Finding ways to gently help your kids learn can be tough on times. Forcing them to sit and read or do work books can often cause unnecessary stress and result in them pushing back and developing a dislike for reading or numbers. Teaching them that learning can be fun at a young age is building a brilliant grounding for their future education, and it will make their school years so much easier in the long run!
As we were stuck at home for so many weeks due to lockdowns, we had to find a few simple ways to home school our 4 year old to stop him missing out. But I also didn’t want to cause him any added anxiety or put too much pressure on him, after all he was only 4! So for me the way to do that was through educational games.
Educational games can come in all shapes and forms – board games, card games, mobile apps or websites, games for his kindle in particular were a big hit. As far as he was concerned he was just having fun, either playing with us or independently on his own. But for me he was gently leaning his basics – mostly things like mathematics and reading, but occasionally some science and coding would slip in thanks to STEM toys!
So here are a few of the educational games for 4 year olds we have been enjoying at home
Educational Games
We have lots of different types of games at home for my son and quite a few of them are educational based. Most of the time he doesn’t realise he is actually learning anything whilst playing, and that really is the best type of learning. Here are a few of our favourite ones
- Coding Critters – We have the bunny version of this coding game and Elian has enjoyed trying to work out what sequence of commands he needs to give the bunny to get him from point A to point B. Its a great basic STEM toy for kids
- Veggie Farm Sorting Set – Ive been using this set with him for so long now, and ill start using it with my little girl soon too. Its a simple set up where they can either sort by shape, colour or number of items. But I have found lots of ways to use the veggies to make up math games and other things for my son so its super versatile
- Shape Factory – This is a fun game where players try to make a certain picture out of different shaped pieces while the other person guesses what it is (like a Pictionary but with shape pieces). It really gets their brains thinking about shapes and how things connect together
- Lastly I’d also recommend Orchard Games in general. They have loads of different games for different ages, most of which are educational in some way. We are big fans of a number of them and will no doubt add a few more to our collection this Christmas.
Free Online Educational Games
If we want to play some free games online I will usually use the site plays.org. They have 100’s of different games, all genres and difficulties. (Some proper nostalgic arcade games too for the adult! You’ll find me over on pac man!) But they also have a specific section for educational games. Some are for older kids but there are also quite a few for little ones which our son has enjoyed.
Our dude is particularly into numbers so will always navigate more towards the mathematics games than the spelling or word ones. His favourites at the moment are
- Dinosaur Train Bridge Builder – You need to help the dinos across the valley by measuring the space, then choosing the right number of logs to build the bridge
- Odd Squad Agent Academy – This is probably the most fun as you build a secret agent then get him to collect answers to solve number problems from mathematics, sequencing and fractions (There is a few other games in the Odd Squad franchise too that are great fun and have kept our son entertained and learning for hours!)
- Aliens Vs Maths – Stop the aliens abducting the cows by answering math questions. You can chose addition, subtraction, division, multiplication or a random selection so this can get quite hard for older kids too
Educational Apps for Kids
Our son responds really well to learning via technology luckily so we have a number of apps installed on his Kindle that he is able to play independently. I spoke to his teacher and asked if there were any she recommended and luckily she mentioned a few that we have found really great for his age.
- Teach Your Monster To Read – This was one that a few of my friends with older children suggested and it really has helped grow his confidence in reading
- Hairy Letters – This was one of the ones his teacher suggested which he loves playing. It is great for basic phonics and letter recognition.
- Numberblocks – Our son is obsessed with the TV show so this was an obvious choice for him, it was great for basic number skills although I think he has outgrown it now he is 5
Why not check out some of our other post
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