That’s why I like software that combines educational processes with games and rewards for my daughter.  They’re not babysitter programs, like the fun packs and interactive stories.  Initially I sit with her and help her understand what actions take place.  As she becomes more accomplished, I coach her on the thinking skills that are needed. 

For example, if we’re filling in patterns, I don’t allow her to randomly click items until the program adapts and offers her only the correct choices.  I have her analyze the patterns, talk them out, then – out loud – try to figure out what the correct choice is before she clicks.  Even if she’s going to make the wrong choice, I usually don’t correct her before she clicks; I want her to go through the process of methodically analyzing the problem and solution.  Unlike some games software, the idea is not speedy, random clicking; but building thinking and analyzing skills to last a lifetime. 

The edutainment titles contain three or four different types of games (more with the deluxe, multiple CD packs) with different levels of difficulty in each game. You will pay from $10 to $30 dollars for the games…less for the single topic titles, like phonics or numbers games, more for the deluxe, multi-CD editions.  You’ll get a better value in the warehouse stores, but check for the online stores and websites for closeout and overstock bargains.

Each game usually offers rewards for correctly answering the questions.  These rewards vary.  In Madeline Pre-School and Kindergarten, the child earns sections of a medal.  When he or she complete the medal she can print out the full page picture.  Others accumulate props for a stage play or toys that you paste on a playground scene.  Some rewards seem (to me, the parent) completely goofy.  In one JumpStart Phonics game, the child can win up to four “boo-boo” strips from the host of the game, but you don’t take the awards with you, they disappear when you move to the next game.

Another feature of edutainment software allows the parent to check the child’s skill level and accuracy in the different games.  This is helpful to me after my daughter has reached the ability to use a software program without my constant supervision.  I let her play the games and later check the progress reports to see the areas (e.g., alphabet, numbers, pattern-matching, sizes) in which she may have difficulties.  Newer programs contain adaptive technologies that alter the difficulty in the exercises based on the player’s accuracy.

There are several types of edutainment software available, hosted by a variety of characters.  I prefer the series that provide “hosts” that are just as appealing a few years later as they are initially.  For example, my daughter continues to return to a Madeline-hosted series, but has abandoned those with Sesame Street and Disney characters.  She dislikes intensely a popular elementary school PBS character, so I know I won’t be buying any titles in that series.

Here are my favorites in a wide variety of programs available, with some comments on a few of the titles.

Knowledge Adventure JumpStart series
The JumpStart series is a grade- and age-based, skill-enhancing collection of educational games. 

In this series, we started with the Toddlers program, which I found appealing with its bright colorful characters, lively songs, and large mouse icons.  This program teaches the child to use a mouse, whereas other toddler and baby titles do not require mouse use in all portions of the program.  My daughter became interested in this at 18 months and played it throughout her terrible two’s.  By the time she was 3 years old, she had lost interest and moved to the next in the series, so I passed the program on to another toddler. If you’d like to know more about the skills taught in each level of the JumpStart programs, you can check out the website .

In addition to the deluxe, 2-CD, grade-based programs offered by JumpStart, you can supplement your child’s learning with topic-based titles.  JumpStart Learning Games: Phonics, and JumpStart Learning Games: Numbers, for example, had a recommended age level of 4-6.  At almost 5 years old, my daughter didn’t have some of the skills to play the three or four games included with each title, but grew into the games a few months later.

If her frustration factor’s high when introducing a new title, I pull the program out of circulation and re-introduce a month or so later.  I don’t want her — at this early stage of education — to develop the attitude of “I just can’t do . . .  (phonics, math, multiplication . . . fill in the blank);” something I frequently hear from the adults that I teach.

The Learning Company Reader Rabbit series
This series is also a grade- and age-based series of educational games.  Since the educational goals are the same as those in the JumpStart series, I use the different titles to provide variety in skill building.  The rewards for accuracy seem to be more tempting, and my daughter returns frequently to the same skill-building exercises.

I’ve also found some sly references appealing to adults; some of the characters feature voices or personalities familiar to adults.  For example, in a restaurant kitchen where the child matches food to alphabet characters, off-screen voices order food from the waiter.  The voices imitate well-known adult personalities such as Jimmy Stewart and John Lennon…this isn’t something the child recognizes, so I have to assume the programmers put this in for the parent’s enjoyment.  A “body-building” type of character uses an Arnold Schwarzenneger-like voice.

Recently my five-year old asked to try the first-grade series that I’ve been holding for two years.  (The Learning Company has released some new versions of the grade-based titles, with new story lines and themes…so if you’re buying used or auctioned software, check the copyright date.)  With some trepidation, I loaded the program, and to my surprise, she very capably handled portions of the program.  It’s not something I’ll let her use every day, but it does offer some variety and skill enhancing exercises.

You can find the Reader Rabbit and JumpStart series at retail and electronic stores that sell software.  Warehouse stores and online auction sites offer a variety of titles.  You can also visit the publisher website 

•  The Learning Co 
•  JumpStart 
•  Edmark 

Edmark software
While the previous two publishers are more readily available to the consumer, I find several titles in the Edmark catalog to be valuable.  I admire the programmers’ abilities to combine appealing and solid skill exercises in different levels that continue to hold my daughter’s attention. 

Millie’s Math House, an older title, has provided my daughter years of enjoyment. We started with the simpler acts of matching sizes to the correct characters or placing candies on cookies, and as her skills improved, to counting, matching, and understanding simple addition and subtraction exercises.  Millie the cow also hosts Reading Roller Coaster, which builds vocabulary and language arts skills.

Edmark rounds its offerings with — among others — Bailey’s Book House and Sammy’s Science House.  Another series of programs, the Thinkin’ Things Collection of CD-ROMs, encourages critical and problem-solving thinking.  I admit that, as an adult reviewing the series for a newspaper article, I wasn’t too impressed.  But as my daughter has used the disks, I am intrigued with the challenges it provides and how she rises to meet them.

Here’s an example of how the series encourages “creative” thinking.  In one game, she has the ability to combine images with colors and sounds.  She spent an hour one evening, cycling through sounds, colors, and objects.  When she found the mix of energetic music and swirling purple images that she liked, she called us in the office to watch and announced, “from now on, when I play Batman and Batgirl with Dad, I want this music to be on.”

You can visit the Edmark website at <> to buy direct from the company.  You can also find the titles in some software and education resource stores.  Currently Edmark is promoting a deluxe edition combining Millie’s Math House and Bailey’s Book House into Millie and Bailey’s Kindergarten.

Art creativity and critical thinking
Do you worry that your child has the opportunity for creativity and critical thinking? I worry that, in our push to pass competency exams, we may expect our children to spit back exactly what we’ve poured in.  That’s why I like the programs that encourage and expands a child’s thinking.

There are a variety of programs available, so I’d check with the child software review and other parents’ recommendations before investing in the titles.

Two that we use are older programs that may not be readily available, so I won’t spend space on a review of them.  Critical thinking programs encourage logical analysis, deductive reasoning, and problem-solving skills.  Art programs supplement with creativity skills. 

The Sesame Street Toddler Deluxe Art Workshop disk continues to provide hours of enjoyment for my daughter.  Her computer skills have developed as her tastes in art have changed, so she varies her attention between costume design, stickers, drawing, and coloring.  At 3-1/2, she zoomed around coloring program options—tools, patterns, fills, erasing, and starting over—that stump adults using the similarly-designed Windows Paint accessory.  At 5, I’ve noticed that she’s developing an amazing sense of color balance, design, and critical thinking that will serve her well as she grows to adulthood.

Some of the titles in this arena include the Carmen Sandiego series and character-hosted critical thinking disks.