My 4-year-old is not yet reading but she is anxious to start, especially since her big sister is now reading chapter books.
My Virtual Tutor Reading (pre-K to Kindergarten), which was released by Mentor InterActive September 9, is the only educational game for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi that tests and improves comprehension as well as reading skills. The software used in the game was developed by faculty at the University of Colorado.
First of all, my 4-year-old does not have her own Nintendo DS so she was very excited to play a new learning game on her sister’s DS. Interestingly, My Virtual Tutor Reading, is designed so that your child holds the Nintendo DS on its side to mimic a book being held open.
The game is divided into three areas: books, phonics, and quizzes. There is also an options choice which allows you to adjust the game for left or right-handed children as well as music, sound, voice and microphone sound levels. The Parent Mode under Options allows parents to delete profiles, see how long their child has spent reading in each books mode, or see their child’s aptitude in the phonics games. This is great information for helping you see your child’s unique preferences and abilities.
My 4-year-old was able to quickly figure out the games on her own. The quizzes are fairly repetitive and she enjoyed matching the correct word to the image. She also loves the books area. The game is very interactive and held her attention, which can sometimes be a challenge for a busy 4-year-old.
The only negative thing I can say about the game is the graphics are fairly simplistic and she’s been used to seeing more advanced type games with elaborate graphics when her sister plays on the DS. All in all, though, it’s a great educational game option for your beginning reader and it’s one game I don’t mind her playing as it is helping her become familiar with the building blocks of becoming a good reader. It’s also helping her learn that reading is fun!
My Virtual Tutor-Reading for the Nintendo DS retails for $29.99 and is also available in K-1st grade and 1st-2nd grade levels. Visit MyVirtualTutorGame.com for more information.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of My Virtual Tutor Reading for this review and no other compensation.
