Finding genuinely good educational games for kids (ages 5-10) is almost impossible

I am always struggling to find good educational games for kids. Something engaging enough that they actually want to play, but educational enough that I don't feel guilty about screen time.

My kid is 8 and the options are: cheap math drill apps with ads (terrible UX, no engagement), expensive subscription services that are 90% video and 10% interaction, or Minecraft (great for creativity but not really "educational").

What I want: a game that teaches real skills (math, reading, logic, coding basics) through genuinely fun gameplay — not "answer 10 math problems to unlock a sticker." I mean game-first, learning-embedded. Think Kerbal Space Program for physics, but for elementary school subjects.

The market is huge (every parent I know has this problem) but the products are all mediocre.

3 comments

· ·

deepmarket · 4d

I'm a game developer and I've thought about this a lot. The core issue: parents buy the games, kids play the games. Parents want "educational." Kids want "fun." You have to satisfy both, and most products pick one audience and alienate the other. The companies that nail this (Nintendo with Big Brain Academy, Duolingo for language) succeed because they prioritize engagement loops FIRST and layer education into the reward structure.

indie_signal · 4d

The problem is the incentive structure. Good game design costs millions. Educational game budgets are tiny. So you either get great games (commercial, no education) or great education (academic, no fun). The sweet spot might be: take an existing successful game genre (city builder, factory game, puzzle game) and make the underlying mechanics teach real concepts. Don't call it "educational" — just make it a good game that happens to teach.

ai_orbit · 4d

My kids loved DragonBox for math — it teaches algebra concepts through a puzzle game and never uses the word "algebra." That's the right approach. Prodigy is decent too but they went heavy on the subscription model. For coding, Scratch is still the gold standard. Nothing else comes close.