Explore the World of Soft…ids, Adults, Educational/RocelcoInc-ExploreTheWorldOfSoftware-KidsAdultsEducational-Vol2-Shareware.iso/educate/disk168/ppk.doc

Text File | 1992-08-17 | 14.2 KB | 319 lines

                        Preschool Pack
                 Copyright (c) 1992  PractiComp
                         Vicki Watson
            6490 Dubois Rd.  Delaware, OH 43015-8931
               614-548-5043  Compuserve 71043,3706



The colorful graphics, songs, and speech of Preschool Pack will
be sure to capture the attention of your preschooler.  From the
main menu screen, which contains a cat which meows and winks when
clicked, to the bee which frowns when a mistake is made in the
matching game, you and your preschooler will appreciate the
careful design and attention to detail of Preschool Pack.  The
program does not require any keyboard input - all activities
may be performed entirely with a mouse.  Through five different
and entertaining activities your preschooler will learn about
counting, number recognition, the alphabet, colors, matching,
and classifying.

Activities include: "Animal Homes", where animals must be placed
in their appropriate homes - either farm, forest, or circus;
"Balloons", where the user must click on a color block matching
the color of a rising balloon before it pops; "Matching", a memory
game with an animated bee rewarding the user who locates all
matches; "Counting", where the user counts along with the computer
as a variety of colorful images, from dinosaurs to dolls, are
displayed; and "ABC's" where the user must find all letters which
match a displayed letter.  "ABC's" uses speech to pronounce each
letter as it is selected.  All activities are reinforced with
cheerful music and animation sequences.

Preschool Pack was developed with the help of my two daughters -
Lisa (age 6) and Kristy (age 3).  I hope your children enjoy
our program as much as we have.  Your registration fee makes it
possible for us to continue producing programs such as Preschool
Pack.  If you continue to use this program, I hope you will
decide to become a registered user by sending in the following
registration form.  See the following form for details about
obtaining a copy of PPK which will greet your child by name!

               Shareware Registration Form - PPK 1.0

   Benefits Of Registering:
   All registered users receive over 50 extra pictures for use in
   Preschool Pack. You will also receive the most current version
   at the time of registration, support via phone or mail, and
   notification of and substantial discounts on program upgrades.
   The initial shareware screen is removed from the registered
   version, ie. the registered version will go directly to the
   main menu screen.

       [ ]  $10.00    (Standard Registration Fee, includes the
                       benefits listed above.)
             (or)

       [ ]  $15.00    (Your child will be greeted by name using
                       the program's speech synthesizer.)

            Child's Name: ________________________________

       [ ] $3.00 "Sounds Like A..." trial disk (see description at
                 the end of this file)

       [ ] $2.50 shipping (for orders outside the U.S. or Canada)

   The $15.00 registration provides a customized version with a
   welcome screen using computerized speech to greet your child
   by name.  Be sure to print the child's name clearly in the
   space provided above.

   Please send your check or money order to:

                                    PractiComp
                                    6490 Dubois Rd.
                                    Delaware, OH  43015-8931

   Name:    _________________________________________

   Address: _________________________________________

            _________________________________________

            _________________________________________

   Phone:   ________________________


   Disk Size:    [ ]  5 1/4"    [ ]  3 1/2"

   I received the shareware disk from:  ________________________

   Comments or suggestions:

   _____________________________________________________________

   _____________________________________________________________

   _____________________________________________________________


DISTRIBUTION

BBS Name: PPK10A.ZIP    PPK10B.ZIP      (disks 1 & 2)

Preschool Pack is a shareware product and may be freely copied
and shared with other computer users.  Continued use beyond a
reasonable evaluation period requires registration.  PPK may be
copied and distributed by shareware distributors or posted to
Bulletin Board systems.  Distributors, please include all
files listed below when distributing this product.


DISTRIBUTION FILES
PPK may be distributed on a single 720K disk, or two 360K disks.

  *** Disk1
  HELPME.BAT      * help batch file
  READ.ME         * installation instructions
  BROWSE.EXE      * file viewer
  PPK1.EXE        * a self-extracting archive containing:
    PPK.EXE          * executable file
    PPK.DOC          * program documentation
    PPK.GXL          * library of graphic images

  *** Disk2
  PPK2.EXE        * a self-extracting archive containing:
    PPK.VOI         * speech library file
    PPK.DVX         * speech index file


PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Preschool Pack requires 640K RAM, a hard drive, an EGA or VGA
color monitor, and a mouse.  PPK produces speech via digitized
voice files.  Because the speech is produced through the PC's
internal speaker, no additional sound cards are necessary.


INSTALLATION
Make a directory on your hard drive for Preschool Pack, then
change to that directory.  The PPK files are compressed into
the two files PPK1.EXE and PPK2.EXE.  These files will be found
on 2 disks in the 5 1/4" version, or may be on a single disk if
using 3 1/2" disks.  The required files are then extracted by
typing PPK1 and PPK2. This may sound complicated, but really isn't.
At the DOS prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER
after each command.  The information in ()'s should not be typed.

                                        MD \PPK
                                        CD \PPK
                 (Insert disk1)         A:PPK1
(Insert disk2, if using 2 disks)        A:PPK2

You must run PPK2 whether you are installing from 1 or 2 disks.
If you have 2 PPK disks, insert the second disk before running
PPK2, otherwise just leave the single disk in the drive. PPK may
be installed from any drive. If installing from a drive other than
A, substitute that drive letter where you see A: above.


RUNNING PRESCHOOL PACK
Change to the Preschool Pack directory and type PPK.

For slower computers (around 12 Mhz), you may find the animation
is too slow.  If this is the case, start the program with a /s
parameter.  You would type:         PPK /S
This parameter will speed up the mouse running across the main
menu screen, the Bee in the matching game, and the Butterfly in
the ABC game.


PRESCHOOL PACK INSTRUCTIONS
Click on STOP, or press ESC, to exit a screen or the program.

MAIN MENU SCREEN
Click on the musical notes to turn music on/off.
Click on the lips to turn speech on/off.
  For the music/speech an X over the icon indicates that the
  item is turned off.  If you want to turn it back on, just
  click again and the X will disappear.

  The music and speech are both produced using the PC's internal
  speaker, therefore it is not possible to adjust the volume.
  The volume level of the music and speech will depend upon the
  quality of your PC's internal speaker.

Click on the cat's head and it will meow and wink.
Click on the bottom right corner of the screen and a mouse will
run across the screen.
Click on the STOP sign to exit PPK and return to DOS.

   COUNTING:
   Click on 123 for the counting game.  When the next screen
   appears, a large number will be displayed in the upper left
   corner, and that number will be spoken.  For example the
   number 7 may appear.  You should then click the mouse anywhere
   on the screen 7 times.  For each click a picture will appear
   on the screen.  The program will count as each item appears.
   When you have clicked the correct number of times, the bear
   will dance and a song will play.  You may continue with the
   next number or click on STOP to end the counting game.  The
   child should be encouraged to count along with the program as
   the objects appear.  A mouse click will not be recognized by
   the program while the program is speaking.  Please wait until
   the number is spoken before clicking again.  When the child
   begins to count correctly you may wish to turn the speech off
   for this activity.  The mouse may be clicked more rapidly
   with speech turned off.

   COLORS:
   Click on the balloons for the color game.  You will see two
   rows of color blocks.  A colored balloon will appear on the
   right side of the screen and begin rising to the top of the
   screen.  Click on the block which is the same color as the
   balloon.  If you click on the correct block, that balloon
   will appear at the bottom of the screen and a different
   colored balloon will appear.  If you do not click the right
   color before the balloon reaches the top of the screen, that
   balloon will pop and a new balloon will appear.  Play
   continues until the display of correct balloons at the bottom
   of the screen is full.  You may click on the rabbit to speed
   up the balloon or on the turtle to slow down the balloon.
   A song will play when all the balloons are collected.  A new
   game will be set up allowing you to play again, or click
   the STOP sign to return to the main menu.


   MATCHING:
   Click on the squares to play the matching game.  Click on a
   square to reveal a picture, then click on another to find it's
   match.  A buzz will indicate no match, a beep will indicate a
   match. The bee will frown when a mistake is made and will smile
   when a correct match is found.  Clicking on the bee will make
   him fly over the screen.  The bee will fly and a song will
   play when all matches are found.  A new matching game will
   be set up allowing you to play again, or click the STOP sign
   to return to the main menu.

   ANIMAL HOMES:
   Click on the tiger to play the animal homes game.  The next
   screen will display a barn, a circus tent, and a forest.  In
   the lower, right-hand corner an animal will be displayed.
   Click on the picture that represents the correct home for
   this animal.  If the home you click on is not correct you will
   hear a buzz and will be able to try again.  When the correct
   home is clicked on, a full screen picture of that home will
   appear.  You may now click anywhere to place the animal on
   this screen.  You may click repeatedly to move the animal to
   different positions on this screen.  When the animal is placed
   where you want it, click STOP to return to the ANIMAL HOMES
   screen.  A new animal will appear and you can repeat the above
   process.  When all animals for a home have been placed, a song
   will play.  When all animals for the farm, circus, and forest
   have been placed you will be returned to the main menu.  You
   may also return to the main menu before all animals are placed
   by clicking on the STOP sign, or pressing ESC at the screen
   containing the pictures of the three animal homes.

   The animals included are listed below:

      FARM                     CIRCUS                  FOREST
      ---------------------------------------------------------
      Cow                      Seal                    Deer
      Pig                      Tiger                   Skunk
      Goat                     Lion                    Snake
      Chicken                  Monkey                  Fox
      Ducks                    Elephant                Owl
      Sheep                                            Raccoon
      Pony
      Goose


   ALPHABET:
   Click on ABC for the alphabet game.  You will see a large
   letter in the upper left corner, and the name of this letter
   will be spoken.  A grid containing various letters will be
   displayed on the right.  Click on each letter in the grid
   which matches the large letter on the left.  As each letter
   in the grid is clicked on, the name of that letter will be
   spoken.  If a matching letter is clicked it will be high-
   lighted.  When all matching letters are found a song will
   play and the butterfly will fly across the screen.  Below
   the large letter at the left, you will see a box with
   [A a Aa].  Click on this box at any time to change the case
   of the game.  Click on the capital 'A' to change to all
   upper-case.  Click on the lower-case 'a' to change to all
   lower-case.  Click on the upper/lower case 'Aa' to change
   to a mixture of upper and lower case.  You may click on the
   butterfly to play the ABC song, or click on the large letter
   in the upper left corner to hear the entire alphabet spoken.
   The game will continue until you click on the STOP sign or
   press ESC to return to the main menu.


=========================================================================
                  S O U N D S   L I K E   A . . .

   "Sounds Like A..." is another shareware program for children
   available from PractiComp.  A description of this program follows.
   You may receive a trial disk containing "Sounds Like A..." by
   including an additional $3.00 with your registration of PPK.

=========================================================================
"Sounds Like A..." is a unique and entertaining game for children
ranging in age from approximately 1 1/2 to 7 years of age.  The
program uses colorful graphics and a variety of high-quality sounds
ranging from a clock "ticking" to a dog "barking".  In the first of
two games, the child must find the picture which matches a sound.
Your child may hear, for example, a cow "mooing".  He/she will then
click on a square containing the picture of a cow.  A game consists
of 12 sound/picture pairs.  As each picture is matched with the
accompanying sound, parts of a larger underlying picture are revealed.
The second game is a matching or memory game with a slight twist.  The
child must match a picture with the appropriate sound.  For example, if
the child clicks on a block revealing a picture of a donkey, he must
find the block which contains the "Hee Haw" sound in order to make a
match.