This is a special section of dosgames.com that highlights several games for kids, which are often but not necessarily educational in nature. At the bottom of this page are links to other sites that have DOS educational games available. Also, I recommend that you explore the puzzle games area of dosgames.com because there are dozens of great games in that category that would make great learning games for children.
Animal Quest is a simple learning game for children (or adults). After selecting an animal, you proceed through the different maps capturing prey and avoiding predators. You can also learn more about each of the animals featured in the game. Choosing different animals affects the difficulty of the game. Decent graphics round out a solid "edutainment" package.
This simple drill-style program helps children learn how to read the hands on a clock. It has modes that teach how the hour and minute hands move as well as how to convert from analog to digital time and vice-versa. The presentation is fairly generic (the EGA graphics are uninspired) but it's quite thorough at what it does. (Note: Type "ACLOCK" to run the game.)
This typing tutorial game will help your kids to improve their typing skills. (It can also help you to become faster as well!) The various "games" are mostly just game-like visuals added on to the usual typing drills, but they can help to make the process a bit more interesting. Various difficulty levels mean that this game is appropriate for all typing skill levels, from beginner to advanced. (Note: Make sure to select "Do you speak English?" on the first screen ... the game's native language seems to be something other than English.)
Balloons is a quick game of logic between two players or one player and the computer. The object is to take turns popping balloons while making sure to leave the last balloon for the other player. There are four different computer skill levels to choose from, and while the game is not extremely deep, games go quickly and it is presented very professionally.
Addition practice drills are boring, right? Well, yeah, they are. Were you expecting me to say that this program makes them fun? Well, in all honesty, no, it doesn't. But its still a well made program with a decent interface. Students can practice their addition skills by answering simple addition problems while racing against a snail, bomb or by gradually building a castle as they answer questions. Not too exciting but no doubt good arithmetic practice.
I remember playing this when I was in school! :) This game, originally published by Sierra many years ago, has recently been made available for free by its creator, Al Lowe. The game is a childrens game, with very simple gameplay that requires no typing. It involves doing various jobs to earn money to buy playground equipment. It can be fun for young children. (Interesting note: The author of the game, Al Lowe, later went on to create the "Leisure Suit Larry" series of "adult" oriented games!)
Not really a game, this is more an entertainment program from kids where they can build their own "funny face" out of various parts (eyes, noses, ears, etc). It has no educational value ("Yay!" say the kids) but it seems that kids could potentially play with and enjoy for quite awhile. The graphics (CGA) are quite dated, but I doubt most kids young enough to be interested in this program will really notice.
Word games are quite popular now (the Windows game BookWorm is one of the most popular & addictive games on the web right now). KrisKros is just such a word game, and has NO relation to the awful rap duo from the 90's. (Whew!) The object here is simply to use the letters given to build words by moving letter tiles into empty boxes. Good replay value since each level is randomly generated. (Note: There doesn't seem to be any way to exit the game while the timer is ticking ...)
Also known as "that game where you draw using the Turtle", Logo is described by the Logo Foundation thusly: "The Logo programming environments that have been developed over the past 28 years are rooted in constructivist educational philosophy, and are designed to support constructive learning." Uh, right. So basically you issue text commands to draw on the screen by making the little turtle guy move around. :) An interesting game-like program to be used primarily as a young child's first "programming" experience.
Math Castle is simply a math drill game with some prettied-up graphics accompanying it, but it's done well. The object is to protect your medieval castle from invading aliens (?!) by typing in answers to math questions. The questions can be addition, subtraction, multiplication or division (or all four) at twelve different difficultly levels.
This game is very similar to Word Rescue (below) but with a math theme. Supposedly an educational game, this game doesn't seem to provide as much educational merit as some other titles, but it sure is fun for an "educational" game. It's from Apogee (creator of many shareware classics like Commander Keen), so you know it'll have good control, graphics, etc. Its attempts to be educational can be annoying at times ... Basically you're trying to answer simple math questions while avoiding enemies.
Help your kids learn multiplication, factions, inequality, and other mathematical concepts with this learning game. Actually a remake of the original Number Munchers game by the software company MECC. This game doesn't feature great graphics or sound effects, but it is definitely a good teaching tool to help kids learn some basic math skills.
If you're hunting for an enjoyable word game, this could be it. While I have never played "Boggle", this game looks lot like it. The premise is simple: you have three minutes to shift the letters around in a 5x5 grid and create as many words as possible. Points are awarded and the high scores are recorded. The wordlist supposedly contains over 80,000 words. It would be a good idea to force players to look up words in the dictionary that they don't know, because I sometimes spelled words by accident while moving around the tiles! :)
Another program that aims to assist students with learning the basic arthimetic skills, Treasure Hunt Math involves players searching out specific items on the screen, then solving math problems to collect their treasure. Several variables, including problem difficulty and problem type (+,-,x,/) can be set before the game begins. Decent EGA graphics will make players more willing to play again and again!
TypingMaster is a suite with four different typing games that can aid typing speed and accuracy. The games include Reaction, Numberfall, Wordtris, and the most enjoyable game, Keyman. Unlike most typing software, these games are actually somewhat enjoyable to play, so players might actually want to come back again to practice their typing skills.
If you're interested in learning the names and capitals of the different US states (as well as possibly the state flowers, etc.) this could be a good progam. It is very bare-bones; it is presented with very little in the way of graphics and no sound effects, but it does give you plenty of quiz options.
The objective of Wordmax s to spell as many words as you can using letters from a master word. The game includes plenty of masterwords to try, and it has a built-in dictionary of over 80,000 other words, so it's likely the game will recognize the words that you type. Presentation (as with all Soleau Software games) is excellent.
Wordtrix is a simple but mildly entertaining game intended to be an edutainment product to help kids learn words and increase their vocabulary. The game involves fitting falling parts of words into three possible choices at the bottom of the screen (only one of the choices makes a real word). One good thing about this game is that through the various game options it can be made suitable for a fairly wide age range, and the graphics are decent enough, including an option for pictures to go along with each word.
This game is very similar to Math Rescue (above) but with a literary theme. Supposedly an educational game, this game doesn't seem to provide as much educational merit as some other titles, but it sure is fun for an "educational" game. It's from Apogee (creator of many shareware classics like Commander Keen), so you know it'll have good control, graphics, etc. Its attempts to be educational can be annoying at times ... Basically you're trying to find the letters to make words while avoiding enemies.
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