Solid Advances In Software Gift Ideas For The Kids

Every parent who uses a computer wants his or her kids to use a computer - especially now with the school year picking up steam and the gift-giving season just ahead.

The perennial problems have been deciding what kind of computer to let the kids use, and getting them appropriate software to enhance rather than degrade their intelligence.

Happily, those problems are diminishing. Educational and informational software - "edu-tainment" and "info-tainment" in current argot - is getting more sophisticated and accessible all the time. Software developers see it as a huge growth industry as the baby boomlet comes of computing age. More potential little nerdlets were born in 1990 (4.2 million) than any year since 1961.

Edmark, a Redmond software company specializing in educational titles, is putting some innovative work on the market. Two new programs, KidDesk and Millie's Math House, represent the best of the breed, reflecting the company's experience of more than 20 years in educational books and software.

The math program recently won a California Children's Media award for best early childhood software.

A couple of other favorite titles come from Broderbund, whose adaptation of the Mercer Mayer title, "Just Grandma and Me" ($49, requiring a CD-ROM drive), features unique sounds and animation.

Broderbund recently released KidPix Companion ($39) an add-on to its enormously popular KidPix drawing program featuring more

hidden pictures, new ColorMe's, a new SlideShow feature for story-telling and more rubber stamps (clip art).

Don't overlook Nintendo, which is offering Mario Super Paint ($59), a painting program that runs on Nintendo's 16-bit game system for TVs.

Mario Paint uses wacky animation and sounds to embellish what is actually a fairly sophisticated drawing and animation program, the primary shortcoming being lack of printing capability.

Mario Paint proves you don't necessarily have to have a computer to run educational software. Tandy just released its Video Information System which uses CD-ROM discs linked to a TV set in a Nintendo-like setup. Philips, Commodore and others are or soon will be marketing similar systems.

But the grainier resolution of television combined with storage and printing hassles of creative work make it less suited for serious computer work.

There may come a time when the TV is indeed the information/education center of the home, but it's not here yet.

Instead the choice boils down basically to the Apple Macintosh and an IBM-compatible PC equipped with Microsoft Windows.

For parents wanting to share computers with kids, it used to be no contest: The Macintosh won hands down.

Windows has made strides in the past year or two, however, to the point where the choice is more personal preference than system functionality.

Apple still dominates educational settings, and the Macintosh is still an easier-to-use machine simply because of its integrated system.

With Windows, it's still possible to get lost in DOS, although the day is approaching when that no longer will be true.

Find out what the kids' schools are using, consult your budget, shop carefully and go with word-of-mouth from friends and your own instinct.

Once you get the computer, an initial investment to consider is the Safeskin clear plastic keyboard protector. Most computer outlets carry the product or something similar.

It will keep sticky little hands from gumming keys and little elbows from knocking something bad onto the keyboard.

The next must-have is Edmark's KidDesk ($39, 556-8484, available for Macs and Windows-based computers), which can put an icon with your child's name on it or even his or her picture on the screen. You can even attach a "welcome" sound recording.

Activating the icon or picture enables your child to gain access to the right software, including accessories such as a calculator, clock and phone, while kid-proofing your own files.

Millie's Math House ($49, also on both platforms) uses Millie the cow, Harley the horse, Bing and Boing and other characters to teach rudimentary pre-math skills for kid ages 2 to 6.

The beauty of the program is that kids are having so much fun they don't know they're learning math: They're building bugs, trying on shoes, making cookies, counting jelly beans.

You may want to consider Edmark's TouchScreen, which fits over conventional monitors to enable activation by touching a command menu or icon rather than using the keyboard or a mouse.

Kids instinctively reach out and touch what they want, especially on a computer; Edmark's is the best add-on available.

News bytes

The crisis in memory-module pricing, brought on by the government's tariff on Korean dynamic RAM, was quick to hit Seattle. Westwind Computing raised its prices by $10 a megabyte for Macintosh SIMMS, while Delphi Computing's price rose $20 a meg. Local distributors feel prices will calm down once other manufacturers step in to relieve any shortfall caused by the Korean situation. The administration took the action in retaliation for Korea's chip-dumping policies. . . . Beware! Friday the 13th is approaching, promising to unleash a new round of the Jerusalem, or Friday the 13th, virus attacks. The oldest virus around, it's also the easiest for anti-virus software to identify and eliminate.

Tip of the week

Edmark offers a free and tremendously useful "Parent's Guide to Educational Software" available by writing to Parent's Guide, Edmark Corp., P.O. Box 3218, Redmond WA 98073-3218. Contact this column in care of The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle 98111. Paul Andrews can be reached at CompuServe 76050,161 or via fax at 382-8879.

Paul Andrews is a member of The Times staff.