I’ve got a brand new computer (running Windows XP), and I need computer games/software that work well and would be good for a 4-year-old girl.
What do your kids like?
A friend of mine has a 4-year-old daughter who is very fond of Dora the Explorer’s Fairy Tale Adventures.
You could also try online games - the best site I’ve seen for this is the Cbeebies website, which is the site for the BBC Cbeebies channel in the UK.
I was also going to recommend some online games - both PBS Kids and Nick Jr. are enjoyable for our younger dauthter.
Putt Putt Saves the Zoo.
The whole Putt Putt series is good, but Saves the Zoo is classic.
Gotta agree with Dangerosa, Putt Putt is a classic.
My five-year-old also really likes the I Spy games.
I second Putt Putt. When I worked for a Children’s Museum we had the Putt Putt travels through time game on the computers in the computer learning room. I even had fun playing it. My favorite thing is that Putt Putt being a car doesn’t have limbs… most things of this nature usually have th wheels kind of stretching and acting as arms… Putt Putt’s antenna acts as his arm for reaching things and picking things up.
Michaela hasn’t been 4 for about six years now, but when she was, she enjoyed a program called Jump Start Toddlers. It appears to have been rendered obsolete by this, however.
She also went fairly quickly to the Reader Rabbit series.
Second the recommendation for the Jumpstart titles. I don’t recognize the Jumpstart Toddlers title that kaylasdad99 recommended, but about five years ago I picked up a similar title with a duck that walked kids through the basics. IMO, all the Jumpstart titles are decent and worth the money.
Charlie was playing JumpStart titles, as already mentioned, Reader Rabbit Pre-school/Kindergarten, and Lego Chess.
Upon viewing my extensive collection of software for my pre-schooler, I notice lots of previously mentioned titles in my almost-five y/o’s collection.
We’ve got, in no particular order other that then stack rack:
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time
Playskool Puzzles (good for beginners)
Fisher Price 1-2-3’s (also good for young 'uns)
Blue’s Clue’s Preschool
Finding Nemo
I Spy Junior/Puppet Playhouse (Bryan loves these)
Reader Rabbit Preschool (loves these too!)
Backyard Baseball (a little advanced, I think)
Spongebob Squarepant Emp of the Month (also a bit advanced)
JumpStart 1st Grade Classic
Cosmi Phonics 4 Kids (trying to get him to like this one)
Curious George Preschool Learning Games (loves this one too)
He’s also heavily into AOL Learning Games, which are free for the first month and then $3.95 per month. He also likes the Leapfrog website, which has some free games (more available through subscription) and several different levels of games.
The kid knows more about the computer than his dad. For some reason, that irks me. I have to do everything for DH on the comp and it pisses me off that he doesn’t learn after the 20th time of showing him “favorite places”.