Pre-school computer games/software

[ThingOne]

The DSs (2 and 4) are getting very keen on the computer.

Any suggestions for games etc they might enjoy? Where do you even begin to look? Doesn't have to be educational but would prefer something not geared to shooting . I'm not buying a bloody Dora leap-pad with its own special software.

We like Poisson Rouge. No shooting. Really sweet. Free.

bump - devoid of ideas here ;)

Cbeebies website an enormous hit here

would second the cbeebies website. also peppapig
peppa and milkshake (channel 5)

The Cbeebies website is good for pre-schoolers. It's run by the BBC (I think) and there's lots of separate areas devoted to the various TV Characters. My 3 year old occasionally goes on it and can navigate around it pretty much by himself.

Up To Ten is good - you can look for games on a theme (sorting, shapes, etc) and then it's very clear what age they're aimed at. It's a shame you can't just search for everything suitable from 2 up, for instance, but it's a good site.

This is one I've just found - you can get a free sample download for Windows, or the whole thing for Unix/Linux (109 games). Just finding our way round it, but it seems quite good. Allegedly suitable from 2 up, but I'd say there's a lot more for the 4yo than the 2yo (and the sample has some mad thing about driving a submarine that I don't understand!)

Don't know if the 2yo would already consider Kneebouncers to be beneath him/her?!

i have found nickelodeon website lots of dora games my ds 3 loves it

and cbeebies if you type in google games for preschoolers random sites appear but nickelodeon is now his fave as he loves dora at the moment

i think really he has mastered all cbeebies games

sorry its nick jr .com

DD started with the Jump Ahead stuff and still plays some of the older stuff now. It starts with Jump Ahead Toddlers, Nursery, Preschool, then Year1 etc. I found the voices incredibly annoying, but some of the stuff she plays online now is much much worse.

cbeebies site goes down well with DS1

I use Grey Olltwit software with pre-school aged children. Some of it is quite tricky for them, but some they love such as Tidy Up where they have to click all the objects that need tidying away.
Have a look around the site, some of the games have demos (Pie Tubbies Online Demo - Teletubbies Game), some are Free. If you decide to become a member so you get access to all the games, return to this message thread and click this to get 10% discount, as you know me

www.kneebouncers.com is good for very small ones. Second Poisson rouge - dd taught herself computer skills an numbers from their games and it's super intuitive so you don't have to constantly keep coming back to the PC to help

www.starfall.com isn't games, but teaches phonics. 2 year olds I find like watching this and learn mouseskills (moving, clicking) quickly.

Thanks all. We will study over the next few days. We've been long term fans of CBeebies but not found much else that's fun and doesn't need constant parental clicking. And DS1 needs to try something he can do alone now.

Poisson Rouge is definitely the best for not needing intervention, lovely and intuitive.

there are so many sites/games that appear to be suitable for tinies, but rely on them being able to read to navigate or get the games to work. poisson rouge is the only one i've found that really doesn't take constant supervision.

Can I just say thank you very much for poisson rouge. We've been away and today is the first day I've throw DS1 on the pc while I try to do stuff and it is going very well.

He's even using his own initiative as well as enjoying himself .

www.switchzoo.com if they love animals. DD (age 3) loves this site.
www.storyplace.org has loads of books with follow up games.
Another starfall fan here too!