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Crash

Producer: Artic Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Group: Ages 5-8 This program is aimed at primary school children 5-8 years old, and is designed to improve spelling skills. You are asked to 'press a letter'. Depending upon which alphabet key is pressed, the screen displays a drawing and a large graphic of the letter chosen, and tells you what the drawing is. For instance, pressing V results in a van being drawn. At the top it says 'V is for VAN', and at the bottom, 'Now spell VAN'. These details remain for a few seconds so they may be digested, then the word disappear and the child may press the keys V-A-N. If the word is incorrect the computer beeps as soon as the incorrect letter is pressed. If spelt correctly the child is rewarded with flashing border colours and a tune. There are several tunes in the program. Although most words incorporated are very simple, CAT, DOOR, FISH, there are longer words like UMBRELLA and XYLOPHONE included. This program is certainly for younger children and will undoubtedly prove an entertaining way of doing elementary spelling. A drawback to its durability might prove to be the tunes, which rapidly become repetitive, although they are all popular nursery rhymes. It also seems a little pricey for what it does, but it is a very easy program to use.

Z is for ZYLOPHONE - X is for XOO.