In an effort to make other freely available software available to all KidSmart participating schools and nonprofit organizations or website users who choose to access it, IBM is providing links to the web sites that contain such free software.

Neither IBM nor the United Way of America shall assume any liability whatsoever arising from any third party claims relating to infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights of this free Software. Neither IBM nor the United Way of America have any liability in the event any users of the Software infringe the intellectual property rights of the Software or use the Software for commercial purposes.

IBM and the United Way of America reserves the rights to delete or temporarily remove links to web sites that offer free software. IBM and the United Way of America will not be responsible for any loss and damages arising from lack of access to this free Software.

Kindergarten Energy Education Software

The following software programs are free and available for use in early childhood classrooms. The software is available in multiple languages and could be an enhancement to IBM's KidSmart program. Notice: When clicking on the web site links below, you will be leaving the IBM KidSmart Web site, and connecting to the various web sites listed below. You may access non-IBM software offered under license when on these web sites. Before using such software, please make sure you read, understand and comply with the Term of Use for that software. When you access non-IBM Web sites, even though they may contain the IBM logo and content regarding IBM's products and services, such Web sites are independent of IBM and IBM makes no representations or warranties regarding the content and has no control over the operation of such non-IBM Web sites. In addition, a link to a non-IBM Web site does not mean that IBM endorses that Web site or has any responsibility for the use of such Web site.

GCompris

http://www.gcompris.net

GCompris has been translated into Arabic, Breton (Brezhoneg), Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, Russian (русский), Slovak (slovenščina), Hebrew, Swedish, and Greek. Gcompris includes many classic puzzles such as tan grams and jigsaw puzzles. Most would be fairly challenging to younger children and they would need to be explained to them first. While on the face of it this may be considered by many to be a disadvantage, ironically it will often provide a greater stimulus for adult-child collaboration. There are puzzles, mathematical games associated with counting, arithmetic, and geometry, pre-reading and discovery activities. There is also a stop-action animation activity where the child uses various drawing tools to draw a story scene, she can then click on the camera icon to take a picture and can save it as a single frame of animation. Once the picture has been taken, the child can move things around in the scene and take the next frame. Finally, they can play back their animation.

Souptoys

http://www.souptoys.com/playsets.php

Souptoys provides an assortment of different categories of object to be manipulated and arranged on the desktop. These include ‘sports’, ‘castle’ (blocks), ‘souper six’ (figures and cars), ‘bumble party’ (balloons and flowers). What makes the toy so much fun for children and for adults is the fact that they all interact with one another on the desktop. They make noises, balance or fall over. Balls bounce, balloons float into the sky and magnets lift metal objects and the interactions teach children about the world around them. There are infinite possibilities for parent – preschool partnership activities with SoupToys. For example, parents might codesign and build virtual block castles (or Fairy Palaces) with their child at home. This would provide a rich context for dialogue and sustained shared thinking in itself. The final screen prints of their designs can then be brought into the preschool and reproduced in play with real blocks and construction apparatus. To download the software, visit:

Tuxpaint

http://www.tuxpaint.org/

TuxPaint has been translated, or partially translated, into 85 languages. Children like the penguin and often relate it to Pingu, a favourite TV cartoon character. Tux paint is an open-ended representational tool for creative drawing or image making with a range of creative tools, including paint, stamps and magical markers (such as grass, or smudge). The software affords a range of purposes, from completely open-ended drawing (e.g. painting on a blank piece of paper) to using pre-made, or teacher uploaded, backgrounds. The software is open-source and allows users to add features, such as uploading images to the stamps collection. While the software already somewhat dated, having first been developed in 2002, the regular updates (and stability) adds to its appeal.