The first software "game" he asked for was Reader Rabbit Kindergarten. Although, he's a first grader, my son still loves this software program. We've had problems with a lot of Reader Rabbit Software (again I think primarily a Mac problem), but this one seems to work well. All the activities center around a camping theme. In Diner Lineup, children have to order things according to number, amount, or size. Number Lumber is my son's favorite. Even as a first grader with advanced math skills, he enjoys this game which teaches critical thinking, planning, and strategy, along with basic counting and computation skills. In Get Your Bearings, children listen to clues such as "pick the jar far from the red book," to find where the alarm clock is hidden. The object of the game is to find the alarm clocks, wake the bear, and earn balloons to decorate the campsite. Canoe Match is, of course, a matching game, but increasing skill levels keep it interesting. This program is easy to navigate with a lot of kid appeal. Although it says "Kindergarten," I think the skills will appeal to children in grades Pre K-2, depending on ability level.
Leap Into Phonics is an old favorite of my older son's. Although difficult to find, it is still available. This is a great program for pre to beginning readers, and it covers the alphabet, nursery rhymes, letter sounds, phonemic awareness, and word building. The activities are laid out in a game board format, and players click on the area of their choice. Ideally, the activities should be played in order. This program has a lot of great activities for children to practice beginning, middle, and ending sounds, and putting sounds together into words. If your child or student is already reading most three letter words easily, this program may be too easy. The characters are appealing; however, the sound and navigation were sketchy and slow on my computer. I'm not sure this would happen on other computers, but it's not uncommon with older software.
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