Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Education

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Here is yet another set of free but very worthwhile educational activities that have been put together with early learners in mind.

Childsplay (downloadable program) This is a suite of 14 high quality educational games designed for young children. The games have been carefully crafted and have considerable kid-appeal. The user interface is simple, uncluttered and attractive. At least three levels of challenge are available for most games.

Some games re-enforce the learning of letters or numbers. There are several types of memory games. More than one game provides practice in locating the keys on a computer keyboard. It impressed me that some of the games provide excellent practice in using a computer mouse. Childsplay also makes good instructional use of specific sounds in its activities.

Do not be alarmed if your screen resolution changes when you open Childsplay. This change is automatically reversed when you exit.

Childsplay is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. Don’t be confused when the website talks about the individual games operating as “modules” within Childsplay. At least for the Windows version, you can download a bundled installation file that includes everything.

The screenshots below give some idea of what to expect with Childsplay. You can click on a thumbnail to enlarge it, and use your browser’s back arrow to return.