Magic World Builder

Ruth has been playing computer games for a bit after lunch this week while I have a nap. We have a couple of games that are fully loaded onto the computer (the disk is not needed to play) and so she can get any of those started and change as she likes. Today when I came up she had been playing around on the "101 Kid's Brainy games" and was in the 8-12 year old section. She found this "Magic World Builder" and got to follow the blueprint to complete this playground (as it gets harder you have to add more pieces and start turning the pieces around to fit properly). What makes this extra tricky is the fact that it's 3D and you can move up and down and around to see all the sides of your building. She has quickly learned some of the different things she can do with the mouse (like zooming in and out) and I think she is going to have loads of fun on this.

To do list

Ruth wanted to have the same type of "to do list" as Rachel had - so I got hers done last week. Rachel's are on the top and Ruth's on the bottom (where she can reach them).

Her "Art" this week. A picture
for Dad. She also ended up with
lots of stickers on herself. :-)

It was lovely to see how this week she took over the job of doing the chooks from Rachel (the red lables). She takes them any scraps, fetches the eggs and checks that they have enough food. She is such a big girl already.

Other items on her list are "Tell" when she tells me about the story that Rachel has read to her, "Music" for violin practice, "Computer" - a friend lent us a couple of new games so she is enjoying those and learning a lot. And then she has some items that are not for everyday. I have made enough for every day but for starters we are going to have it our goal to get to them at least once a week. "Baking", "Art", "Read" - at this stage it's just work on the alphabet, "Math" - at this stage just work on recognising the numbers or doing some counting or adding, "Sew" - she loves sewing and I want to try and get her something to do every week and "Clean" - it's nice for her to have a record of packing up or cleaning that she has done.

Not just puzzles

Ruth has been wanting new and more challenging computer games so I got her started on Rachel's Jumpstart Grade 1. She did a couple of the things in the main game but then I remembered the Music cd. I registered her as a pre-schooler when I set it up. She sat and played and played until she had finished the entire game. I will have to set her up as a kindergarten student next time.
It's a great game that teaches rhythm, memory of notes, knowing what sounds different instruments make as well as the basics of music reading (where one note is wrong and you have to work out quick one).
And she continues to enjoy her collage work. She knows that when she sticks heavy things on she has to let it dry before she can do the other side.

This was the other side done a couple of days later.

She had been talking about making one for each of us and so we asked her what we should use them for. Eventually we came up with the idea of Rachel keeping bottle tops in it. Rachel needs to collect bottle tops for Brownies and has found a few sources over the last week. So they are no longer just being kept in a packet but have a special bottle - lovingly made by Ruth.

JumpStart Preschool

Ruth is really enjoying this computer programme.

I can already see how these simple counting games have helped her counting. She is getting really good.
She is even starting to recognize the numbers with this game. They do say the number but she is able to at least recognize some of them before the number is even said.

Extra practice in recognizing the numbers in order and the letters too.

The memory game is also more advanced than on the Barnie DVD - so that's nice to get her mind that extra stimulation.

She quickly jumped to level 3 with letter recognition.

Colour by shape or number or letter is always fun.

Songs with the words highlighted as they sing.

Hide and seek where clues are given and you have to work out where the fish is hiding. This clue was "I rhyme with sock".

Odd one out. Great for showing the difference between letters.

And Ruth will always enjoys some puzzles.

I like how in this one she gets to see how two smaller different shapes together make the big one.

Lets Play School

Ruth wanted a break from Letterland and with her asking for a different computer game I remembered that our Barnie dvds have computer games on them. So she was excited to play "Let's Play School" today.


This first game is the hardest one - it's connect the dots (by number). I made her the card with numbers 1 - 10 so that she could see which one comes next. They also say the number as she clicks on it - so perhaps this will eventually help her to recognize numbers too. Once the picture has been completed it gets automatically coloured in and moves. So it's great fun for her.

She had been playing this memory game with us but I think playing it on the computer will help her get the idea of it better. And they start really simply too which is nice.

Making patterns. She has made coloured patterns with toys with me before but it was harder only having the pattern shown once. She quickly got the hang of it though.

And children always enjoy colouring in. Even if it's on a computer. :-)

Practice counting. As she picks the crayons up Baby Bop counts and the number appears on the box. So reinforcing the written number and counting.

Letterland

Ruth has really been enjoying her Letterland Computer game. First she has to find the letter (there are 5 different scenes that they take her to). They are given a clue with the same starting sound (like Golden Girl is by the goat). Then when they find the letterlander they get to play a game with them. One game is a maze where she has to collect all the letters that are the same. Only once she has collected them all will the gate open on the other side.

Another game is where she has to catch only the one letter in the basic. I was interested to note that the letters that have this game are b,d,p and q and those are the only letters that fall. So they are really focusing on these "problem" ones and making sure the children can see the difference. It's been amazing to see how quickly Ruth has learnt this and she can very quickly see if it is the correct letter or not.
Then there are rhymes. The last word of the rhyme is missing and she has to select the correct picture to finish the sentence.

One of her favorites is the puzzle. And the one she enjoys the least is the "spot the difference". There are 7 things different and she has to click on the right picture only (to either take something away or to add something). The game is really clever because it gets the children to look at detail - something they need when learning to differentiate between the letters. And it's a great game for children to play. Ruth had never done one before so she is learning really quickly.

Once she has found them all they need to be put in alphabetical order. So this is the one time she calls me to help. I then tell her what letter to put next by making the sound. So I will say "a" (not the name A like in the song but the sound) and then "b" "c" and she selects the card and puts it in order. Each time she plays the cards are put in different position at the top. So she is learning to recognize them and not just remember an order. It amazes me that within a couple of week she has learnt them all.
I had the letterland book and cd with Rachel but have really enjoyed having this game as well for Ruth. It has gotten her to learn the computer (which she is doing really well with) and it has helped her to learn the letters really quickly.

Ruth got these puzzles out today. She got the 24 piece done in less than 6 minutes again and I was so surprised to see her get the 12 piece done in less than 2 minutes. She thinks it's quite fun to get timed and keeps asking me to time her. :-)