Every once in a while we browse our software index to remember what crazy, fun, or useful free apps we've added in the past that we haven't looked at thoroughly enough. I recently stumbled upon AlphaBaby, a free Mac app that can teach small kids letters, numbers, colors, geometrical forms and, of course, their names, in a very fun and easy way.

Because AlphaBaby lets the child do whatever he / she likes, not requiring any tasks from them, the app can be used even by infants, according to Laura Dickey, the developer of this simple, but fun program. Every time a key is pressed or the mouse is clicked, a letter or shape is drawn. Every time something is drawn, sounds are played as well. Your own sounds and pictures can also be used. By holding down the left mouse button and dragging it across the screen, kids can draw using stars, lines, squares, circles, ducks and trucks.

“My kids love to play with the computer,” said Laura Dickey. “Unfortunately, they also have the habit of renaming my hard drive to 'axlfkaj.' So, I wrote AlphaBaby so they could safely use the Mac without inflicting too much damage!”

Multiple preferences can be set, such as shapes, letters, or numbers only, whether you want the app to play sounds etc. or not. You can even tell AlphaBaby to speak the letters, numbers and geometrical shapes appearing on screen. However, since the app is aimed at the little ones, it is up to you to set it up the right way, as well as turning it on and off, so you'll need to learn some commands.

Probably the most important action, as Laura points out, is turning AlphaBaby on and off.

The standard command-Q is disabled to prevent accidental quitting. Instead, you must use control-option-command-Q to quit the app. To get to the preferences, use the same command replacing Q with P (control-option-command-P).

The latest version of AlphaBaby is 1.7. If you aren't using Leopard, don't upgrade, in case you plan to continue using it on Tiger or earlier versions of Mac OS X. You won't be able to downgrade it if you don't find older versions of the app on the Internet. The newer versions, from 1.6 and higher, are supported on Leopard only. Version 1.51 was built and tested on Mac OS X 10.4.5 (Tiger) only, and is a Universal Binary. It should work on Tiger and Mac OS X 10.3 and later.  Newer versions are no longer guaranteed to work on 10.2 or earlier. To install, drag the AlphaBaby application to your Applications folder. Just delete the application to uninstall. A screen saver version of AlphaBaby is included in this release. It functions almost identically to the application version.

Note: Toddlers repeatedly hitting the keyboard of a laptop can spell damage! It is recommended that you use an external keyboard when running AlphaBaby on a laptop.

Download AlphaBaby (Free) – version 1.7