Electronic games for 4yo....

[BigAngryRedThing]

Are electronic games any good as an aid for learning? If so, which is the best one to get?

DS is 4yo, 5yo in March. Alot of his friends have a DS, I'm not so keen on the idea, but I've been told about 'learning' games, but I'm still skeptical (sp?) I also don't want him to feel left out...

Also heard that the Leap pad is good for helping with reading.

We have a Wii that gets played very occassionaly, DS not that fussed by it.

TIA

Ds1 is 5 in May and has a leapster 2, seems fairly educational, but most of the games are american so don't teach phonics. The maths stuff seems good though.
He mainly plays it in the car on long journeys.
He enjoys playing on the big computer too - mainly Cbeebies games.

You've made up my mind then Karoleann... we were given a ScoobyDoo 'laptop' not long ago, it was American, and as soon as I noticed DS's accent changing it got put in the bin it magically disappeared!

Leapster handheld console - games are good fun and I was really surprised by some of the stuff ds picked up, we bought it for pleasure but it was especially good for his maths skills and they have some good phonics games.

Also really portable.

Is that American too Honeydragon?

Yup, but leap pad adapt the phonics according to country, you definitely get a zed not a zee.

Eg
"every letter makes a sound and zed says zz"

I felt that ds was too old for my son at 5 so bought that and he loved it, as it "speaks" they can play independently and pick up reading as they go, no learning ds game seens to do this. It is very robust and you can get could deals on the games. Mt ds is now 7 and has my ds (and nicks my iphone )but still quite often plays with some of his leapster games particularly the art ones.

they are quite good value too -heres one a full price but they are often on offer.

plus they survive being dropped well unlike a nintendo.

just had a look, it's on ELC, about half the price of a DS. Would it be worth paying the extra and getting him the same as everyone else? Can the DS be educational?

Personally I think that by the time ds learning games are age appropriate to play they are too old to want to play them.

But although the games are narrated by the odd american it is in no different way to them sitting and watching a disney dvd. I thin by age 5/6 they are ready to start the odd game on a ds, but most of the children knew had them made their parents complete levels etc on them as they found games to complicated or didn't learn a thing and get frustrated.

Ds was sat when we were in restaurant with friiends playing quietly and the people on the table next to us swore they would get one the next day as they had bought their 4 year old a ds and he hardly played it.

Another bonus is that I didn't feel I had to supervise ds with the leapster all the time so it gave me time to mumsnet get on

but each to their own, some people love them.

Thank you for your insight Honeydragon! I might take a trip to ELc to have a closer look!

no worries