Squeak Etoys

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Where to Now?

Flash Player

This site makes use of the Macromedia Flash plugin to display videos.

Click here to download the Macromedia Flash player.

Video Tutorials

Wherever you see the eye icon on this site,
it is a link to a video tutorial.

Squeak is a language and media authoring environment that is free and which runs on all major computing platforms. It has a number of different entry points, suited to a range of different users, from very young children right up to serious computer programmers.

Squeak has been described as an 'idea processor'; just as a word processor is a tool for working with words, Squeak is a tool for working with ideas. It gives students a tool to explore their intuitions and create models and simulations to test out their theories. Squeak projects can amplify learning that is already going on in the classroom, or in life in general.

This site has been created to introduce users to the Etoy component of Squeak, which is designed for beginners or younger children. It is particularly suited to primary and middle school age students. Etoys is pre-installed on the XO laptops which are being rolled out as part of the One Laptop per Child Project.

The official site for EToys is http://www.squeakland.org Spend time exploring the site, as you will also find background information about the underlying philosophies of Squeak, tutorials, examples, project ideas, classroom activities and more.

Getting EToys

Step 1: Getting the Plugin

Download and follow the instructions to install the Squeak Plugin from http://www.squeakland.org (Click on the link in the middle of the page). This will install Squeak on your computer and create an icon on your desktop or start menu. You can delete this icon, as we are going to use the OLPC version of EToys (which requires the Squeak plugin to be already installed)

Step 2: Getting the OLPC EToys Image

Now Download the OLPC version of Etoys. The latest version can be downloaded from the OLPC site. You will need an extract program (such as PKZip, WinZip, or 7Zip) to extract this. Create a folder named "C:\Etoys" or similar, and extract the contents of the downloaded etoys-image-and-pr.zip into the newly created folder.

Step 3: Create a Shortcut or Desktop Icon

Now create a start menu shortcut to the etoys.image file

If you have created it correctly, you should see a screen that looks something like this:

This page has been produced by Margaret Meijers. Questions concerning its content may be directed by email to margaret.meijers@education.tas.gov.au. This page was last modified on Saturday, 16 August 2008. The URL for this page is http://mindtools/squeak/default.htm .

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.
Attribution should include the statement: "This has been adapted from a resource originally created by Margaret Meijers at http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au"