September 26th is Johnny Appleseed day. Just how did Mr. Appleseed get his own day?  The answer comes from Folklore, a form of storytelling passed from one generation to the next. If you have access to the Internet, you can find all kinds of folklore. Let’s start clicking!

1. Show me some folklore. Visit this amazing D. L. Ashliman’s collection of online stories at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

2. What do Disney and folklore have in common? It turns out Walt Disney was really into folklore, and he based many of his projects on these fairy tale stories. See the complete list here, on Wikipedia. http://bitly.com/2c8PLVy

3. Are there apps made from folklore? One company, Nosy Crow in the UK is the clear leader in this category. Read about how they make apps and listen to Kate Wilson talk about the process. Here’s a CTREX listing of their apps http://bit.ly/2bSAKt9

4. Where else does folklore exist? Folklore exists all around the world. To check out some famous stories of folklore from other countries, click here http://bit.ly/2bRzV4E

5. Can I listen to Folklore? We found a collection of audio recordings, at the Library of Congress. http://bitly.com/2bBvkVC. Here’s a direct link to one of the stories, from the dust bowl in the 1940s, http://bitly.com/2bBv0pP Application: Write a folklore story, using these writing tools, at http://bit.ly/2bM1KJq

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

Cyberchase Tangrams

At the PBS Kids Cyberchase site, Tangrams is our favorite game. By moving shape tiles around you can copy designs and make buildings and creatures. All it takes is a keen eye and steady hand. http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/

Crossword Puzzle Maker

At this handy site, you can quickly and easily make your own crossword puzzles to print out. Just enter your words and clues and the site makes the blank crossword and even an answer sheet, too. You can make puzzles to study with, or just for fun; see if you can stump your mom or dad! http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp

Put some thrill in the drill!

Subjects like math, reading and geography have more facts than MacDonalds has french fries.

It is good to practice these facts, and if you can have fun while you do, well, that’s all the better. Here’s a collection of free websites to put some thrill in the drill.

Hate math? Visit MATH DOODLES www.mathdoodles.com

Artist and computer programmer Daren Carstens loves math. He says “I am a lover of math…and interactive games and puzzles can make even the most advanced ideas understandable.” Daren designed Math Doodles to help you discover how fun and playful math can be. Hint: Try to race against the timer for your best time. Best for 2nd grade-up.

Are you a good profreader? Find out at THE EDUCATION PLACE

www.eduplace.com/edugames.html

Six games let you pick your own grade level, and then practice spelling, reading and geography skills and facts. This site comes from a textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin. Don’t miss the brain teasers! Best for grades 1-5.

Practice parts of speech, with MAD LIBS

www.penguinputnam.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/madlibs/madlibsgame2.html

Give me a noun______. Now give me an adjective _____. Once you plug in about a dozen of these prompts, you’ll see your words, woven into a story. We can’t think of a better way to learn the parts of speech. For grades 2-up.

Give Your Brain some Fun, at FUNBRAIN www.funbrain.com

One of the oldest and best collections of free games has been helping millions of kids sharpen their skills over the years. This site has had many owners; the latest is Pearson Education, another textbook publisher. For grades 1-up.

Are you a geo-champ? Find out at GEOBEE!

www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee

Every year, thousands of kids compete to see who knows the most geography facts. To see how you rate, try one of the fast paced multiple choice tests at National Geographic Kids. For grades 4-9.

Here are some fun sites that can help you read and write better.

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning www.literacycenter.net

If your little brother or sister is just learning the alphabet, help them go to the LiteracyCenter. There are a lot of nice letter games and activities, plus you can practice making upper and lower case letters, or play games that teach you where letters are on the computer keyboard.

Your First eBook! www.starfall.com

Did you know that there are lots of beginning reader books online? In the Learn to Read section of this website, you can find 15 short stories designed around letter sounds. Words are sounded out for you, and there are fun and silly activities to play, like tongue-twisters and riddles.

Hear a Story Read Aloud www.kennedy-center.org/multimedia/storytimeonline

Do you love to hear stories read out loud? At the Kennedy Center web site, you can see and hear three classic children’s books read aloud. Our favorite is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. You can also listen to Harlem: A Poem, and Brothers of the Knight. You’ll need RealPlayer, which you can download for free.

Who Won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals?

To see the Caldecott winners www.ala.org/alsc/caldecott.html

To see the Newbery winners www.ala.org/alsc/newbery.html

Want to see which books that librarians think are the best? The best storybooks get the Newbery Medal, named for an eighteenth-century British bookseller. The 2004 Newbery Medal winner is The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, the story of a mouse who loves music The Caldecott Medal is given to the best picture book, and was named after nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. Both awards are given by the Association for Library Service to Children.

The 2004 Caldecott Medal winner is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, illustrated and written by Mordicai Gerstein (Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook Press). “This true story recounts the daring feat of a spirited young Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center twin towers in 1974. His joy in dancing on a thin wire high above Manhattan and the awe of the spectators in the streets far below is captured in exquisite ink and oil paintings that perfectly complement the spare, lyrical text.” (source: www.ala.org/alsc)

More Books, Please www.kidsreads.com

This site is chock-full of kid-friendly book reviews, interviews with authors, trivia games, word scrambles and contests. We liked how you can read excerpts and see the covers of the books.

Looking for some fun games? With the help of our friends at the recent IDC conference, we came up with this list of the best kids’ Internet games that combine fun with learning. They are free, but you’ll want to make sure your browser has the latest version of Flash or Shockwave.

Boohbah Online (http://pbskids.org/boohbah))

Get your little brother or sister and go to this fun, zany site that encourages exploration using the characters from the PBS show. You can program dances or make beautiful patterns. Best for ages 2-6.

Games at Sesame Workshop (www.sesameworkshop.org)

You’ll find lots of different kinds of games, featuring Sesame Street characters. The best ones are the letter searches (where you try to find hidden letters in pictures), and the dot to dot puzzles. Best for ages 3-5.

LEGO JunkBot (http://www.lego.com/eng/create/activities/junkbot2/Default.asp?x=x)

One of the oldest logic puzzles on the web, this is both fun and easy to play. You goal is to drag and drop LEGO blocks into place in order to get a robot from one side of the screen to the other by building ramps. Warning — the hard levels take some brainpower. Ages 3-up.

Mr. Picasso Head (www.mrpicassohead.com)

Drag and drop abstract art elements — all inspired by the famous artist Picasso — onto a canvas, where they can be resized, turned, changed color, and so on. You can even sign the painting, using a cool Picasso font. Best for ages 4-up.

Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun (www.vocabulary.co.il)

Are you good at spelling? Are you ready for some bigger, hard words? This site contains a version of concentration, a word search game, a flashcard-like quiz, and a game of hangman. There are a nice selection of word lists to choose from. Ages 6-up.

PopCap Games (www.popcap.com)

If you like Tetris and Bejeweled, you’ll like this collection of eight quality games. Don’t miss Bookworm, a timed spelling game where you need to link words together. We also liked Mummy Maze, a strategy game where you must outwit an approaching mummy by carefully planning your moves. Best for ages 6-up.

Soda Play (www.sodaplay.com)

We’re not sure what to make of this site, except that is fun to play with. It lets you create moving stick-and-ball designs, by playing with variables that control how each part interacts. The result is moving design — an interesting merger between art and math. It is very cool, but limited in what you can do unless you are into programming. Ages 8-up

GAME DESIGNER?

What do you want to be when you grow up? How about a game designer?
If this sounds right for you, here are some steps to prepare yourself, right now.

STEP 1. Play a lot of games!

According to experienced designers, like Elliot Olson of THQ (video, top right), play a wide variety of games on a lot of different platforms. Start keeping track of the things you like don’t like. Ask, “If I was going to redesign this game, what would I do differently?”

Also, watch our interview with Sam Roberts, Festival Director of IndieCade (International Festival of Independent Games) during E3 2010, discussing what types of games he feels are good for kids.”

STEP 2. Do well in school.

Guess what?  Being a game designer means being good at things, like art, music, math, and reading. Listen to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak describe a programming job, and you can see how math, problem-solving, and creativity mix together in programming.

Also watch and learn how education influenced different designers. Marc ten Bosch  has three different college degrees, and you can see how his education influenced the game he designed.

The team at Duck Duck Moose, who makes children’s apps, has wonderful cello music. That’s because one of the members of the design team has a music degree.

STEP 3. Start programming!

Or we could say, Scratching. Scratch is a free computer language that you can download, for either Mac or Windows computers. First, go to http://scratch.mit.edu and download the program. Next, watch the tutorial videos, to teach yourself the basics, like how to make a sprite move. See http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Video_Tutorials.

You can also program with regular game hardware. For the Nintendo DSi, use Flipnote Studio (http://bit.ly/bkvhME) to learn about animation, or visit Kerpoof (http://www.kerpoof.com) to program some stories. For the PS3, get a copy of LittleBigPlanet (http://bit.ly/b7Em7g), and for the Xbox 360, try Kodo (http://bit.ly/2k5Iph).

STEP 4: Publish an App!

Ready to start making money? Make an app for the either Apple or Android devices. Here’s how. For iPhones and iPod Touches, you’ll need a Macintosh and the Software Development Kit ($100, from http://developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk/ or free for universities). Use App Inventor for Android ($free, Google from http://bit.ly/cEJYBy) to make — and possibly sell — an app for Android phones. Next, start watching videos. Listen to how one artist/mathematician (video, top right) learned how to program by watching YouTube videos made by middle schoolers.

So what are you waiting for?  “Just do it!” said Jeremiah Slaczka, who made Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS.

Jeff Braun, who started Maxis, and helped Will Wright publish SimCity, would agree. “Believe in yourself, and never take, ‘It won’t succeed’, for an answer.”

Quiz: If you want to be a game designer, which school subjects are the most important?  (Check all that apply.)

SCHOOL SUBJECTS:
o Art
o Science
o Writing & Language Arts
o Math
o Reading, Honors Literature
o Spelling
o Music and the fine arts
o Sports

HOBBIES & OTHER SKILLS:
o Ability to work with others
o Programming (C++)
o Building models
o Playing a wide variety of video games
o Reviewing apps and games, and picking them apart to find out what bothers you.

Did you check every single box? You should have, because making and selling video games uses a diverse set of skills, and you’ll be in a better position if you have a well-rounded education. It also helps to have experience with sports, art, and/or music. For example, if you love baseball, you’ll be in a much better position to create an accurate baseball simulation.

You also need to be able to work with others. Games are often designed by multi-national teams, so being able to take other people’s perspectives and communicate clearly is very important. Finally, remember that game design is not very fun or romantic. You might get stuck animating a game for weeks at a time. There’s also a lot of failure that you might have to experience before you have success. As Maxis co-founder Jeff Braun says, “never underestimate the value of persistence.”

Game Designer Videos

Visit Children’s Technology Review’s playlist , to view 17 select YouTube videos that deal with famous programmers of game designers.