OT: looking for recommendatinos for games

Kay C Lan lan.kc.macmail at gmail.com
Sun Oct 28 23:11:37 EDT 2007


On 10/29/07, Alex Tweedly <alex at tweedly.net> wrote:
>
>
> Slightly off topic ....
> I'm looking for recommendations for games (or educational software) for
> a (young) 7-year old girl.


Having a tribe of my own - all much older now, I can highly recommend the
entire 'Living Book' series. These are more educational than game but the
kids don't realise that :-) They assist in improving reading and vocabulary.
All my girls and boys loved them, and trust me their personalities range
from pink fetish thru to Barbie decapitation ;-)

The Living Books were produced by Broderbund, but when I went to their
website I couldn't find them. As usual these days all is explained at
Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Books_series

Best of all this lists all their titles. There is only two on the list that
we didn't own. Other companies bought out similar products and we and half a
dozen of those as well. All were great, a couple were absolutely fantastic.

Whilst on the Broderbund page:

http://www.broderbund.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=8&path=1%2C2%2C8

the above should all be on one line.

I was reminded of Kid Pix Studio and Zoombinis Logical Journey. Kid Pix
Studio is really just a paint program (that is an understatement), nothing
game or educational about it, but if a child has even the slightest creative
streak, this program will keep them occupied for ages.  I think this program
may be to blame for some of my children being slightly ADHD. The program has
'rubber stamps' of animals, plants and people, but they're animated. Imagine
the disappointment with colouring pencils and paper when on the computer you
have an entire screen of animated objects you placed there!

Zoombinis Logical Journey is a game with a huge logic/math element to it. I
notice the box says for 8 and up but I know my lot started playing at a much
younger age. Then again that is the advantage/drawback of having a gaggle of
children - the younger ones all want to have a go at what the older ones are
doing. Probably an opportunity for parent involvement if there is no older
sibling to help complete some of the harder puzzles - not that the parents
will necessarily get it right either but at least the child is left with an
understanding that it's even hard for mum and dad and it's OK to fail; it's
just a game :-)

Start with Living Books, you can't go wrong.



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