Focus on board games that teach spelling, reading and math objectives. Magnetic Hangman teaches children basic sight words, and parents can use the game to reinforce spelling lists from school. The Spelling Beez game reinforces spelling rules when players race around the board, collecting letters to spell words. The award-winning Alpha Bug Soup Word game teaches young readers vocabulary skills as they move around the board. For more advanced readers, try the board games by Learning Well. These games are based on Bloom's Taxonomy and teach a variety of reading skills, such as drawing conclusions, using context clues and finding main ideas. The Money Mat game uses an oversized board and pieces to create a fun way to learn coin and bill recognition, values and vocabulary. To reinforce addition, subtraction and multiplication, try the Math Animals game. Players race around the board while performing simple math calculations.
Use age-appropriate software with themes interesting to your child. Consider software that advances skill levels as objectives are met and provides data on performance for the parent to review. Reader Rabbit is educational software teaching a variety of reading and math skills by grade levels. Mia's Reading Adventure software teaches children, from kindergarten to third grade, spelling, grammar and reading comprehension. Oz the Magical Adventure is based on the classic tale and challenges children's thinking skills while offering a variety of educational adventures. This software offers three different levels and allows children to save their progress.
Choose electronic devices that meet your child's educational needs and fit your budget. Leapster L-Max is a handheld portable device mimicking the Nintendo GameBoy. The main difference is the unique kid-friendly design and educational games offered in reading, math, science and thinking skills. The LeapPad is an electronic learning pad, using special educational books sold separately. With the attached stylus, players can bring the pages to life. The LeapPad reads the books aloud and offers interactive games. V-Tech also offers a vast array of educational devices including laptops, the MobiGo and V.Reader. These unique devices offer a number of educational opportunities in fun formats for children.
Preview educational websites before allowing your child to play. Funbrain is an educational website with arcade-like games teaching reading and math objectives. Players can move through different levels and save data with an assigned password. The Kidz Page is a popular website offering a number of games, coloring pages and puzzles. For more interactive educational games, log on to Kids Know It Network. This website is kid- and parent-friendly, allowing users to choose the subject, individual objectives and games. Subjects range from astronomy and biology to spelling and math.