Does anyone have any recommendations for fun but educational video games for a 4-year-old? We recently stayed with friends on vacation, and their 6-y.o. boy showed my son the game "Angry Birds" on their iPad and a bunch of games on their Wii. We have neither, but they're all my son talks about. I wouldn't mind him playing some computer games - I know, for example, "Angry Birds" is freely available - but I would much rather them be on the more educational side. The only problem is that all the educational games that I can find seem pretty boring. He doesn't stay as engaged with the games on Starfall or PBS Kids as he does with more traditional arcade games.
I'm mostly interested in games that promote learning how to read as well as some math. But at this point, I'd almost take anything that isn't a shoot-'em-up arcade game. And preferably free. :)
Thanks for any recommendations!
ETA: We don't have any type of video game system and no iAnything. I was hoping to find games that are available on line.
I have a Nintendo DS and I bought my son (almost 4) the Cookie Monster counting game and the Elmo alphabet game. He loves them and they are very educational! Plus, he can grow with the game system. I hated to buy a Leapster and have him bored with it in a year or 2.
Hi Jae,
It's been years now, but some of the best games my kids played when they were little were made by Humongous Entertainment. Totally kid appropriate, educational, and really fun. You can download at least some of them to your computer for free, or purchase full copies. As a starting point, I found one of my kids' old favorites as a free download for you "Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise." http://www.games2download.com/free-kids-games/fatty-bears...
Humongous made a series of the Fatty Bear games, which teach problem solving and preschool/early elementary school skills. You should also check out their Putt-Putt and Freddi Fish series.
Also good games to look out for are the Reader Rabbit games, Treasure Mountain, the Grade Adventure series (Kindergarten Adventures, 1st Grade Adventures, etc.). These teach a variety of math, science and reading skills at age/grade appropriate levels. As your son gets older, see if you can find games like Operation Neptune (math up to basic pre-algebra), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (geography), Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego (ancient through modern history), The Incredible Machine (logic and problem solving, plus very, very elementary physics), the Dr. Brain series (science and problem solving), and the Zoombinis series (logic and problem solving). These are all E rated games for the computer and are really, really fun, even though they may be older technology now. (Even I enjoyed playing them with the kids!)
Have you tried Nick Jr's website? They have a lot of fun, engaging, educational games on their site. If your son watches any of their shows it has the bonus of having familiar characters. My daughter is 5 1/2 and she still enjoys playing on there. She also has a Leapfrog Explorer that she likes to play games on as well, but if you are looking for free I would try Nick Jr.
Do you have an ipod or ipad? You can go to the itunes app store and search educational. My 2 1/2 year old loves the my little piano app, my guitar app, abc lite (which is the alphabet you can skim through and animals you can skim through), and some other stuff. They were all free. Not sure what his interests are... puzzle quest games, zuma, etc.
@mommyof2boys, thanks for that. Now I'm going to look into that for our road trip in late July :o)
I know Wii has games rated EC (early childhood) and so does PS3, but not sure if you have those and you said preferably free, and they are not :P
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I've owned Computer Cool School, it's a keyboard and software that you upload on your laptop or computer. Fun stuff. That is the only computer games my 5 year old has known and 3 1/2 year old girl.
Your child will enjoy and learn Continents, United States and landmarks, Numbers, Counting, Alphabets, Memory and Matching from this perfect learning game Preschool Monster Island from hiMahi.com.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSof...
http://www.himahi.com .......where it is Play + Learn = :)
www.starfall.com
www.pbskids.org
those are our favorites!
I play scrabble, with my son. Meaning, as I play he 'with' me 'helps' me.
He learns the alphabet that way and how to spell and how to read.
He loves it.
We play on the iPad.
The iPad has TONS of apps, for kids. Educational ones.
My Husband downloads all the free apps for them on his iPad.
The Wii is fun for kids.
"Cut The Rope" on the iPad is fun too.
It teaches them abstract thinking.
Also, Tangram games are good for kids too. They have apps for it for the iPad.
There are alphabet games/apps for the iPad too.
Forget the titles of it, but my Husband just did a search for it.
The iPad, is a real good investment.
My kids, figure it out themselves and I don't even have to tell them how to use it. It is intuitive learning. THEY have to tell ME, how to use it sometimes!
