Preschoolers, age 3 to 4 years old are learning shapes and sorting abilities. Recognizing and identifying colors are part of a 3-year-old's educational environment. Colors and shapes are integrated into activities involving coloring with crayons and often tied in with counting exercises. Video games for this age group often concentrate on building these elementary skills. Children are asked to use a mouse or arrow key, or in some instances specially designed keyboards featuring shapes and colors fit over an existing keyboard so children can use age-appropriate, large-size, colorful keys. Familiar television and movie characters guide children through video games consisting of scenarios where shapes, numbers and colors are part of the story or activity. For example, a popular television animated character may ask the 3-year-old to find the red triangle amidst a screen of moving blue, green or yellow triangles. When the child clicks on the correct triangle, for example, he is rewarded with music or a cartoon.
Three-year-old children are busy building their vocabulary and developing their speech skills. According to Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute, reading and talking with children increases their word usage and comprehension of language. Song lyrics with music also assist preschoolers in building language skills. By three, the typical child speaks five-word sentences and has a vocabulary of about 1,000 words. Video games are interactive ways to engage a young child's attention and focus on words and instructions. Recognition of the alphabet and simple words develops when children use video games; so much so, that The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation maintains that some child specialists believe video games are "training wheels" for early literacy skills. Learning how to read becomes a fun game through the use of repetition. For example, an animated cow might tell the child to "click the barn door." When the door is clicked, the word "door" appears. The next request may be for the child to "click the word door," thus tying in the image of the door with the written word.
At 3 years old, children are developing the fine motor skills involved with hand movements. Video games focus on the manipulation of a keyboard, a mouse and other controllers in some game formats. Operating the control encourages the development of spatial visualization, attention span, critical and strategic thinking and hand-eye coordination. Children learn that moving a joystick, mouse or particular key will make the image on the screen move. Some video games emphasize art and allow the child to draw shapes and lines in the context of the game. Because the child is playing a game, using these developing skills has a lower frustration level and most games encourage a child to repeat an action when the skill isn't performed correctly. Video games stimulate the child's ego, confidence and skill levels by encouraging game participation.
Video games, like television and videos, should be used responsibly by parents as learning tools for their 3-year-olds. Video game rating systems should be studied and games marked with EC for Early Childhood should be used. These impressionable children should be protected from harmful games that may contain content that is not age-appropriate, such as violence, bad language and sexual content. Big brother's video game may not be suitable for a 3-year-old sibling. According to the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, 16 percent of 6-month to 6-year-old children in America use a computer daily. Eleven percent of children in the same age group will engage in a video game. With parent supervision, video games can be educational tools for developing 3-year-olds.