I have loved Nintendo and their quality kids and adult video games since they started. I am so pleased to see that they not only have stayed the most inexpensive hand-held and console game system available but the one with the HIGHEST QUALITY for family content and education. I resisted getting my son a hand-held gaming system for a few years after he started nagging me for one. I felt he had his computer and didn’t need another distraction. I worried that he would be constantly wanting to play and that the games would have no educational value. I started researching the hand-held systems a bit more last year and was happy to find out that Nintendo offered VERY educational games for all ages — sorry I EVER doubted you Nintendo! At age 7, last Christmas, Santa was nice enough to bring him a Nintendo DS Lite .

The GREAT things about the Nintendo DS Lite are the great games available, the ability to draw with the stylus right on the screen, the dual screen graphics, the built in microphone that WORKS, the fact that it uses rechargeable batteries instead of replacing batteries and the ability to play some games wirelessly with up to 8 players. Once again Nintendo has exceeded even our wildest imaginations in the gaming industry and lead the way to the next level.

My favorite educational games broken down are:
Big Brain Academy: In Big Brain Academy you are working towards building your brain bigger and bigger. The puzzles are split up into five areas – thinking, memorizing, analyzing, computing and identifying. Each area has 3 games, with multiple difficulty levels — so at 15 games total you are getting a lot of entertainment and learning in.

Brain Age: Yes, Santa Brought this for ME but don’t tell my son that! He also gets enjoyment out of it and now that he is in 3rd grade and is learning multiplication and division he can use it to sharpen those skills as well. My whole family loves this game. There are a bunch of short games on this program that help with logical thinking, memory, math, reading (yes, there is a game where you read INTO the DS) and there is also Sudoku on it for those addicted where you use the stylus to write the numbers in the boxes. These games are truly addicting and you are learning at the same time. My husband said he noticed a marked improvement in his memory skills after a few days of playing this “game”.

Brain Age 2: I have not received this yet (my son will for his birthday in a few weeks — whoo hoo!) I will update this portion with my opinion once I wrestle it out of my son’s hands! : ) But I have heard great reviews and if it is anywhere as good as the first I see many hours building my brain ahead! The description is that there are 17 new activities that are all designed to help work your brain and increase blood flow to the prefrontal cortex. Whether you’re playing simple songs on a piano keyboard or monitoring the photo finish of a footrace, you’ll love your new mental workout! You can get this bundled now with the new Nintendo DS Lite which is cool black and maroon colors for only $149.99.

There are TONS of educational games for the DS Lite depending on what you are interested in or what you feel your child needs brushing up on. Nintendo makes learning fun and the DS is an amazing tool Whether it be Spelling, Math, or even the NY Times Crosswords, the Nintendo DS offers tons of ways to exercise your brain for the whole family.

Thank you Nintendo for maintaining your quality and cost over the last 25+ years!

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