I started my daughter out on computer games very early. She had a huge affection for all things Elmo, so once I discovered the online Elmo games I was pleased to share them with her. It’s no surprise that now at five years old she can navigate most websites designed for kids and she’s a big fan of spending some quiet time on the computer. Although I do limit how much time she spends on there, most of the time I would rather she did something interactive with a computer game instead of plopping down in front of the television.

I signed up for a free two week trial at Dream Box Learning and ran through the games there myself first to see if it was anything my daughter might enjoy. Since the math games on this site are designed for older kids – around kindergarten to second grade – I didn’t know if it would be above her head. I didn’t want to present her with something that would frustrate her.

To my delight, the games were just right for her age group. Here are the things I really liked about this particular website’s games:

1. You sign in to play, so if you have to quit abruptly or you lose your Internet connection the game goes right back to where you left off when you return and sign back in.
2. There is an option to sign in as the adult so you can try out all the games without altering your child’s scores.
3. There are lots of additional resources for parents to look through and the system tracks the child’s progress as games are played.
4. The animation is appealing, but certainly not “babyish.”
5. The system logs how much cumulative time players have spent playing the game.

I presented the game to my daughter and she was immediately enamored. She loves learning and she loves math, so this game was a perfect fit for her. To my surprise, my younger son likes watching her play, so even though he isn’t old enough to indulge in the game I think he might be getting something out of it too.

I give this online game a big thumbs up. If you have preschoolers then you should check it out and let your kids give it a try.