Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Open Source Software Review – ChildsPlay

Childsplay
Download from:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/childsplay/

Childsplay website:  http://www.schoolsplay.org/



Older Version
 
Childsplay is an Open Source program that is primarily designed around the K-1 user.  As with any program it has its issues.  Within the program students are allowed to do a number of activities ranging from puzzles, typing, letter and number identification, spelling, memory and various other activities. 

“Childsplay provides several features for users and developers of activities:
  • memory activities that are fun to play and at the same time learn sounds, images, letters and numbers.
    •   
    Updated Version
    
  • activities that train the child to use the mouse and keyboard.
  • pure game activities like puzzles, pong, pacman and billiards.
    • 
  • multilingual support, even right to left languages (via Pango).
  • solid data logging to monitor the children's progress; locally (SQLite) or over network (MySQL or any other db supported by SQLAlchemy).
  • set of OpenOffice reports to print this data (still in development state).
    • 
  • object oriented framework for easy activity development in Python/PyGame.
  • good support by the developers and translators.
(http://www.schoolsplay.org/)

Childsplay supports the following platforms:  Linux, Mac & Windows


Reviews:
http://nhokanson.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/childsplay-opensource-free-software-for-kids-age-1-9/
http://www.schoolsplay.org/
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6 comments:

  1. faithApril 7, 2011 at 10:28 PM

    I wonder if today's kids enjoy pacman. I used to like it because it was all we had. Students today are pretty sophisticated. I wonder how today's students see those games.

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  2. ctblesleyApril 8, 2011 at 1:38 AM

    I actually have a game that has about 50 of those older games in it for the Playstation 2. When we first introduced it to our kids, they were not too impressed. The graphics just can't compare to what it is today. I still enjoy playing with those games, I think because it brings back memories, but I have to say that I do enjoy the newer games of today. There are so many games that are physically interactive, that I can't help but feel that there are some "benefits" to playing video games. DDR for example, is a dancing game that really gets you movin'. You play this 5 times a week for at least 20 minutes, there's your workout!

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  3. LJApril 8, 2011 at 8:07 PM

    The games do look like those of the past, but they are mostly different academic games. The pacman game has the children find letters in order to make a word.

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  4. SueApril 9, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    I appreciate you locating these children education sites. Saves me time and gives my 1st grader new choices on the computer. Thanks!

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  5. AnonymousApril 9, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    This site has reinvented some of our old favorite games and added an educational twist. Pacman was one of my favorites and now he is hungry for letters. I miss the music that went along with the game. You have shared a great collection of open source programs.

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  6. amyApril 10, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    This looks like another great game. Thanks for posting these sites. I need some new options for my students!

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