Beginning Reading software for 4.5year old

[mainemommy1]

Starfall.com does not interest my son. He LOVES Clifford and I am thinking of purchasing some Clifford phonics and reading software for the computer. I am looking for recommendations for computer games and software-he could so easily learn to read IF he was interested-I thought going the computer route might spark an interest...he can recognize letters and knows most of their sounds.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

We have the Clifford PC game and honestly, it is not very good. DD has trouble navigating it and its not very interesting. It also has much less content than Starfall.

The Reader Rabbit stuff is the best we've found yet, but nothing is as good as Starfall, really. So perhaps he's just not ready yet for phonics, at least, phonics through the computer. Maybe there is a way to incorporate phonics into whatever he IS interested in.

I had to laugh at this: "he could so easily learn to read IF he was interested." Haven't met a kid that wasn't true for, lol. If only they'd be interested in what we think they should be interested in. DD is far more interested in gross motor skills, and I spend half my time wondering how well she could read if only she was half as interested in words and books as she is in doing flips, skipping rope, and learning to do cartwheels. Probably be reading at college level, lol.

[nextcommercial]

We have some old leap frog stuff that the kids really love. But, I don't know if they even sell them anymore. We also had a Fisher Price game that was WONDERFUL, but even though it said Pre-K, it was more of a first grade age range.

Some are downloadable for free trial at Amazon. You could try them for 30 minutes and see what you think. <---nevermind. I just checked and none of the downloads are preschool games.