Demos and Guided Tours


Here you can download tasters of many of our Windows titles. Demos are 'limited editions' in (e.g. they may be time constrained, or saving or printing may be disabled), while 'Guided Tours' are stand-alone presentations which illustrate and commentate on all of a program's features.

NB. Schools and other educational institutions can take advantage of our 21 Day Approval Service, where we send you full versions to try out. We pay to get the software to you, and you bear the cost of any returns.

MusicBox 2

Music

"MusicBox 2 is a fun, relevant resource. The publishers clearly understand how ICT can be used to provide ... for young musicians to explore certain aspects of music that might be difficult without technical skills on traditional instruments." TEEM (full evaluation below) Most children have a natural enthusiasm for music, but many find it hard to play a real instrument. Award-winning MusicBox 2 was designed to let them explore and make music on a classroom computer without knowing anything about notation. It's just like painting on the screen, except that what comes out is music! With more than 200 instruments in categories such as percussion, brass, strings and keyboard, MusicBox 2 provides immense scope for creativity and self-expression. Easy-to-use options allow you to tailor MusicBox 2 to suit individuals or groups on standalone or networked machines. Four easy-to-use self-contained activities in MusicBox 2 encourage pupils to explore sounds, chords and percussion, and to create single- or multi-part compositions: *Sound Box - experiment with pitch and the way different instruments sound *Chord Box - investigate the effect of playing notes together, and create chord sequences *Beat Box - a 'drum machine' that explores percussion in real time on a time-line; visual patterns help understand pulse and rhythm *Tune Box - sounds, chords and percussion come together here; drag and drop sounds, swap instruments, sppeed up and slow down compositions, edit and save them
Download a Windows demo (56.4Mb)
Download the guided tour (28.7MB)

Money Talks!

Maths & Numeracy

Build confidence in handling and recording money in simulated real-life situations.

"Money Talks! was used in my Numeracy Hour for 40 minutes at a time, over four days. Children of different abilities had the chance to use the software and it matched the learning objective, which was to solve real life problems involving number. The children had the chance to try out all four activities on the CD and then printed out their answer sheets. They were highly motivated by the sheets with ticks showing where they had been successful." - TEEM (Read full review below) Working with and recording money can difficult to teach. Pupils need lots of practice, and this is exactly what Money Talks! provides. In four simulated settings - At the Checkout, Shopping, Eating Out and Loot - they work with the language of money, whilst consolidating basic number skills. A range of pre-set files linked to the Numeracy Strategy, attractive displays and easy customisation match Money Talks! to primary and lower secondary. Costs, totals, number of items bought or sold, currency, plus the level of on-screen help available, are just some of the variables which can be changed. It can even be set up as a test for assessing skills and identifying weaknesses. Money Talks! is ideal for individuals and group demonstrations using interactive whiteboards. It keeps track of work done and can print an unlimited number of randomised worksheets at whatever difficulty level you want! Works with £s, Euros & $ currencies!
Download a Windows demo (20.2Mb)

MathsBook PLUS [Four Rules]

Maths & Numeracy

Strengthen skills in the Four Rules of Number while keeping track of work done.

"Children who found the concepts ... difficult and those for whom the formation of numbers presents a problem, worked well on Maths Book PLUS as they didn't have to think about the writing of numbers." - TEEM (full review below) Young mathematicians need to spend a great deal of time rehearsing written methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but it’s not always easy to monitor their work or techniques. Maths Book PLUS helps by providing regular, closely-controlled practice on screens that look like workbooks, automatically moving learners between difficulty and help levels according to performance. There is no need to write follow-up work sheets, as Maths Book PLUS does this and much more for you! It is also ideal for interactive whiteboard demonstrations targeting key skills such as decomposition and carrying. *Optional talking help, useful for pupils with special needs *When mistakes are made, Maths Book \PLUS works out what went wrong *Flexible options provide targeted practise for different pupils
Addition and Subtraction (Windows, 2.03Mb)
Multiplication and Division (windows, 2.04Mb)

Stig of the Dump

English & Literacy

"Whether you use Stig of the Dump as a huge comprehension exercise, a tool to encourage reading for meaning, the focus for integrated project work, or all three, this is one program which will encourage children to use skills the Curriculum does not encourage enough of: creative, lateral thinking." - EC&T (Educational Computing & Technology)

Clive King wrote Stig of the Dump way back, but it is still a popular novel in schools. This pack brings the story to life. Learners take the part of Barney in a "virtual environment" that contains people, objects and locations from his house and the dump. Using their knowledge of the first three chapters of the book, pupils must enter instructions such as GO NORTH, IN and LIGHT FIRE. While exploring the dump, various objects must be located and problems solved, but the Handbook, complete with solution, will keep you one step ahead. The pack comes complete with a topic web for planning, ideas for linked work in Creative Writing, Science and Environmentalism and a map for pupils who find making their own tough. Stig works best when tackled collaboratively (e.g by pupils sharing a computer or by a whole class enjoying this book-based experience across a network), so the VLE/SCORM versios now included in our Site Licence packs see below) encourage this. Pupils could, for example, be challenged to explore Stig at home. They can save positions to continue back at school and discuss/write about where they found the first treasure (flint) and where they hid it from Grandma - every good problem often has a number of equally great solutions!

An adventure that gets learners reading for meaning. Available on CD for Windows and also, if required, for your VLE/Learning Platform!

Explore the game online on Moodle - !
Download a Windows demo (23.7Mb)

The Freddy Teddy Bumper Pack

Early Learning

Cross-curricular fun and learning with our much-loved 'Freddy Teddy'.

"This pack provided revision of numeral recognition and was fun! I think it will make a good addition to the National Numeracy Strategy activities." - Nursery Education The Freddy Teddy Bumper Pack has six inspiring programs, all in one pack, designed to improve early learning skills like counting, controlling, sequencing (pre-Logo), recognising and remembering. In different everyday settings, children help Freddy to: - rescue his ball by adding up to 5 or 10 in ‘Balloons’ - get dressed step-by-step in ‘The Wardrobe’ - count animals from 1 to 5 or 10 in ‘The Zoo’ - remember what clothes he was wearing in ‘The Puddle’ - learn how to control Freddy by making him play on the slide, roundabout, etc, in ‘The Playground’ - have a picnic in ‘Freddy’s Adventure’ The Freddy Teddy Bumper Pack is the ideal way to get children started on using a computer at home or at school and has proved its worth in classrooms throughout the UK. It's the perfect way to get very young children talking, thinking and excited about controlling an on-screen character.
Download Windows demos of the Freddy titles (5.85Mb)

Jigsaw Maker

Early Learning

Jigsaw Maker is a dazzling picture pack that turns proud young artists into beaming puzzle designers.

Jigsaw Maker provides key picture creation tools, plus others to cut pictures into 4, 6 or 9 squares and make ‘sliding block’ or ‘click-to-swap’ puzzles. Jigsaw Maker software is fully configurable and designed for the whole primary age-range, offering just a ‘pen’ for early learners to a complete set of ‘grown-up’ tools for older children, including Fill, Text, Undo, Load/Save, Print, plus symmetrical drawing and colouring and re-sizeable maths shapes! Using Jigsaw Maker, attractive ‘stickers’ can be ‘stamped’ on work, and 120 outline drawings are provided for colouring in and turning into puzzles.
Download a Windows demo (2.23Mb)

Scally's World: Verbs & Actions

English & Literacy

"For those of you not teaching in the 80s, Podd was a blob who would try to do what a child typed into the computer. It was simple but effective, and Scally has taken this concept and flown with it. World of Verbs and Actions is a bulging package with CD-ROM, handbook, cross-curricular links, storybook, the music for Scallys catchy song, plus even flash cards. The end result is a beautiful program which children enjoy and which can be configured to easily meet their needs." TES Online

Develop early Literacy and ICT skills by spelling verbs to see if Scally can do them. In Verbs & Actions, our engaging alien Scally will do just about anything a child could possibly want, so long as he or she can click on, type, or copy a verb. The program can be used at five different levels, from simply watching Scally perform an action, through causing him (her for those who have read the story included with the pack) to act out the verb, to spotting missing letters in verbs or typing a sequence of verbs to make a story (e.g. sleep, wash, dry, fetch, play). With more than 400 verbs to discover, including synonyms, in both past and present tenses, built in help, instant feedback and a friendly interface, children are instantly keen to check their understanding. The pack fits a variety of individual, group or class situations, from giving instructions using verbs, through decision-making and ICT skills, plus working away from the computer. The five activities are easily linked to the National Curriculum: *Watch and Say (watch Scally act out verbs) *Click and Watch (click on a verb and watch Scally do it) *Watch and Click (watch an action, then click on the verb) *Watch and Write (watch an action, then type the verb) *Write and Watch (type verbs Scally knows, or make a sequence)
Download a Windows demo (6.55Mb)

Sellardore Tales

English & Literacy

"This is a new version of an old favourite. The simple text and colourful graphics, the fantasy adventure narrative and the computer game feel are all well suited to the target audience." TEEM (See the complete review below.)

Sellardore Tales is a Literacy-based action adventure which pupils complete by giving a series of instructions e.g. GO NORTH and TAKE LAMP. In the strange and magical land of Sellardore they must think their way through to the exciting conclusion where they unblock the Black River, rescuing the inhabitants of Sellardore from starvation. The software is presented in a grown up style to meet the needs of older pupils, yet keeps to a reading age of 7 to 8 years. Players must first read the 56 page illustrated story which sets the scene (a copy is supplied in the pack). While exploring Sellardore a wily wizard and a dangerous dragon will be met, but the Handbook, complete with solution, will keep you one step ahead. The pack comes complete with ideas for linked work in Creative Writing, Art and Literacy and a map for pupils who find making their own tough. Sellardore works best when tackled collaboratively, e.g. by pupils sharing a computer or by a whole class enjoying the experience across a network), so the VLE SCORM versions now included in our Site Licence packs (see below) encourage this. Pupils could, for example, be challenged to explore the magical world of Sellardore at home, saving their position to continue back at school, where they can discuss and write about how they snook past the dragon and why!

Adventure software with a grown-up look but a reading age of 7-8 years. Available on CD for Windows and for your VLE/Learning Platform! Explore the game and resources online on Moodle - !

Download a Windows demo (4.2 MB)

WordMania 2 (ages 7-11)

English & Literacy

"Today, at lunch, one of my raising achievement students brought his friend in to play on WordMania. They played against each other all lunchtime AND other students joined in when they saw how they could play against each other – this feature really IS motivating. - Simon Midgley, Rhyddings School Immersed in an easy-to-use but suitably challenging maze-world, children revise English by answering WordMania questions on Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar and Comprehension to win points, clear maze obstacles and to outwit rivals. Five multi-level Literacy puzzles (see screen images) are also provided in this popular language pack. Shortlisted by BETT Awards judges for its ‘novel take on the use of technology, using an attractive games approach similar to games played at home’, WordMania motivates individual and group learning. In ‘multi-player’ mode (optional), they play against each other, perhaps dropping ‘question bombs’ to hinder classmates progress! High Score tables are continuously updated, work is tracked and worksheets can be printed at pre-set difficulty levels. Wordmania: *monitor pupils progress *includes a Maze Designer and Custom Question Writer so that teachers and parents can fine-tune work *prints worksheets to be completed away from the computer *is fully configurable - define the topics and puzzles available
Download a Windows demo (35.3 MB)
Download the guided tour (34.3MB)

Scally's World of Problems

Problem Solving

Co-operative and stimulating tasks that encourage pupils to think creatively

"In terms of quality, Scallys World of Problems is lovely to use, will appeal to children of all ages and has been imaginatively thought out. The supporting documentation is key to the whole program and has been written with its audience in mind in that it assumes a certain amount of computer knowledge without using too much jargon." - TEEM (Read full review below) With 25 levels of difficulty in each of the eight planetary environments, Scallys World of Problems offers 200 unique puzzles set on an imaginary planet. The levels progress from straightforward introductory tasks (ideal for young pupils and those with special educational needs) to more complex puzzles demanding creative, lateral and/or divergent thinking. The accompanying booklet Scallys World of Problems in the Classroom suggests ways in which teachers and parents can use the material to promote problem-solving skills with children of wide abilities and ages. Scallys World of Problems is not only ideal for individual use but also encourages a co-operative approach to problem-solving. When pupils have familiarised themselves with what all the maze icons do they can create their own puzzles for others to tackle. This takes the activity and the learning beyond problem-solving into the creative process, drawing on thinking, imagination and planning skills.
Download a Windows demo (5.6 MB)

WordMania 3 (ages 11-14)

English & Literacy

"'WordMania is a really useful program that will undoubtedly appeal to children and teachers alike. The competitive interest ... is attractive and the gameplay addictive - effective revision for what can be a rather dry curriculum area." - TEEM WordMania 3 (ages 11-14) encourages pupils to practise Language skills while navigating mazes alone or in competition with friends on a school network or even via the Internet. They win points by answering revision questions on Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar and Comprehension, Vocabulary and the Use of English, in order to get past maze obstacles and outwit other players who may unexpectedly get in their way. With enough points to leave a maze, pupils can explore another, or win bonus points by tackling word puzzles such as Spelling Pong, Deciphering Codes, Crosswords, Sliding Blocks and Grammar Nibbles. WordMania 3: *monitors pupils from within the game *includes maze design software and a custom question writer *prints worksheets to be completed away from the computer *is fully configurable - enable particular topics and puzzles
Download the guided tour (27.4MB)

MathMania 2 (ages 7-11)

Maths & Numeracy

Do you need to get pupils practising not just the ‘four rules’ of number, but also topic work and problem-solving? MathMania 2 (ages 7-11) gets pupils navigating mazes by answering revision questions on Numbers, Angles, Time, Measurement, Shape & Space and a ‘Lucky Dip’. The aim is to win points and get past maze obstacles. With enough points to leave a maze, they can enter another, or win bonus points by tackling one of eight Numeracy puzzles: Coins, Towers of Hanoi, Sliding Blocks, Magic Squares, Fill It, Eureka, Years and Navigate. Across a network, pupils can navigate mazes at the same time as their friends (stand-alone use is of course available) and what's more, to make things strategically more interesting, they can drop question 'bombs' to stay ahead of them! Like the other titles in the Mania series, the software can be adapted to offer the features you want; the more 'game-like' features can be reserved as rewards and levels of play are completely under your control. *Includes a Maze Designer and Custom Question Writer *Prints worksheets to be completed away from the computer *Fully configurable - define the topics and puzzles pupils will meet *Puzzles can be played as independent problem-solving activities
Download a demo of this product
Download the guided tour (33.5MB)

MathMania 3 (ages 11-14)

Maths & Numeracy

In a variety of exciting maze-worlds, pupils practise and develop their Maths skills by answering revision questions on Numbers, Time, Angles, Measurement, Shape & Space and ‘Lucky Dip’. With enough points to exit a maze, they can tackle one of eight puzzles: Coins, Towers of Hanoi, Sliding Blocks, Magic Squares, Fill It, Eureka, Weight and Bao. Maths targets are accommodated via four levels of difficulty, and there is easy control over points required to exit mazes, the puzzle availability, time limits and whether pupils should ‘play’ against others in the same maze or alone (across a network or via the Internet) dropping ‘question bombs’ to rout their rivals. ‘High Score’ tables are continuously updated. Answers can be tracked, new question sets can be added, and worksheets can be printed at pre-set levels. *Monitor pupils from within the game *Includes a Maze Designer and Custom Question Writer *Prints worksheets to be completed away from the computer *Fully configurable - define the topics and puzzles pupils will meet *Puzzles can be played as independent problem-solving activities
Download the guided tour (44.3MB)

Speaking for Myself PLUS

English & Literacy

Early years software that develops communication, cognitive and reading skills.

"Speaking for Myself PLUS provides an excellent resource for the teaching of speaking and listening. It is hugely interactive and can be used independently or by a small group or whole class through the use of an interactive whiteboard." - TEEM (More in 'Reviews and Quotes' below) Speaking and listening skills are fundamental to every child’s development, and those who lack a good grounding often find early formal education a real challenge. Speaking for Myself PLUS tackles this problem through tried-and-tested interactive tasks that also introduce children to using a computer. Originally designed for children with Special Educational Needs, the first edition (Speaking for Myself) quickly proved its worth in mainstream inclusive classrooms. Speaking for Myself PLUS has 60 on-screen flash cards, 15 two- and three-word talking stories and 8 nursery rhymes, each with colourful animations and sound effects. There are five sets of games and diversions and extra flash cards and stories etc. to print out from the CD. A Danish version (Taler for mig selv PLUS) is now available from Inclusion Software (Denmark). Visit their site by clicking on the Inclusion logo above. Speaking for Myself PLUS was produced in collaboration with: *Down's Syndrome Association http://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk *downsed international http://www.downsed.org *Mayer-Johnson http://www.mayer-johnson.com *Signalong http://www.signalong.org.uk *Inclusion http://www.inclusion.dk
Download the guided tour (17.4MB)

ScienceMania 2 (ages 7-11)

Science

ScienceMania offers stunningly motivating maze-worlds such as School World, Industrial World, Scally's World and Blocko World. Pupils win points, clear obstacles and outwit other players by correctly answering multiple-choice revision questions on four topics: Scientific Enquiry, Life Processes & Living Things, Materials & their Properties and Physical Processes. With enough points to exit a maze, pupils can tackle another or test their Science skills in one of six puzzles: Feel the Force (forces and physics), Laser Lab (angles and properties of light), Mixture Magic (separating mixtures), Living Pinball (investigation and classification), Thingamajig (identifying equipment) and Short Circuit (light bulbs and batteries). Pupils’ work is tracked, worksheets can be printed, further question sets can be added to the computer-generated ones and pupils can even compare their progress on the ScienceMania ‘High Scores’ table. Easy-to-use ‘Options’ are at hand to set difficulty levels by year group, points required to exit mazes, puzzle availability, time limits and to choose whether the software will help just one player revise or multi-players across a network or via the Internet. *Monitor pupils from within the game *Includes a Maze Designer and Custom Question Writer *Prints ScienceMania worksheets to be completed away from the computer *Fully configurable - define the topics and puzzles pupils will meet *Puzzles can be played as independent problem-solving activities
Download the guided tour (29.5MB)

Scally's World: Letters & Nouns

English & Literacy

Everything children need to know about letters and nouns and the sounds they make

"As a tool for enhancing early Literacy skills in the classroom, Scally's World: Letters & Nouns has got to be one of the best packages around." - TEEM (full review below) In this literacy title from our ‘Scally’ range, children help the alien explore the funny shapes, amazing sounds and wonderful words that letters start and make. Scally's World: Letters & Nouns features 16 carefully-graded interactive activities, each of which can use up to 140 words taken from the National Literacy Strategy and the First Words Checklist published by the Down Syndrome Educational Trust. Each word is cleverly illustrated to aid letter and letter blend recognition, and to develop whole-word sight vocabulary. Correct answers are rewarded by bringing the word to life in a charming animation - just watch their reactions when Scally floats, swims or flies up the screen in the (optional) progress bar! Children can listen to letter names or sounds, and can of course hear whole words too. Teacher options are at hand along with a range of different 'looks' for different age-groups. Scally's World: Letters & Nouns has perfect support material for teaching synthetic phonics.
Download the guided tour (14.3MB)

Scally's World: Numbers & Sums

Maths & Numeracy

Entertaining and rewarding number-based games for youngsters

Scallys World: Numbers & Sums extends early Numeracy skills in an interactive way, closely linked to many of the core objectives for number, in Reception and Year 1. This is a quality product, featuring a vast variety of teacher controls making the program suitable for all abilities." - TEEM (full review below) Scallys World: Numbers & Sums provides a range of learning and consolidation activities, at relevant difficulty levels, such as counting sets of objects, recognising numerals and number names, adding, subtracting, working with coins and weights. Basic ICT skills (keyboard/mouse control) are also developed. Across the 17 Scallys World: Numbers & Sums activities, all possible skill combinations are provided on a variety of grid sizes to encourage pupils to spot number pairs or find hidden ones, match number names to numerals, match numerals to sets, count objects and even do simple addition and/or subtraction ‘sums’ with two or three (similar or different) operators. This is just the sort of practice many pupils need – and by selecting one of the pre-set profiles e.g. Year 1 – Term 2, the software automatically targets the activities at just the right level. Ideal for whole-class demonstrations and collaborative small-group interaction using a whiteboard, and easily integrated into traditional classroom teaching, Scallys World: Numbers and Sums can speak numerals, names and operators (with real British voices), and pupils can even pick a theme they like best e.g. Space, Ocean or Jungle. With optional animations for correct answers, children are guaranteed to be challenged and to stay focused! Numbers can be in the ranges 0-5, 1-5, 0-10, 1-10, 0-12, 1-12 and the program will even work with answers up to 20 if required.
Download the guided tour (54.8MB)

Words & Music

Music

Music writing software

"This product is quite simply fantastic. Full of ready to use activities and lessons it has got be the best educational software I have ever purchased." - Amazon Customer Review (more in 'Reviews and Quotes' below) Most music software is, like sheet music, black and white, and you have to manipulate 'fiddly' traditional notation or sequence someone else's clips. And if you prefer to start with or add lyrics, you can't. Now you can. Although you can work with notation if you wish, Words and Music also provides colourful 'paper strips' - slide them up and down to change pitch, stretch, shrink, split and join them to make different notes. You write lyrics by typing on the paper strips or under the staves, and can switch between either display at any time. As your confidence grows, you may prefer to explore harmonies and chords by working on more than one stave (the 'Trio' screen). Editing tools include insert, cut, paste and copy, and there's even a 'Zoom' feature that provides an overview of your composition - a great place to explore and discuss musical shapes and patterns. To help the busy teacher or parent, Words and Music includes two Resource Books of lesson ideas. Printable worksheets are on the CD, and there are hundreds of ready-to-use activity files and suggestions for getting started at home or in the classroom, including how to make your own activity files, save, print, etc. Opportunities for linking Music and Literacy (syllables, rhythm, stresses and intonation of speech, etc.) and for developing composition, songwriting and performance skills abound. *Not just another 'sequencer' - users create their very own music *Treble, alto, bass and/or percussion tracks *Display lyrics and/or note names *Use chords or turn them off *Change key and time sigs, swap between major, minor, chromatic, pentatonic, blues and DIY scales *More than 300 instruments *Saves MP3, MIDI, MusicXML and WAV files *Includes straight-forward options *Share work via our website, burn CDs, enjoy it on MP3 players *BETT Awards 2007 runner up
Download the guided tour (14.1MB)

textThing MFL

MFL

textThing MFL creates TEN letter, word, sentence and comprehension-level exercises from any text to encourage pupils to read and THINK. Tasks can be completed on-screen or printed out, e.g. for Homework. If stuck and the relevant speech engine is installed (see below) they can listen to the text they’re working on. 1. Punctuation and capital letters 2. Spelling 3. Cloze 4. Crosswords 5. Word Searches 6. Scrambled words 7. Prediction 8. Sequencing 9. Disclosure 10. Reading Accuracy Easy-to-use Options ensure fine differentiation between students, perhaps pointing to particular texts or exercises that require repetition and revision, or focusing on particular character clusters. Work can be prepared and saved for later use with individuals or groups. You can use the range of texts supplied or import passages that relate to study themes, e.g. the culture or history of the country itself, extracts from magazines or web sites, your own paper-based exercises, etc. textThing MFL comes with authentic talking French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch texts, but also works without speech in with any western-style language, and non-talking texts for Danish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish are provided. Language-specific keyboards are not needed as on-screen mini-keyboards allow language-specific characters to be used.
Download the guided tour (20.9MB)

textThing PLUS

English & Literacy

"Many teachers are looking for Literacy ... activities that are challenging to all abilities, and textThing PLUS achieves this... Although it comes with many ready to use texts and activities for all age groups, it is essentially a content free program, allowing teachers to use their own... Virtually any text can be copied and pasted into the program very easily and then ... up to 9 different literacy activities can be created" - Victoria Crivelli, BDA (See full review in Reviews and Quotes below) textThing PLUS builds activities for word, sentence and text level work quickly and with no fuss from the supplied texts or your own Notepad, Word or web documents. It takes just three clicks to start any one of the nine language activities which include re-building text letter-by-letter or word-by-word, grammatical awareness, spelling, sentence construction, Cloze procedure and punctuation. You can also generate word searches and crossword puzzles based on the selected text. Over 100 starter texts are provided, including poems, tales, recipes, articles, descriptions, letters, points of view, instructions, official documents and extracts from Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland and Aesop’s Fables. Files can be saved for re-use and printed for homework. textThing PLUS's nine activities are: *Letter-by-letter *Word-by-word *Scrambled words *Scrambled sentences *Spelling tests *Sort text *Punctuation *Fill the blanks *Make and print crosswords and word searches
Download the guided tour (62.4MB)

Screen Turtle 2

Maths & Numeracy

A proven and friendly post-Bigtrak, 'turtling' and Logo environment for today's classrooms

Many 'Logo' and turtle-graphics packs can be a bit of a mystery, so we designed ScreenTurtle 2 to address this. The program is quick to learn, yet still offers all the features needed in busy primary and secondary classrooms. Young 'programmers' are not expected to learn a whole new language, because ordinary English words or abbreviations are used, e.g. FORWARD, FD and AHEAD all do the same. They can UNDO commands, PAINT with the mouse, get HELP and even keep notes. Printing is as easy as typing PRINT SCREEN or PRINT WORDS (procedures), which can of course be SAVEd. Exploring shape and space whilst being introduced to real-time and 'saved' programming, pupils are encouraged to think about the way shapes are made using distances and angles, and to solve spatial problems. Older students can try REPEAT loops and variables, plus unique maths-style BEARING and VECTOR commands. Much imitated, ScreenTurtle 2 offers reliable group and network support and includes worksheets, ‘tricky turtle challenges’ and a classroom support booklet. And if children have been experimenting with BIGTRAK (see 'General teaching Links', right), this should be the next step in their learning!
Download a Windows demo (6.32Mb)

Story Teller 7-12

English

Story Teller is ideal for children who enjoy making up and telling stories - in any language

Story-telling is a great oral tradition that often gets overlooked, and Story Teller is a brilliant new software pack that can help bring it back. It's also great fun. It goes right to the heart of the creative process by encouraging children to make up stories ‘on the fly’ without having to worry about writing them down. There are no right or wrong answers, and no good or bad stories — just the great spoken ideas they come up with. The process is simple: choose the kind of story you want to tell (27 themes with over 4,000 pictures including dinosaurs, Egyptians, fantasy, Vikings etc PLUS you can add your own) and Story Teller provides a picture from that set. Don't think about it for too long - just talk until you want another picture. What new ideas will it spark? How will the narrative have to change? Does the story go off in a different direction? (If you're working with a friend, you'd better make a good case for what happens next!) Of course, because this is all being recorded, improvised sound effects and silly voices are almost essential. You can save your story, play it back with the pictures, even pause it and type it out later. Ideal as a warm-up exercise for creative work or to help hesitant writers overcome blank-page phobia, Story Teller suits mainstream children from about 7 to 12. Teachers of people learning English as a second language or beginning to speak another language will find that Story Teller is a useful tool for getting them talking, while those with learning difficulties (e.g affected by autistic traits or dyslexia) will enjoy creating something of their very own. Mouse, keyboard and switch/Intellikeys support is included, and as usual there's a range of useful options, e.g. the time allowed for each picture, and the picture sequence. Recordings can be saved for performance or for use as evidence/assessment.
Download a demo.

The DoIT Bumper Pack

Early Learning

40 Numeracy, Literacy, Design and Problem-solving activities + 320 worksheets!

Encouraging co-operative work and imagination, the DoIT Bumper Pack consists of varied and enjoyable activities for developing Literacy, Numeracy, Design and Thinking skills. . Practising anagrams, finding meanings, opposites and word parts, counting, sorting and working with number patterns are ideal for the Literacy and Numeracy hours. Easy-to-use Design tasks include shape, reflection, rotation, Carroll diagrams, Pelmanism puzzles and card and badge design, while discrimination and comparison skills are needed to solve the wide range of visual problems. All 40 activities are available at several difficulty levels, and you can lock children into specific ones to aid concentration while practising Literacy work. *Certificates, name cards and badges can also be designed and printed. *Sound effects, timing, Help and scoring are optional. *Includes 320 photocopiable worksheets to print from the CD With the DoIT Bumper Pack on your computer everyone really can do IT!
Download a demo of DoIT Design (7.6Mb)
Download a demo of DoIT Literacy (6.55Mb)
Download a demo of DoIT Numeracy (7.92Mb)
Download a demo of DoIT Problems (7.13Mb)
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Tuesday 7th April, 2015
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