Smart Boy's Gameroom (Nintendo DS, 2007)

Finding games that are age appropriate are difficult, especially when you are the parent of younger gamers.

After reading several online reviews of Smart Boy's Gameroom I decided to purchase it for my son. It is a fantastic game for young boys, and does an excellent job keeping small ones occupied.

Unlike traditional games for the Nintendo DS, this is actually not a game in itself, but rather just a small compilation of mini-games. This is great because the games are easy to understand and do not require reading skills or fine motor skills which many small gamers lack in order to understand or play. The "gameplay" is simple and easy to understand, the main screen shows a depiction of an actual playroom complete with toys. Clicking on a specific toy in the room leads to a small mini-game which your child can enjoy.

The mini-games are all aimed at young boys,complete with things most boys find interesting, such as police cars, monsters, and helicopters. Best of all - they are fun AND educational! For example, a toy piano in the game room leads to a virtual piano where your little one can play and compose their own songs with three different note sounds - tradional piano, organ, or a barking dog. They can even record and playback their musical creations. Other games are as follows:

Coloring: A virtual coloring book which allows the gamer to color one of ten different scenerios.

Drawing: A drawing pad that allows your child to create their own full-color artwork complete with two drawing tools (pencil and marker), a paint bucket "auto fill" tool, and 12 premade stamping tools.

Counting: Early mathmatical addition and number recognition is learned in this section, aided by pictures of trains, cars, tanks and more.

Match Sounds: This section plays sounds that vehicles make (such as trains whistling or cars honking) and players are asked to remember what sounds are played in what order - basically a tot's version of Simon.

Play Intruments: A section where the player can play a musical instrument in tune to four premade looping songs. Instruments available are all precussion instruments: bells, cymbals, tambourine, triangle and castanets.

Exterminate Monsters: A whack-a-mole style game using cute looking godzilla-like monsters.

Picture Match: A memory-style card game.

Puzzle: A jigsaw puzzle mini-game.

Find Differences: A fun game where players must tap on areas that look different between two nearly identical drawings.

Train Station: A virtual model railroad.

Car Driving: A simulated neighborhood where players can move one of three cars around, teaches directions and early map reading.

The game also remembers the player's birthday, and both the mother's and the father's birthday too!

Designed for little fingers, a child can easily play this without the use of the DS stylus pen, which is a huge plus. I would easily reccomend this game for boys ranging from three to six years. Because the games are easy to learn and play Smart Boy's Gameroom is ideal for children with short attention spans or those that get frustrated easily from more complex games. I also think it would be highly valuable on family road trips or aiplane rides at keeping young ones occupied and quiet for longer periods of time.

For those wishing for a more "feminine" game, there is an equivilant to Smart Boy's Gameroom made by the company titled "Smart Girl's Playhouse" which has the same principle behind it but with softer girly themes.

This game is perfect for the little ones! My 4 old old son loves to play this game! His 7 year old sister has the girl's version "Smart Girl's Playhouuse" and she actually love to play both versions! If you are thinking about buying a DS for a chlid from ages 3 to 8 this game is a great place to start! It is fun, easy and educational!!! Some games can be frustrating for the little ones to learn, especially when they can't read yet, but you won't have any of those problems with is game!

I bought this item for my 4 year old sons birthday. He stopped playing all his other games and just loves how he can color on his DS. My 6 year old son also enjoys the learning games but has a tough time getting away from his brother. Great game I would recommend this to any younger child.

My grandson is 4 years old and he loves this game. There are alot of counting, coloring and memory skills involved in this game. He caught on very quickly. A+

I love this game and so do my 7 year old and 4 year old daughter. It was super easy to them so i'll reccommend this for Pre-k and kindergarten. Its one of those games that will be played frequently. It has serval fun educational games on it.