Best Preschool Software Programs

Good computer programs for toddlers help engage their imagination while teaching them something about the world around them. There are many good games available online for free, such as pbskids.org and Big Fish Games, but if you're going to pay for software for your toddler, there are many fun, education and inexpensive options out there.

One of my favorite companies that makes good, reliable and engaging software for children is called School Zone. They have a few different programs available for preschool / kindergarten-aged children, the multi-pack software seems like a good bang for your buck, ranging from preschool through kindergarten so you will get more time out of your software. My daughter still enjoys playing with her Big Pencil software from this company and I will definitely buy more of their products in the future.

Software for Kids is an excellent resource for different educational software for toddlers up until middle school. They resell software so you can buy it straight through them or just use the site to browse multiple kinds of kids software at the same time, particularly useful if you have older children or if you're buying software as a gift for someone else's kids.

JumpStart.com is free to join, but can be upgraded to a full membership for $7.99 a month or $74.99 a year. While the price is a little steep, it is an immersive real-time online virtual world your little ones will benefit from on so many different levels. Jumpstart makes learning fun, you start by creating your avatar, an online physical representation of yourself. After you finish that you can wander around the world playing learning games and interacting with computer characters. For those of you who have played on There.com, JumpStart seems like a less expensive children's version.

The most important reason to allow your toddler to play age appropriate computer games is to help them become "school ready."  Here is a wonderful site to help you understand how to help your toddler become school ready, step-by-step.