The alphabet, reading, writing, counting, shapes and math are all very important skills for everyone to learn since you won’t go far in life without them. You could learn these skills in various ways; flashcards, worksheets, mindless repetition and more traditional methods, OR you could learn these skills from games. While I won’t argue against the traditional learning methods since they work for a lot of people, video games can be a fun, stimulating and an interactive way to help learn and get better at these skills. Another plus side to using gaming as a method for children to learn, is, it will help get kids used to using electronical based technology. This is something they will likely be using all their life, unless, life drastically changes at some point in the future and we no longer use electronics. However, that is not a likely scenario in our ever developing world. So, getting used to tech while still young, if possible, is a great idea. Check out the list below to find a few fun educational game series that you might like to check out.

1. Mario's Early Years

Most people know of Mario through his adventures to save princess Peach Toadstool from the evil King Koopa Bowser or from the many Mario sports, party and kart racing games. However, In the early 1990s, Nintendo came out with a educational series for the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) called "Mario’s early years".

- "Mario's Early Years! Fun With Letters"

In "Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters", you can play as Mario, Yoshi or Princess Toadstool on an adventure to learn the basics of English language. The game begins on a selection screen. You can choose you character and visit the game worlds there. The worlds include: first letter, vowel, alphabet, sentence, building, sound, and last letter world.

In First letter world, a letter is given and the player has to click on objects that begin with that letter. The objects also have a word underneath them to go with the picture. After clicking on all the correct objects, the selected player will go through a green pipe which leads them to the next level. The background of this world is a movie theater and each room gets the chosen character closer to the theater room.

I hope you know how to swim, because, vowel world takes place under water! Vowel world, as you can probably guess, is where children learn their A E, I, O, U s. A vowel is given, and similar to the first world, players have to click on the picture that starts with the same letter.

Alphabet world teaches the young player the alphabet in order from A to Z. In this area, the job of the child is to listen to the narrator and view what the letters look like. Up on the wall is the letter shown in both uppercase and lowercase as well a picture of an object that starts with that letter. The narrator says the letter and its pronunciation for the young player. This continues until all the letters have been shown.

Do you like to play fill in the blank games? If so, you will feel right at home in Sentence world. A sentence is shown at the bottom of the screen with a blank. Words are shown above with a picture that represents the word. It is the kido’s job to pick the correct word that fits with the blank by using the sentence’s context.

Building world takes you down to the pipes to complete puzzles. A word sound is given and a block must be found that has this word sound printed on it. Once the puzzle is completed, the player goes to the next level.

Sound world, aka a library, is where the player learns how to identify words that start with many different letter sounds. A sound is given and the goal is to find the object that starts with that sound.

Lastly, we have Last letter world which takes place in a factory. A letter is given and players must select the words that end with that letter.

- "Mario's Early Years! Fun With Numbers"

Similar to fun with letters, "Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers" has seven different worlds and you can choose to be the princess, Mario or Yoshi. The worlds in this game are; number, counting, comparing, how many, shape, same and different, and sorting world.

In Number world, a number in indicated and player has to select that number. First level takes plan in a hotel. Second level has a mail box which the player has to fill in house numbers. A grocery story is level three.

Counting world has two different locations in it; Mario’s bedroom and Mario’s kitchen. Basically all you do at Mario’s house is click on items to count them. There is no set goal for this area - just exploring. Numbers go up to twelve in this location.

Comparing world is a fun trip to the park. Children will learn how to compare items here by smallest, tallest, biggest and medium.

Do you like animals? What about counting? then come on down to How Many world! In the first level you feed peanuts to a hungry elephant. In the second game of this world, the player find the correct number of spots for a Seal, feathers for an Ostrich, whiskers for a Lion and stripes for a Zebra. In level three, a number is given and the player has to choose the animal group that corresponds to that number. For the last part of this world, you have find the number that matches the animal group at the bottom of the screen.

I think you can. I think you can. I think you can do this! I hope you enjoyed that "Little Engine That Could" reference because the next world, shape world, involves trains! A shape is requested and with the correct shapes a train is made. As the levels go on, more shapes are added and even shapes of different sizes for more complexity.

In same and different world, for the first two levels, the player has to choose the object that is different or a object that it from a different category. Third level involves finding the area that is different.

Sorting world is the last world of this game. It uses information learned in the game, so its a little more complex. The player is told a shape with specific qualities to it such as size and color. It is the players job to find the correct object or shape that matches what is needed. There is five levels in this world and it gets a little more complex with each level.

- "Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun"

"Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun" is the third and final game in this series. Yoshi, Mario and peach are once again selectable characters, and there is six worlds in this game instead of seven. These worlds are called; shape, counting, body, listening, opposite and color world.

Although having the same name, this shape world is a different game than the shape world in Fun with numbers. A Picture is shown on canvas and the player select the shape being asked for to create a close approximation of the picture. Pictures that the young player is to create includes; a snowman, a cat, and a wagon.

Instead of Mario’s house, this counting world takes place in a classroom. Much like the name implies, items here are counted. There is not set game goal here, and is meant to just be explored.

Body world also has no set goal. The object of this world is to click on Mario’s various body parts all of which have a different animations to them.

Welcome to the farm! In Listening world, three animals are shown on screen. An animal call sound is played and the young game player has to figure out what animal makes that sound.

Opposite world is a place where you have to find the opposites asked of you. First part deals with selecting the opposite physical property of items such as; cold, wet, empty or soft. Second level is all about spacial directions; bottom, under, off, and down. Level three involves figuring out opposites of animal attributes. Five correct answers brings the player to the next level.

Hopefully your child isn’t afraid of clowns, because in the first part of color world, a specific colored shape must be chosen to be placed on the clown’s outfit. Choosing colored fruit and veggies is game two and three.

2. Sesame Street

With over four thousand episodes and millions of viewers, Sesame Street has long been associated with positive child development. It is both entertaining to young minds and has been proven to have a significant educational impact on the children viewers. Ever since the late 1980s it has been possible to hang out and learn with the Sesame Street crew via gaming. Although there is many good early Sesame Street games, I will only be mentioning the ones from the late 1990s and beyond since there is so many. Sorry Atari and NES fans.

- "Elmo's Letter Adventure"

In Elmo’s Letter adventure for Nintendo 64 and Playstation, there is 3 short games. The player leads Elmo through various worlds to collect a certain letter of the alphabet.

In one of the games, big bird is missing a letter needed for his alphabet soup. He lets you know the letter needed and Elmo wanders around the farm looking for that letter. There is also an alphabet orchard where you control Elmo on a pogo stick. Another game in this is finding a letter to complete a word. Elmo tells the player the word and the letter needed. The player just has to help him find it.

Ernie’s level has the player controlling Elmo who is swimming under water to find certain letters. After that, there word complete game is played again.

Grover takes Elmo to outer space. In a canyon, Elmo drives a car to find the correct letters. Second part of this level has Elmo in a Space ship flying around to find the correct letter. Like the other two games, this one also ends with Elmo finding letters needed to finish a word.

- "Elmo's Number Journey"

Also for Nintendo 64 and Playstation is "Elmo’s Number Journey". The count, cookie monster, and Ernie as have games for you and Elmo to play together.

Cookie Monster takes you to cookie world. In this world these is a melted chocolate river and flying cookies with wings. Elmo is on a jet ski on the river driving around to find the needed number. Level two has Elmo snowboarding to find the numbers. Game three involves Elmo throwing the amount of balls of the number listed into a mechanical clown mouth similar to something you might see in a mini golf game. Higher difficultly levels include math problems to find out how many balls are needed to be thrown.

Ernie takes Elmo to a number carnival to find the correct number. Part two puts Elmo in a bumper car and it is your job as the player to bump into cars that have that number on them being asked of you.

The count brings you on a trip to his castle’s garden maze to find a certain number that he asks you for. Second part, is in his castle with you finding,you guessed it, a certain number.

Each of these games ends with Elmo throwing the baseballs into a mechanical clown's mouth.

- "Sesame Street Counting Cafe"

In "Sesame Street counting cafe" for Genesis, the player controls Grover who takes orders from a customer at the cafe. A number and a food item is given as an order. To get the food for the customer, Grover has to climb and jump to collect the correct number of food items. If done correctly, a star is given. As time goes on, the customer asks for more food items which gives the player more of a challenge.

- Sesame Street on Wii and DS

For a more modern game, try "Sesame Street: Elmo's A-to-Zoo Adventure" to help your children learn letter sounds, word families, rhyming words, word creation and the identification of letters through playing mini games. The Wii game includes a fuzzy character cover for the wii remote to hide away unnecessary buttons. The DS version comes with a easier to hold jumbo stylus to use on the touch screen. There is four profiles that can be made. Each mini game takes place in an animal area which is where the zoo part of the title comes in to play.

Another Sesame street game for Wii and DS is "Sesame Street: Cookie's Counting Carnival". This game helps teach children numbers, counting, shapes and patterns through mini games. Like the first one it comes with a will mote character cover or jumbo stylus depending one what version was bought. There is four profiles with customizable set functions including difficulty level and game limits. Each game rewards you a golden cookie upon completing the mini game.

3. Carmen Sandiego adventures in math

Carmen Sanediego mainly covers geography. However, a Math series was made for the Wii from 2011 to 2012. This series is known as “Carmen Sandiego adventures in Math" and consists of five games; "The Lady Liberty Larceny", "The Big Ben Burglary", "The case of the crumbling Cathedral", "The great Gateway Grab", and "The island of Diamonds".

In "The Lady Liberty Larceny", Carmen Sandiego and her henchman stole the "Statue Of Liberty". The chief then asks you to go out and catch the thief. So how do you catch the crooks? Well, by traveling the globe and solving math puzzles of course! The math skills are directed at 5th grade level math and includes geometry, angles, coordinate grids, sequencing, fractions, simple algebra and more. Much like the other Carmen Sandiego games, you will talk to different characters in each location you visit which will provide clues to help you figure your where to go next. The math part is ten different math puzzles and brainteasers through out the game.

"The Big Ben Burglary" is similar to the first one, except they stole The "Big Ben" bell from the "Houses of Parliament". By gathering clues and solving ten math puzzles, the player will be able to solve the mystery.

"St Basil’s Cathedral" in "Russia" has been turned to sand by the evil Carmen Sandiego and her henchman in “The case of the Crumbling Cathedral”! Its up to you to crack the case before more monuments get destroyed. Math skills in this game includes Symmetry, angles, graphing coordinates on a grid, fractions, decimals, completing the square, equations, and logic Puzzles.

The gateway of India is stolen and the chief wants your help catching Carmen and her minions in “The great gateway grab” This forth game is similar to the others. Get clues, travel the globe looking for the villains, and solve ten math puzzles.

Lastly, there is “The Island of Diamonds which is the conclusion to the Carmen Sandiego math series. In this game, the player infiltrates Carmen’s secret island to stop her from committing more horrible crimes. Talk to characters for clues, and solve math problems to conclude this adventure. The problems are scattered throughout the area, given to you by other characters and may appear when entering a new room.

4. Reader Rabbit

The original Reader Rabbit was released in 1986 and since then, there has been over forty games in this series made! But for those who don’t know about reader rabbit, Reader Rabbit along with his animal friends help children from toddler age all the way up to 5th or 6th grade learn important life skills. Topics these games cover are; letters, numbers, reading, spelling, writing, and math. These games are commonly separated by the subject being taught or by a grade level. Since there have been so many, these games are available on many different computers and a few consoles. If you have a Wii, your children can play the newest console versions. These four Wii games are for preschoolers to 2nd graders.

Join Reader Rabbit and Sam the Lion in “Reader Rabbit Preschool” to help the people go Sparkalot restore the missing sparklers to the land and sky. The game consist of Educational mini games to help teach letters, sounds, matching, colors, shapes, counting, and creative expression. The difficulty of the mini games can be changed at any time. There is also full video cute scenes and voice acting.

While flying through the sky in their Dreamship, Reader and Sam find an unusual island below. As they go down for a closer look, an object shoots up and forces them of their ship. They then find themselves in a new land called Balloon Town. To get their Dreamship back, Reader and Sam have to collective musical instruments to wake up a sleeping bull hat is guarding the palace where the Dreamship is being kept. To collect the instruments needed in “Reader Rabbit Kindergarten”, The young player completes eight mini games. The difficulty of these mini games can be changed at any time and, like the Preschool one, there is both full view cutscenes and voice acting. Skills taught are; pattern recognition, memory matching, basic phonics, rhyming, reading comprehension and basic math.

In “Reader Rabbit 1st grade” rain gear is oddly raining down on Wordvile. To find out why, Reader Rabbit and Same the Lion travel to Cloud Nine. Mini games in this game help teach language arts, science, problem solving, math and creative expression.

Ambused by Pirates, Sam and Reader race to the top of Mt Cheesemore to try to find their Dreamship before the pirates do. Reader Rabbit 2nd grade’s mini games help with Language arts, science, problem solving, math and creative expression. Like the others there is full video cute scenes, voice acting and the mini game difficulty can be changed at any time. This is the last one in the Reader Rabbit Wii series.

School lessons, traditional methods of learning and Gaming can be very important to the young mind. Not everyone learns or thinks the same way so its never a good idea just to stick with one method. And with practice, your children can master the important skills of life. May you all have fun learning.