Surf-Bits: Surfing For Great Mac Freeware
5. Mac Freeware For Your Children

Tim Verpoorten
(July 08)

So far we've discussed mostly freeware that you would use in your day to day work on the Mac, but what about freeware for the family? Specifically, what about some Mac freeware for your children?

One of the most requested topics that I receive for the MacReviewCast.com podcast is for family friendly freeware. One of the strengths of the Mac has always been in the field of education and home usability. Many young people were trained on a Mac in school, and as they grew up they kept a Mac in their home. This all led to a strong software base for educational freeware on the Mac, so let's look at a few of these apps for a variety of different ages.

Let's start with the youngest. My grandson is 7 months old and he loves nothing better then to sit on my lap while I'm at the Mac Pro and bang on the keys and the mouse. As you may have already guessed, my grandson can get away with anything he wants when he's around Papa, but I'm not about to let him loose on my keyboard and mouse without some type of protection for my files. The answer is Baby Banger.

With a simple keystroke, all the keys will show colorful shapes and images when pressed and some even give you sounds. The more they bang away on the keyboard, the more shapes and colors appear. You can add your own pictures and images if you want, or just use what the application gives you. This little app has given my grandson hours of joy and me, hours of peace.

As your children grow older, you'll find that many of the same games that we've enjoyed in our youth have timeless appeal. Games like The Match game or a jigsaw puzzle will be hits with children forever. That's why you should visit this website for two great freeware games,
FishDog Jigsaw and FishDog Match.

Just like their name suggests, FishDog software has taken two classics and turned them into Mac freeeware. They are true to the originals and just as much fun. In FishDog Match you match letters, numbers and pictures. This allows for several years of enjoyment. In FishDog Jigsaw, they use pictures of animals which all children enjoy. Thank you FishDog.

Another great Mac software developer is Koingo Software. They make some wonderful shareware utilities but still have time for some fun Mac freeware. These holiday favorites can be downloaded at:
Christmas Super Frog
Christmas Crisis

Both of these games are for a little older age group and the games can be best described by their developer: In Christmas Crisis, Santa has fallen sick this winter holiday. Ms. Claus has been cooking some of her most powerful chicken soup, but even that's not powerful enough to cure Santa from his perilous cold. He won't be able to make his first deliveries until much later than usual - but that is too late to deliver all of the presents. You and other elves have been chosen to help make up for Santa's missed time! Fly over cities and drop presents down chimneys. Maintain a 70% success rate to save Christmas! Watch out for planes - you don't want to crash!

In Christmas Super Frog, Santa's sleigh has broken down, scattering his gifts all around the town! Now it is up to you to recover all the missing presents before Christmas arrives. As the name sounds, the game resembles the original Frogger in many ways.

While we're talking about frogs, here's another fun game by the name of BullFrog from Outer Level Software.

In this game you play a BullFrog who's house has been invaded by bugs. Buzzing, flapping, and biting. Bugs now plague every corner of your world and irritate you at every turn. Eat all those pesky bugs to return peace and quiet to your lovely home. But, you must eat all those bugs before time runs out or your home will be forever theirs.

Let's keep looking at freeware games for the kids. Here's one that may appeal to the older children in the house, it's from RAMDreams Games, and it's called The Gnome Hearder.

You can either play this 3D game online from the website, or download the Mac OSX stand-alone version for your computer. Now if that's not enough, RAMDreams Games have two more 3D adventure games that you're welcome to download or play via the website. They're called The Snowmen and the Crown, and The Bows of Shoga-La. They all have smooth 3D graphics and are fun for kids of all ages. What more can you ask for free?

Now that we've covered some freeware games, I'd be a bad parent and grandparent if I didn't include a few apps that were more learning based. The one thing we all fear about having our child on the computer is when they actually go online. Besides the obvious predator situations we hear about everyday, we also have MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other websites to worry about. Why not replace the Firefox, or Safari browser that adults use and give your child a browser that you know is safe?

Scavenger features a fun user interface free of the OS X look. It uses Apple's built in Safari engine to render pages. Any plug-ins you have installed in Safari, Scavenger can take advantage of them. Scavenger also contains bookmarks to kid-friendly sites like Noggin, Nickelodeon and others. Part of the reason Scavenger can keep your kids safe is that it restricts itself from going to any other site except those you have on the home page. Scavenger does not allow for downloading files. Any files on the internet will need to be installed by you using another browser. Scavenger is a great app to help you control your kids browsing experience. But, remember, no piece of technology can take the place of good parenting, ultimately it's your responsibility.

What about the child that has an artist inside just waiting to burst out? There is a wonderful drawing program for children in the elementary level. It's called Tux Paint.

Tux Paint is a colorful drawing application that combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative. These drawing tools include brushes, stamps, lines, shapes, text, magic tools, erasers and undo. Tux Paint has been around the Mac community for years and has developed into a full featured, solid application that could easily become shareware if desired.

Mac developers have not forgotten about the educators along with the pupils. Moodle is an open source course management system. It can help educators create effective online learning communities. From one pupil to thousands, Moodle handles it all. Moodle is a software package for producing internet-based courses and web sites. The feature list is pages long and the capabilities are endless. Use as much of the program as you need or as little as you need. Do yourself a favor and visit the Moodle website yourself and you'll be as impressed as I am with the possibilities.

Let's finish this list with an app that your High School student might just crack a smile and thank you for finding it for them. It's called Trigonometry and it's from VoJou Software.

The name says it all. The app is a small and simple to understand program to learn or teach Trigonometry. If I remember my High School days, anything that can help with Trig is worth it's weight in gold. Especially if it's free.

That should do it for this article. We've only scratched the surface. The Mac had it's roots in the educational system and for many years it was the king of the family computers. Those were great developers and now a new wave have taken the reins and given us some fantastic freeware to help our children grow and learn.