Information For Parents and Teachers

Saffari Gwyddoniaeth is part of a collection of Welsh language websites for children aged 7-11. Other resources for Key Stage 2 include:


Jump in your van and get exploring with Saffari Gwyddoniaeth. You can play three different and exciting science games. There are also 90 multimedia cards to collect on your journey.

You can access the games either through clicking on the map on the left hand side of the screen or by driving the van along the road.

Science cards are won by successfully completing the games. Cards will also appear on the road, which the van collects as it drives along.

Customise your van by changing its colour and adding colourful patterns, new wheels and noisy horns when you stop in the three garages on the island.

Enter the back of the van to place your multimedia cards in the correct groups so that you can look at them. Duplicate cards can be swapped with the computer for different ones.

If you want to save the cards you have collected until the next time you play click on the Casglu Cardiau (Card Collecting) button.

Galw Milio
Galw Milio teaches you about the properties of thirteen common materials. You will need this information to help Milio solve the puzzles he encounters in the games.

Tric y Trychfil
In this game, you must find four groups of creatures hiding in the rainforest then use a simple key to identify them. There are short videos about each of the creatures.

Dewch i Greu
This is a physics game dealing with forces and friction where you can create your own unique pinball machine. You can save your pinball machine in order to play with it and improve it in future.

Saving work
You will need to click on the Casglu Cardiau (Card Collecting) button to save the cards you have already collected. You can also save the work you have created in Dewch i Greu. These cards and pinball machines will only be saved on the computer where you are working at the time and it will only be possible to load them on the computer where they were saved.

If you save several large pieces of work on the same computer a dialogue box could appear asking you if you want to allocate more computer memory. You will have to agree to this before being able to save any more work.

You can delete a specific profile or all the profiles on your computer by going to the profile management page.

Audio and visual help
Users can click on the 'Cymorth clyweledol' button to:
• resize on-screen text and change text and background colours
• hear on-screen text being read out
• make captions available for most video and audio content.

These preferences are not accessible while you are in the Information For Parents and Teachers section.

You can also navigate most content using the keyboard.

Back of the Van

The back of your van is the place to view the science cards you have collected. Some contain videos while others are doing cards that suggest ideas for activities. You will need to place the cards in the correct group before they can be viewed or read. If you collect more than one copy of one of the cards you can swap it with the computer for another one. Click on either the van or on the back of the van icon at the top of the screen to enter.

Driving the Van
The van is moved along the road using the arrow keys. Click on the red light for more instructions on how to play the game. You will come across the games as you drive around the island and you will be given the option of playing the game or carrying on. When you stop at one of the three garages, you can customize your van by changing its colour and adding patterns, noisy horns and new wheels. Clicking on the Gosodiadau (Settings) button gives you the option to switch the map and the music on and off.

Sorting Cards
Enter the back of the van to look at the cards you have collected. Everyone is given five cards when they start. Click on the middle screen to sort the newly collected cards. New cards will be sent to the sorting screen on the left and duplicates will be sent to the swapping screen on the right.

Click on the screen on the left to enter the sorting screen. You will need to place each new card in the correct group by clicking on either Pethau Byw (Living Things), Grymoedd (Forces) or Defnyddiau (Materials) then dragging it to the correct group. You will be able to look at the card once you have done this.


Living Things
 Forces
 Materials
Molluscs and Crustaceans Friction Properties
Plants and Fungi Pushing and Pulling Heating and Cooling
Mammals Movement and Direction Changing Materials
Insects Water and Air Resistance
Birds

Swapping Cards
When you have collected more than one copy of the same card you will need to swap it for another card in the swapping screen. Click on the computer screen on the right in the van. Drag the card to the blue whirlpool and the computer will swap it for another one.

The Help feature will play when you first enter any of these screens. You can replay the Help at any time by clicking on the red light.

Galw Milio

This is a platform game where you have to use your knowledge of the properties of thirteen common materials to help Milio solve puzzles. You can study these materials beforehand on the test bench (Mainc Ddefnyddiau).

Test Bench (Mainc Ddefnyddiau)
This tests the properties of 13 common materials:


Paper Sugar
Rubber Cheese
Metal Dough
Stone Sponge
Wood Cotton Wool
Chocolate Foil
Glass

You can test the strength, hardness, flammability, flexibility and absorbability of these materials. There is additional information about where they come from and what they are used for.

Games (Gemau)
There are two levels to choose from, which are Taith 1 and Taith 2. You can play games that contain the puzzles or the just the puzzles by themselves which allows the player to concentrate on the materials and their properties without having to play the game.

Use the arrow keys to move Milio. Click on the Help icon for further instructions. When Milio encounters a puzzle you have to decide which material he should change into in order to pass the obstacle. You are given a choice of three materials. Click on them to get more information about these materials.

Your prizes for guiding Milio to the end of his journey safely are a badge to print and a science card to add to your collection

> Play Galw Milio

Tric y Trychfil

In this game you must use a simple key to sort creatures according to their visible characteristics in order to identify them. After successfully identifying the creatures you can watch short videos about them.

The first step is to choose which of the four groups of rain forest creatures you want to study:

Group 1
Grasshopper, Tarantula, Red Legged Millipede, Stag Beetle.

Group 2
Ulysses Butterfly, Heliconia Butterfly, Army Ant. Imperial Scorpion.

Group 3
Giant Millipede, Giant Damsel Fly, Dung Beetle, Orb Web Spider.

Group 4
Heliconia Butterfly, Stag Beetle, Hunting Spider, Red Headed Centipede.

Use the magnifying glass to find the creatures that are hiding on the rain forest and click on them to collect them.

The next step is to choose one of the creatures you have collected and use a simple key to identify it by answering simple yes/no questions about its physical appearance such as the number of legs, colour and the number of body segments.

You can then look at the whole key and click on each creature to watch a short video about them.

You will then be asked to group the creatures according to the number of legs they have.

They belong to three groups:

• Insects (6 legs)
• Arachnids (8 legs)
• Myriapods (More than 8 legs).

Click on the help icon for assistance at any point in the game.

When you complete the task successfully you win a badge that you can print and another science card for your collection!

> Play Tric y Trychfil

Dewch i Greu

In this fun physics game you can create your very own pinball machine by varying the roughness, strength of push, bounce, weight and angle of different components. You can adapt a ready made pinball machine or start from scratch and build your own unique.

There are three themes to choose from: Sport, Desert or Underwater. Some of the components available to you will vary from theme to theme.

When the game first loads you will see a machine that has already been built. You can either adapt this machine or click on the clear screen button and build a new one. To win a science card for your pinball machine the projectile must end up in the basket or the barrel, depending on the theme you have chosen.

Clicking on the green arrow starts the machine and clicking on the red square resets the machine. While the green arrow is visible, you can adapt your pinball machine.

Add objects to your machine by dragging them from the bottom of the screen and placing them where you want them. Dragging them back to the bottom of the screen removes them from the machine.

A robot will appear to offer you help during the game and explain what to do with the different objects. Click on the question mark icon in the information box to get help.

Machine Components
These are at the bottom of the screen. Click on them and drag them to your machine. Click on them again to open an information box where you can change the properties of the component and click on the question mark for help.

This is a list of the components available to you in the game:

Original Projectile
This is the block that is sometimes part of the machine when the game loads. You can change its weight, roughness and bounce. Click on it to open the information box in order to make any changes.

Ball
Click on the ball icon at the bottom of the screen to see the range of balls available. They vary in weight, roughness and bounce. If you click on the tracking icon in the information box you can closely follow the path of the ball as it travels.

Mystery Object
You can adapt the mystery object by changing its weight, roughness and bounce.

Pushers
The pushers make the projectile move when you start your machine. The boxing glove, the turtle or the rattlesnake are the pushers. You can change the strength of the push and either let them work automatically or control them yourself using one of the keys. You can change the angle of the pushers by clicking on the rotation arrows in the information box.

Flippers
You can change the strength of the push and either let them work automatically or control them yourself using one of the keys.

Bumpers
You can change the strength of the push and either let them work automatically or control them yourself using one of the keys.

See Saw
You can change the angle of the see saw and choose whether to lock it in position or allow it to move. You can change its angle by clicking on the rotation arrows.

Moving Obstacles
The racing car, the ray fish and snake move backwards and forwards across the screen. Either let them work automatically or control them yourself using one of the keys. You can change their angle by clicking on the rotation arrows.

Grabbers
The crab, the goalkeeper's gloves and the vulture will grab anything that comes near them. Either let them work automatically or control them yourself using one of the keys. You can change their angle by clicking on the rotation arrows.

Walls, Floors and Slopes
You can create walls, floors and slopes using benches, cricket bats, bottles, coral, cactus, and rocks. You can move them around and change their angle by clicking on the rotation arrows.

Basketball Net, Barrel and Basket
The aim of the game is to get the projectile into these.

Pencil
You can use the pencil to draw obstacles for your machine. Click on your obstacles if you want to erase them.

Saving Work
You will be able to save three games in each of the three themes, making a total of nine. Any further saved games will replace existing ones. It will only be possible to load these games on the computer on which they were saved.

You can delete a specific profile or all the profiles on your computer by going to the profile management page.

> Play Dewch i Greu