Games for Preschool Kids to Play on the Internet
Playing computer games, whether a learning experience or an hour's entertainment, can give children early exposure to phonics lessons and math practice for a head start in academia. Many sites aimed at children 2-5 use games to teach basics such as how to use a mouse, or more advanced skills needed to succeed in school.
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Starfall Free Game for Phonics
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In homeschooling circles, Starfall.com is a highly respected educational game for children and it's free. Suitable for children age 2 and up, Starfall uses an interactive approach to teach children how to click the mouse and to recognize the shape and sound of the letters of the alphabet, eventually reading stories on their own.
To get started learning with starfall, show your preschooler how to move the mouse. On the starfall screen, the arrow is very large, so that kids catch on fairly quickly that their motion affects its movement. The "clickable" areas sparkle, teaching children where to click next, in order for the games and stories to progress. Because preschoolers enjoy repetition, there is a replay and back button on each screen.
In the beginning, parents should sit with their child as she learns to work through the games. Initial sessions may be short, as little as ten minutes. Later, when the child is familiar with the commands and layout of the screen, less direct supervision will be required and she'll likely want to sit through longer sessions. Parents can use the printouts from the Starfall resource center, like worksheets, coloring pages, miniature books and certificates of accomplishment, as incentives, or reinforcements of the lessons learned in the game.
The lessons and games on the main Starfall screen are arranged in a grid, designed to be worked through the list from left to right, top to bottom. Many families find, however, that children learn just as much and have more fun when they're able to choose their own order.
Fisher-Price Free Games Online
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The Fisher-Price website has 48 games and activities for preschoolers to play. The games on this site aren't all educational. Some are simply themed coloring activities. On the opening page, they're arranged in a grid, with a large colorful icon that kids will quickly learn to associate with their favorite games.
As with other preschool games online, sit with your child until you're sure he has command of the system. Teach him how to respond to error messages without wiping out your computer. It's best to stay with your child as he familiarizes himself with the commands of several games, until you're sure he can make his way around new games. Since many of the games have similar commands, it won't take long.
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Boowa & Kwala
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Boowa & Kwala were created by Veronique and Jason Barnard for their daughter Lilou. Boowa & Kwala have a unique series of activities called "first clicks" which teach little children how to use the mouse, with flash animated interactions that respond to the child's correct understanding of hovering, right clicking and left clicking. Later, the functions of the arrow keys are introduced. At more advanced levels, Boowa & Kwala help guide children through reading and simple arithmetic, in preparation for kindergarten. The site offers over 800 games, as well as coloring pages and other activities.
Since there are so many games on this site, parents may want to choose one of the 24 categories of games for their child initially, and then allow the child to choose one of the games. The games are rated by users with a star system and the first page has the highest rated games in that category. After a while, you may choose to join the premium membership and have a year's worth of access to the site, without advertisements, for $29 (as of August 2009). With the premium membership, kids can play the games in full screen version, thereby making it less likely that they will click on anything other than the games. There's nothing quite like discovering your child has printed 75 coloring pages at once.
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