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→A Sample Activity
# press no keys at all. After twelve seconds the next activity will automatically begin.
===Special Features===
====Rewards====
When your child makes a correct keyboard entry in an activity, he or she is instantly rewarded by a colorful response on the display screen and a bright musical tone or series of notes. These responses reinforce correct answers and motivate the child to continue playing the activity.
====Error Signal====
Special care has been taken to make the response to incorrect key presses low-key and non-intimidating. Pressing the wrong key produces a quick "uh-oh" sound that gives instant feedback on wrong answers and encourages the child to try again.
===="Want to Play Again?====
After an activity has been played a specific number of times, the child is offered an opportunity to go on playing that activity or to move on to the next one. The "Want to Play Again?" screen appears and directs the child to press the space bar if he or she wants to repeat the activity. If the space bar is not pressed within twelve seconds, the next activity begins automatically. The child can also press the zero key '''0''' to instruct the computer to proceed immediately to the next activity.
====Enter Key====
This key is pressed to start most of the activities in the Early Learning Fun module.
====Space Bar====
The space bar is used only when the "Want to Play Again?" screen appears. It instructs the computer to repeat the present activity.
====Zero Key====
Again, this key is used only when "Want to Play Again?" appears on the screen. Pressing '''0''' tells the computer to go immediately to the next activity.
====Shift P====
If you or your child want to review the instructions while playing an activity, hold down the '''SHIFT''' key and press '''P'''. This action returns you to the instruction screen for the activity.
====Period Key====
This key allows your child to find a favorite activity quickly. Holding down the "." key causes the first screen of each activity to flash briefly on the screen (similar to flipping the pages of a book). When the desired activity is reached, release the "." key, and the instructions for that activity appear on the screen.
====Shift R====
Holding down the '''SHIFT''' key and pressing '''R''' will instruct the computer to return to the selection list of module contents. This key sequence allows your child to leave one activity and select another quickly.
====Shift Q====
If your child has been playing the module activities and another family member wants to use some other part of the computer, just hold down the '''SHIFT''' key and press '''Q'''. This action instructs the computer to leave the module and return to the main computer title screen.
====Time Alerts====
When no key has been pressed for a period of two minutes, the computer produces a quick "pip, pip, pip" sound and shows the selection screen for the module contents. Then the computer plays a "Westminster Chimes" melody, to notify you it's waiting for some instruction. Fifteen seconds later, with no key presses, the Chimes are repeated. Then, if there is no keyboard response after fifteen seconds more, the computer returns to the main computer title screen.
===Other Suggested Activities===
Don't be surprised if your child invents new games to play with the Early Learning Fun module. Children are quick to see and implement game possibilities that we adults tend to overlook. Here are a few ideas we've thought of:
====Color Identification====
Help your child learn and identify the colors that appear on the screen. Any activity in the module is well suited to this purpose.
====Counting====
When playing "Number Please?" help your child learn the correct order of the counting numbers 1 through 9 by pressing the number keys in sequence and counting aloud the objects that appear on the screen. For younger children, you may want to bring blocks or similar toys to the computer and count these also, to add a concrete dimension to the activity.
====Shape Identification====
The shapes used in the module activities are basic shapes found in hundreds of real-world situations. Help your child learn the correct names for these shapes. He or she may even have a set of blocks that includes circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. Using these blocks along with the activities on the screen gives an important tactile dimension to this experience. "How Many Things?," "Make a Match," and "Shape Hunt" are good places to try this activity.
====Letter Sounds (Phonics)====
In the letter activities, you and your child can try to think of other objects that begin with the letter on the screen. Younger children will need guidance in identifying beginning sounds and associating them with letters, but older children may even be able to identify the sound a letter makes within a word. For the vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) in the module, the short vowel sounds are used (apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, and umbrella). Explain the long vowel sound - "the letter says its name" - and help your child think of words beginning with these sounds.
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