Thread: Games for Pre-school kids

I am planning on converting an old laptop I have into a gaming system for my 4 year old daughter. She's old enough to be able to navigate the playhouse Disney and PBS kids websites once I get her to the main page and play the games. I am wanting to install a bunch of games intended for the 4 to 6 year old age range so that she can just choose the icons off the desktop and play them. Do any of you have any suggestions on good games for children who do not know how to read yet? Thanks

Hi vet0809,
Have a look at qimo.
It's a linux distrib for kids, with some games. You can test (and even use) it with VirtualBox. The advantage is that you can let you childs play with it without worrying about system modifications.

There's prolly plenty of these types of games on the web. You could create links on the desktop, so that when she clicks them, they pretty much just open up the game (and you could do the same Playhouse Disney and PBS Kids ... that way you don't have to get her too the site).

Unfortunately I don't play any such games myself, so I can't offer any actual game suggestions.

Yea, that is kind of what I had in mind with doing m@dKats. But I don't want her to have to use the internet a lot for the games. I am trying to find some good stand alone games without much reading in them. I have found a Dora game so far and that's about it.

Hi Vet,

There's a torrent floating around called 'Flash Games for Kids'. It has three folders in (Blues Clues, Bob the Builder and Dora & Diego) with the following games. Most of them are perfect for a 4 year old. If you can't find the torrent via google - I know that speed.cd has it.

Also, I know you don't want her on the internet - but you may want to checkout Kido'Z browser, which was designed especially for children and has a limited user interface so they can't access the regular net.

Blues Clues
- Bubble Puzzle
- Checkup
- Color
- Disappearo
- Do The Blue
- Dressup
- Joe Card
- Matching Game
- Music Maker
- Send A Card to Steve
- To School

Bob the Builder
- Muck Maze
- Scramblers Ramble
- Tic Tac Toe

Dora & Diego
- Bingo
- Coloring In
- Cooking
- Diego's Field Journal
- Diego's Rainforest
- Dressup
- Magical Garden
- Treasure Hunt

an amazing game for kids is bejeweled. try it. though people find it to be a game to while away time, apart from being highly entertaining it also helps increase hand eye co-ordination and increases response time and help in the stimulation of the visual cortex.

i recommend this for kids is because if one can hone skills in this game it helps a long way in mental development as a plus point.

get her some lego! or i dont know some girls toys, the more hands on the better i say. but i still had fun running mario into the hole and dieing thouands of times back in thos days. i dont know much about pc games for kids, but the wii is full of them. and its more durable lol.

Mario teaches typing.

Seriously, the BEST video game ever for kids. It's how I learned to type so dang fast :]