Mr T's Shape Games Mr. T's Shape Games encourage play with squares, circles and other shapes that are used later in school when a child has to tackle geometry. Jigsaws Jigsaws is a game for your child to play with you or independently. Once you have loaded the program (see page 2 for instructions) it will take only a few minutes to show your child how to play Jigsaws without your help. Naturally your interest and encouragement will always make the activity more fun, and your comments and questions will help your child to think more about the shapes that appear on the screen. Remember, if you introduce this activity carefully, you will help your child to observe, and to think. It is easy for us to assume that children notice everything we see. We can only discover what they see by asking them about it. Without some adult help, a child may not know what to look for, and a young child may not know the names of the shapes. So go through the program first with your child, and introduce any new words. Playing Jigsaws The game begins with a pattern made up of two or more geometric shapes "drawn" on the screen. One the pattern is complete, a triangle, square or other shape appears at the top of the screen. The shape slides down the screen and passes over the pattern. Your child tries to fit the shape into a matching part of the pattern, stopping it as it passes over the shape which matches. Show your child how to stop the shape by pressing SPACE. If the shape does fit, then the pattern will be coloured in. When all the shapes have been matched, the pattern redraws in different colours. Your child may like to call you back when this happens again. Then you can applaud the success and appreciate the pattern. Press SPACE for a new game. As you introduce Jigsaws ask questions along these lines: "Can you point to the new shape at the top of the screen? Do you know what that shape is called? (Perhaps it is a square.) Do you think the square will fit the pattern? Where do you think it will fit? Are there any more squares in the pattern? What other shapes can you see in the pattern?" You may like to include a counting exercise, but do first read the notes on counting games on page 10. It is more tricky than it looks. Encourage your child to point to the shapes with you while counting. Ask questions such as: "How many squares can you see? Do you think there are more squares or more circles? Shall we count them together?" Shape Maker Shape Maker is an enjoyable way to learn more about geometric shapes and how they fit together, by using them to make up patterns which you "draw" on the screen. Unlike Jigsaws, Shape Maker relies on adult help: to develop and explore ideas, talk about shapes and expand vocabulary. Because there are no "levels", and you can choose your own colours, there is no Parent Screen or Menu Screen for this program. The computer will enable your child to put shapes together to make pictures and patterns. As you help your child to choose shapes and create pictures, you will be helping your child to lay the foundations of geometric study. Playing with Shape Maker will also help your child to think more about the patterns used in Jigsaws. Begin by choosing the colours for making your picture. There are eight colours to choose from. The computer will ask you for the background colour first. Let your child tell you the names; then you type the numbers beside them. You can try out several different colours before pressing SPACE to choose the one you want. The computer will choose a colour for the text, which you can also use in making your picture. Next choose the first shape for your pattern. Follow the instructions on the screen to choose a shape, change its size, move it on the screen, turn it and finally colour it. Use the number keys to tell the computer what to do (for example, type 1 on the shape change menu to make the shape bigger, 2 to make it smaller). On the BBC, you can also use the same numbers, on the red function keys, to move the shape in smaller steps. Shape Maker will prompt you ... and you will prompt your child: "What shape do you want first? Is that what you wanted? Shall we change the size? Shall we make it bigger or smaller? Shall we move it up or down or across? Are you happy with it there? Shall we turn it aroound, upside down, or on its side ... Let's see what happens" (You know what happens if you turn a circle or a square on its side. But do keep it a secret ...Let your child discover what happens. The child who decides "Of course I won't turn a circle. Circles always look the same" has learned some basic geometry.) Sometimes your child may like to play around with the shapes and simply "see what happens". We learn by trying out new ideas, so encourage this approach: there are no "right answers" with Shape Maker. Sometimes your child may want to create a particular picture or pattern. This will take forethought and planning. Once you are both familiar with the possibilities of Shape Maker, you will be able to sketch out ideas on paper before trying them out on the screen. The illustrations in this Handbook will help to give you some ideas - or you could try out some of the patterns in Jigsaws. At first, the end result will probably be a mixture of accident and planning, but that doesn't matter. Experiment, and let your child try out different ways of approaching a problem, and coming to a solution, independently. Go through the program with your child to find out exactly what the menu choices lead to. Notice the words on the menus. Mr. T could have "helped" your child more. There could be pictures of circles and squares instead of words. Then your child could simply point to the shape and ask you for "that one". Shape Maker is designed to develop language and thought. If your child wants a particular shape, then somehow your child must learn to tell you what shape that is. You may have to ask questions: "Do you mean a round shape? Has it got corners? Has it got straight sides? How many straight sides? Can you draw me the shape you want?" You may like to try a hit-and- miss approach to begin with. "Let's try square ...Is that what you wanted?" This kind of talking is exactly what Shape Maker is designed to encourage. Go ahead and explore Shape Maker with your child. Remember, the computer is a "friendly" art form. Your pictures will keep on getting better. You can erase your mistakes and they will completely vanish. Encourage your child to point to the words on the menu, and "read" the words together. Your child will enjoy "reading" the words alone. Try not to let this happen too soon, because discussion between you is a very important part of the activity. An older child may be able to use Shape Maker without your help quite quickly. Additional Activities Once you and your child are thinking in shapes, you'll begin to see squares, circles and triangles everywhare! These activities will help to show that the patterns on the screen can be found in concrete form in the home and outside. In other words, your child will learn to relate two- dimensional shapes to our three- dimensional world. Drawing around objects Find some drawing paper (or newspaper) and a good thick felt-tip pen. Encourage your child to draw around bricks and other objects to discover what shapes they make. The weeks's groceries are a treasure-chest of shapes: circular tin ends, rectangular cereal boxes, square biscuit tins, etc. The shapes can then be cut out and glued on to big sheets of brown paper or old wall paper to make pictures. You could use this activity to work out a picture to draw using Shape Maker. Cutting and sticking is less messy than painting and can achieve dramativ results very quickly. Buy some blunt-ended scissors for your child and teach "scissor skills" (your child's infant teacher will appreciate it!), and use a non-sticky, unspillable glue (like Pritt or School-glue). Three- dimensional cut-outs Try making cut-outs from every side of a shape, then stick them together with sellotape to create a copy of the original object. It's easiest to do this by making a box around the original shape to start with, Then take the shape out of its "box" and fix the lid on. This is an actiity for adult and child together - and can be fun for both. Chaos can be reduced if you make some shapes that will fit inside each other when tidying up time comes! Exploded patterns. Gummed paper is invaluable for shape games. Slice through a square of gummed paper a couple of times. Reassemble the square on a larger pieve of plain paper. Gradually move the pieces apart, without turning them, until the gummed paper and backing paper form an attractive pattern. Then stick the pieces in place. These are known as "exploded patterns" and can be as simple or sophisticated as you wish. Mosaics and other shape pictures. Small gummed shapes are useful too. Squares are lovely. Fit themm close together to cover an area completely with a multi- coloured mosaic. Cut out outsize paper shapes for your child to paint or crayon. Make patterns of squares with the edges touching. Make other patterns with only the corners touching. Choose any number of shapes. See how many different patterns can be made using only one rule, such as "five squares with corners touching". This game can be repeated using different rules while you get on with the chores ...unless you get hooked on finding patterns too! Counting games Counting is a diffiult business. To begin with, numbers have to be remembered in a special order and even when that skill is mastered, it does not mean a child understands that three is more than two, or six less than eight. Make two small groups of shapes as shown below. Ask your child to guess if there are more cirlces or more triangles. Count the shapes in each group. Ask if there are the same number of shapes in each group. Arrange the shapes in straight lines. Which group has more shapes? Ask your child to point to this group. Count the shapes in the larger group. Point to the triangles and count them. Point to the circles and count them. Now arrange the shapes in pairs like this: After pairing up, ask if there are any more shapes left over. How many? Spot the shapes game Once your child understands about looking for shapes and knows the names for them, you will notice more and more examples. "Spot the shapes" can be a useful timefiller on car journeys or in the bus queue. Road signs, pub signs, neon lights, petrol station signs hold all kinds of possibilities. Make up games of your own using the language developed in Mr. T's Shape Games. Mr T credits __________________________________________________ Program idea and Parents' Handbook: Pamela Fiddy and Liza Webb _______________________________________________ Technical design and programming by FIVE WAYS SOFTWARE ________________________________________________ Five Ways' is the trademark of Five Ways Software Limited. _________________________________________________ Copyright © 1983 The National Magazine Co Ltd Mr T is the trademark of the National Magazine Co Ltd ________________________________________________ Published by Ebury Software National Magazine House 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1V 2BP ___________________________________________________ All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publishers. __________________________________________________ All Ebury Software cassettes are copy protected. Attempts to copy the program may damage the contents of the cassette and infringe copyright. __________________________________________________ Printed by The Devonshire Press Limited, Torquay. __________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ USING THE PROGRAMS You will only need to use two keys to control all the Mr T programs: 1 Press Q to: * choose a game * change the colour, sound, or difficulty level. 2 Press the space bar SPACE to: * start the first game on the tape * play a game again. 3 SPACE is the only key your child will need to know to play the games designed to be used without help. on the screen is a reminder to press SPACE. Choosing a game: The Menu Screen 1 Press Q and the Menu Screen will appear. 2 To choose a game, type the number next to the name of the game you want. The line you choose will change colour. 3 If you change your mind, just type a different number. 4 Press SPACE to start the new game. Changing the options: The Parent Screen 1 From the Menu Screen, press Q for the Parent Screen. From any other point, press Q twice. 2 Setting the difficulty level Press 1 to make the game easier. Mr T will move to the left along the scale at the top of the screen (unless, of course, he is already as far left as he will go). Keep pressing until he is at the level you want. Press 9 to make the game harder. Mr T will move to the right each time you press the key. When you load the program, Mr T will always be at the left or "Easier" end of the difficulty scale. 3 Changing the difficulty level Press 2 to change from "Mr T decides" to "You decide" and back again. The glowing bar shows which option you have selected, On "Mr T decides", the game will move automatically along the difficulty scale to match your child's rate of success. You can check your child's current level at any time by seeing where Mr T is on the scale. "You decide" keeps the level of difficulty fixed where you have set it. This is particularly useful if the games are being used by a group of children, as you may want to reset the difficulty level for each child's turn. 4 Press 3 to turn the sound on and off. 5 If you hae a black and white set, press 4 to give the best contrast. 6 Press 2,3 or 4 again to reverse your original choice. 7 When you're ready press SPACE to start the game.