Last August, my sister-in-law clued me in to a French website for kids called poissonrouge. ("Red Fish" not "Poison Blush.") At first glance it looked like a cute little website designed to help a child learn to use a mouse. I played at it a few times with CJ and forgot about it until we visited my sister a few weeks ago and my nephew was gung-ho about it. Since we've been home, CJ asks to "play on my computer" all the time. I've got to admit that it is very handy to have her entertained at the kitchen table while I'm chopping up vegis for dinner at the counter with huge knives. Not that I minded having a sous chef, but dinner gets on the table much quicker now.
I've been impressed as I occasionally glance over her shoulder at the things she is learning. Not only is she getting very skilled at using the mouse, but she is understanding basic computer concepts like left vs right click, back arrow, "X" to close, even opening a new tab (look out world!) And then I looked closer at what she is doing: motor skills, numbers/letters, matching, puzzles, mixing colors, telling time, blah, blah, blah, laws of physics, musical concepts, art history, astronomy....oh and vocabulary in English, French, Greek, and Chinese. Hello?! What are these Frenchies trying to do to our children? Smarten 'em up?
Today as CJ was playing I heard her laughing her eyes out. When I looked over her shoulder to see what was happening, I saw an egg on the screen. As she removed all of the shell a chicken would slowly appear. After the shell was gone and she clicked on the chicken, it would squawk and drop an egg before walking off the screen. "Mom! Look! He poops a egg!" Maybe this explains why she asked me a few days ago at breakfast if her scrambled eggs tasted like baby chickens.
Hilarious, Julia! That's one of Nathan's favorites too, oh, that and the apple that burps. Isn't it great that our kids have such a refined sense of humor?
ReplyDelete