Here are some programs that teachers, or anybody else who is interested in learning, might find useful. They were all written on a PC running Windows XP and have been tested on Windows 98 and Windows XP. The programs are organised into a number of sections, 4 at the moment, and each section contains similar programs. All the programs are FreeWare. Please play them and give them away to anybody who might find them useful but please don't sell any of my programs.
You can find one copy of this site at
www.freewebs.com/robslearningfun
and another one at
www.oocities.org/robslearningfun
If you have any downloading problems with one then please try the other.
Please report any bugs, complaints or suggestions to RobertSomerville@yahoo.co.uk
Please let me know if you are using my programs. I suffer from multiple sclerosis but am employed as a part time teacher by the City of Edinburgh, Scotland at the moment. It is so much more rewarding to write FreeWare programs when I know that they are being used.
All of the programs in the Ambush, Number Invaders and Number Target sections were written in DarkBASIC. For more information on DarkBASIC and how to write fully animated 2D and 3D games yourself see www.darkbasic.com
If you decide to download any or all of the Number Invaders or Number Target programs, and why not - they are FREE, then please create a folder for them to be kept in. A high score table will be created and kept in that folder for each of the NT or Invaders games when they are first played.
If you think that you know somebody who might find a use for this site then please pass the address on to them - www.freewebs.com/robslearningfun
All of the games in Rob'sLearningFun are usually played with a mouse but some disabled students are unable to use a mouse to control a computer. However, they may use single switch access to play all my games. You can use the left mouse button or the space bar to simulate handicapped access if you wish.
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Shape and Colour
The Shape and Colour Math Game might be used by a teacher or parent with younger children to help them learn about different shapes and colours. The adult first of all chooses whether the child is using a switch for access, whether different colours are to be used and whether cartoon drawings of cars, ships etc are to be used.
When the game is started the child is asked to click on a red square, a green dragon or a blue triangle etc. When the screen is cleared the child may click again for another game.
Download Shape and Colour(2,196KB)
Ambush was written in DarkBASIC. See www.darkbasic.com
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Ambush
Maths Practice - get the treasure home without being Ambushed, or Ambush somebody else!
Ambush is a free math game for one to three players, and the PC, if you wish, where you start at the bottom of the board and use your arithmetic skills to collect rings and bring them home safely. Watch out though, some of the players might Ambush you and steal all your rings. Of course you can always try to Ambush them.
In the late 1980's I came up with the idea of Ambush as a board game. My wife humoured me and tested the game by playing a couple of times. She suggested that Ambush would make a good television game. I had to stop and think. She was right!
I photographed the board that I had made up and sent a copy and a covering letter to every
TV station in the U.K. I waited for fame and fortune to arrive, well, fortune anyway!
The replies began to trickle in and all were much the same, 'A great game but, not for us'.
Maybe they were correct, and maybe not. What do you think?"
Download Ambush(769KB)
Ambush was written in DarkBASIC. See www.darkbasic.com
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Number Invaders Section
A fun way to Practise Math
The Number Invaders section contains 4 Math Games, which will give arithmetic practise, Invaders Add, Invaders Subtract, Invaders Multiply & Invaders Divide.
They are all based on Space Invaders where the invaders are numbers that can only be destroyed if the correct answers can be calculated.
In Invaders Add the teacher or student chooses how high the answer to each calculation can be. The questions are asked at the top of the screen and the student answers by shooting down the correct answers.
Download Invaders Add(947KB)
In Invaders Subtract the teacher or student chooses how high A and B can be in a problem, A - B = ???. The questions are asked at the top of the screen and the student answers by shooting down the correct answers.
Download Invaders Subtract(947KB)
In Invaders Multiply & Invaders Divide the teacher or student chooses which multiplication tables will be used to set the problems which the student answers by shooting down the correct answers.
Show me a picture Close the picture window to dismiss it!
Download Invaders Multiply(947KB)
Download Invaders Divide(947KB)
All the programs in this section were written in DarkBASIC.
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Number Target Section
Practise Math - Explode the correct answers
The Number Target section consists of 4 exciting Maths Games, giving lots of arithmetic practise at all levels, NT Add, NT Subtract, NT Multiply and NT Divide.
In NT Add the teacher chooses how high the answer to each calculation can be. Then the sum is shown at the top of the screen and the answer, and some wrong answers, are on colored circles flying around the screen. The student uses the mouse to point to the circle containing the answer and clicks to explode it.
Download NT Add (795KB)
In NT Subtract the teacher chooses how high A and B can be in a sum, A - B = ???. The answers fly around the screen and are exploded by the student with a simple mouse click.
Download NT Subtract (795KB)
In NT Multiply and NT Divide the teacher chooses which multiplication tables will be used to set the problems which the student answers by exploding the correct answers.
Show me a picture Close the picture window to dismiss it!
Download NT Multiply(795KB)
Download NT Divide(795KB)
A high score table is kept for each of the NT and Invaders varieties in your Number Target folder.
All the programs in this section were written in DarkBASIC.
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Matching Pairs Section
Match the Pairs - Practise Math or Geography
The Matching Pairs section consists of 2 games to help with geography and 5 math games, Capitals, U.S.Capitals, PairsAdd, PairsSubtract, PairsMultiply, PairsDivide and NumberStories. All of the programs in this section were written in C, which results in small, efficient programs but you won't find much animation here.
Capitals. This teaches geography by testing the student on the capitals of world states by showing the capital cities and countries on buttons. The object is to remove all the buttons. If the student clicks, for example, Paris and France then both buttons vanish. The teacher may choose which continents are used and how many buttons the student starts with.
U.S.Capitals tests the student on the capitals of the U.S. States in a similar way to Capitals, so, for example, clicking Albany and New York would result in both buttons vanishing. The teacher may choose how many buttons to start with. A good way to remember some important local geography.
Show me a picture Close the picture window to dismiss it!
In PairsAdd the teacher chooses the maximum first number in each sum, the maximum second number in each sum and the number of sums to attempt. Some buttons now appear on screen with calculations, eg. 15+7 or answers, eg 22 on them. If the student clicks the button containing the calculation and the button containing the correct answer then both buttons disappear. The object is to remove all the buttons by clicking the sums and their correct answers.
PairsSubtract is similar to PairsAdd but the calculations on the buttons are subtractions, not additions. Again, the teacher may choose the maximum numbers in each calculation and the number of buttons to start with.
PairsMultiply and PairsDivide give practise using the muliplication tables to do multiplication or division. The teacher chooses how many buttons to start with and which multiplication tables may be used.
Show me a picture Close the picture window to dismiss it!
NumberStories. Again, the object is to remove all the buttons but, first of all, choose your target, a number between 5 and 20. Now the student must click the numbers which add up to the target. For example, choose 10 as the target. The student might now click 7 and 3, or 6 and 4, or 4 and 3 and 2 and 1. Tip - choose a small target and then click the biggest numbers that you can. If your target is 9 and you have an 8 but no 1s left then you cannot clear the buttons.
Click below to download all of the Matching Pairs programs in a zipped format.
Download Matching Pairs (488KB)
A busy college technician in England created this MSI version of Matching Pairs that you can download
here.
I am told that the MSI version is particularly useful to technicians and others who wish to install the Maths programs in Matching Pairs on a large number of computers. The MSI creates shortcuts on the program bars for Pairs add, multiply, subtract, divide and Number Stories.
Pass on this site - if you like it.
If you find any of the programs on this site to be fun, or useful, then please pass it on to anybody who you think might make use of it.
Local, or not so local, schools might use it or families that you know. Please don't keep RobsLearningFun a secret!
I would appreciate any comments, complaints or suggestions from you to robertsomerville@yahoo.co.uk
If you write to me then I will let you know whenever I produce any more free programs, unless you tell me not to. I also promise not to use your address for any other purpose and certainly not to pass it on to anybody else.
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Latest Revision : August 30 2006 by Rob Somerville