First of all, my college semester starts tomorrow and my daughter's school starts in a few weeks. As much as we love gaming, school is our priority. I'll try to update this blog at least twice a week, whether the post is by Mikey, my daughter, or myself.
Anyway, today's post is about our Top 5 educational games. My daughter and I worked on this together and it does not limit itself to any single platform.
Co-written by a 9-year-old girl
1. Jump Start seriesI know that we normally try to stick to a single game, but with this category we decided that an entire series would be more valuable. I first purchased a Jump Start game when my daughter's preschool recommended one. She loved it then and she still loves the series now. It's available for Mac and Windows XP through 7.
"The games are always so much fun! I can play the games several times and not get bored with them. They have games for so many different topics!"
I watched the television series growing up and with my daughter as she grew up. The show was always fun and fairly educational, assuming it all stuck with you. I really think that the games a great addition to the series and offer more opportunities for repetition and learning. As you can see from the picture, The Magic School Bus games are available on several consoles: computer, Sega Genesis, Nintendo DS, and probably more.
"The show is awesome! I've only had the chance to play one of the games at school, but I see that they have a DS game now. :D That means Mommy can be talked into buying it for me."
The Brain Quest games cover multiple topics rather broadly. It's pretty good for overall help, but I would pick a different series if your child needs a lot of help on one specific topic. It's great for 15-30 minute fun study time, although not all kids will consider it fun. There's mostly trivia questions, but the quest mode has puzzles. This game is only available for the Nintendo DS.
"I prefer Professor Layton games for puzzles and the trivia questions are sometimes too hard for me. [Parental note: She plays most games a grade or two above her, so a higher level of difficulty is to be expected.] That's what guessing is for! I know, I know. Mommy is always telling me to think about it and try to figure out which answers are wrong, but that's a lot of work."
4. BookwormI love typing and word games. I always have had a huge fondness for words and word play. This is one of my favorite educational games to play in my spare time. Bookworm is available on Mac, Windows 98 through 7, and Nintendo DS.
"This game has helped with my spelling a lot. Mommy helps too. I think she helps more than this game, but the game is still fun. It can get really difficult and I don't find that as exciting as Mommy does."
5. Learn ScienceI purchased Learn Science, Learn Geography, and Learn Math for my daughter. Of the three, Learn Science has been the best overall. Learn Math was a failure for us; it was neither fun nor educational. Learn Geography was education, but a bit dry and difficult. Perhaps that's just because geography has always been my worst subject. Learn Science, though, was entertaining and informative. I originally purchased Learn Science for my niece because she was struggling in science, who quickly mastered the game, improved her grade at school, and handed it down to my daughter.
"Mommy had taught me about colors when I was really young, but I would keep forgetting whenever I was staying with Jacob. [Parental note: She refuses to call her father by anything other than his first name.] Even since I got this game I've been able to remember primary and secondary colors, and we haven't even been taught that in school yet! Mommy's always studying science and biology stuff, so it's nice to study the same topic as her. The Learn Geography game had a puzzle where you match the countries to their locations. It was a really hard puzzle and took too long to finish. I played Learn Math twice, but it was upsetting at times because it would mark my correct answer as wrong!"
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