle of Dreams: what are dreams?, dreams in stories
4. Castles/Cottages: what differences are there?
5. Insects: friends or foes?
6. Forest: trees, litter, fire
7. Dragons}
8. Witches}- in history and literature
9. Giants}
10. Snake/Apple: Adam and Eve, are snakes always nasty?
11. Toadstools, etc.: Invent your own characters
12. Computers: Clever or stupid?

Additional Ideas

Create a Granny's Garden board game for other children to play. Make cards to give choices, hazards, creatures, etc.

Produce a map of the Kingdom of the Mountains showing the location of all the scenes from the adventure.

Discuss and provide possible explanations for some of the mysteries of the program:- why does Redhorn eat keys? why don't the ants follow the worm down the hole? where does the green broomstick come from? how can an apple kill a snake? how can you get inside a snail's shell? why is Ah-Choo always sneezing? (is it Asia b 'flu'?) how was it possible to take the Witch's cake safely? how does the computer know if you have taken an apple or a key?

Extend the dream sequence from the Castle by deciding which other parts of the program could have been adapted and included.

Find some suitable music and have a few drama sessions based on scenes from the adventure

Make your own adventure.

Write to 4MAT and let us know how you got on: feedback is always useful. Replies guaranteed.

Art. Each computer picture is made up of tiny squares. (In Mode 7, as used in this program, there are 6000 to each screen; ie. 80 x 75.) Use squared paper to produce some computer graphics

Compare your abilities with those of the computer. List the things that you and it can and cannot do.

User-Friendliness

Every effort has been made to ensure that children experience little or no difficulty when using the program. It is assumed that users know that 'ENTER' must be pressed after the completion of a response. Certain features are as follows:-

1. Text is double-height.
2. Where a text response is required the computer will ignore all non-alpha keys; eg. '5' and 'SPACE' will be ignored.
3. One-word reponses only are required.
4. Whatever the state of the 'CAPS LOCK' key all text inputs will follow the same format; ie. initial letter in uppercase and all subsequent letters in lower case.
5. Most incorrect spellings will be accepted
6. At the end of each section (whether success has been achieved or not) the user is returned to the point where a password is required.

Author's Note

Thanks are due to Simon (11) for the snail, Tracy (11) for the spider, Rebecca (11) for the toadstool and the worm, Adrian (40-) for the raven and Neil (40+ but he says he doesn't look it) for whistling "Queen of the Fairies" down the telephone and sometimes being encouraging.

The six children in the program bear little or no physical resemblance to the real Esther, Tom, Anna, Clare, Jessica and Daniel.

Ah-Choo is, in fact, a total-allergy victim and while the children are in the garden Granny drinks gin.

Hope you have fun with the program,
Mike Matson, Bideford, 1983.

Spectrum adaptation by Andrew Hain.

Loading

LOAD "" (ENTER)

The initial program will load and run followed, automatically, by the main program.

If problems in loading occur you may need to adjust volume and/or tone controls.