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Five Steps for
Making Your Computer Cool for Kids
Software
makers have created some wonderful programs for children.
With the right program, your kid can play artist or
musician, learn Greek history--or travel to distant
lands. With so many great programs, it's easy to neglect
other features that could add "kid appeal" and
keep your child's attention on computing. Why not go the
extra step and really transform your PC into a cool
device for the kids?
Here are
five easy steps you can take to make your PC a fun place
to be for kids ages 2 though 12:
1. Add a
kid interface
First
impressions are everything. When you invite guests to
your home, you don't normally take them through your
garage (ok, we've done it, but we're not recommending
it). Likewise, kids should immediately feel good
about the computer. Opening screens on a PC should be
inviting and intuitive. Programs like Microsoft's
Bob*, Berkeley Systems' Launch Pad* and Edmark's Kid
Desk* present children with a screen-full of colorful
images, animated guides and simple start-up buttons.
These programs are a snap to set up and launch
programs. They also allow you to decide which
programs junior can run.
2. Add
kid-size controls
Drab
keyboards and touchy mouse pointing devices can be a
turn-off for kids. Fortunately, brightly colored
keyboards featuring extra-large keys are now readily
available for about $60. The choices are getting
better every day for pointing devices. Large
neon-colored mouse pointing devices covered with
wacky textures are being marketed by the folks from
Nickelodeon TV, and Microsoft has a huge track ball
device called Easy Ball* aimed at the two- to
six-year-old crowd.
3. Add a
splash of color and fun
We
love colorful screen savers; the crazier the better
(for us, and the kids). To keep things lively, rotate
screen savers and frames every week. Another cool
tip: buy comical screen saver programs or
"frames" that attach around your monitor
screen featuring cartoon characters, animals, and
super heroes. You might even want to buy a piece of
white poster board and let your children create their
own decorative screen frame.
4. Add
better sound
High
quality sound is just as important as flashy graphics
to the little folks. Most PCs come with cheap
speakers you would not let near your home stereo. Get
rid of those squeak boxes and buy a real set of
speakers. You can pick up speakers made for PCs, with
their own built-in amps, for about $100. Good deals
can also be found with new multimedia kits from
companies like Creative Labs; some of the packages
fetch less than $300 and include not only top-notch
sound cards, but CD-ROMs and a slew of software.
5. Add
more power
Face
it. Kids expect arcade-like performance. Slow
performance is a turnoff. And today's software
demands lots of power and speed. Programs that sing
and fly on store demo systems often turn out to be as
fun as watching paint dry when run on out-dated PCs.
Adding memory and upgrading your PC's brain chip are
wise steps to give your PC lasting kid appeal. If
you're shopping for a new home PC, try to get the
fastest processor you can afford and 16 megabytes of
memory.
If you have other
suggestions for guiding children in Cyberspace we'd like
to hear from you. You can reach the PC Dads by writing TheDads@aol.com.
Mark
Ivey and Ralph Bond, the PC Dads(SM), are Technology
Education Managers at Intel Corp. You can read more about
PC Dads(SM) and their adventures on their website at Intel's PC
Dads(sm) Program. They help families get
all they can from their home PCs. email: TheDads@aol.com.
PCDads is
reproduced by permission of Intel Corporation, © 1998 Intel
Corporation
*
Third-party marks and brands are the property of their
respective owners.
Suggestions?
Feedback? We'd love to hear from you.
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