It's late, so this is just a little nugget of information for later on. Games are finally working!
I guess we had to wait until technology supported creativity, but two new games make me ecstatic as the parent of a young (not so young now, but my interest continues.)
The first game,
Itsa Bitsa, is a lovely game. It was spun off from Microsoft, and the founder has two young children herself. She wanted a game that really DID encourage them to read.
The child interacts with the game by drawing items (e.g. a house). They are then asked where the door is, and when the draw the door, it opens. The main character has a list of actions that it can do (all geared for easy reading), and the game is very well-done. Made for the younger set, it's probably great for 4,5, 6, perhaps even 7 year olds. My 8 year old zipped into it and had fun for about two hours, but I think he's exhausted the game now.
Check it out, though. It's a lovely approach.
The second game is something that I cannot wait to buy. I hear that it comes on the iphone or on your desktop (although I would think that, for sheer visibility, the desktop version is better.). It's called
Crayon Physics. You draw items that then interact. I have plans in my engineering folder for something like this, so I'm pleased as pie that someone finally did it.
I cannot wait to see where the "just draw it" technology takes us.
