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[Anthony Soprano]

My friend's son is having difficulty in school with reading comprehension. He has an Xbox, but prefers games like Minecraft. Are there any games aimed towards six year olds to help with reading? I can only think of PC games like Epistory Typing Chronicles. Even iOS/Android game recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[Henry Panic]

Buy a VTech smile game console with 20 games on eBay or Amazon for like $20.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Disco Elysium for some spartan training

 

[poppabk]

Just stick him in front of some Team Umizoomi. Sorry that's for math. Super Why for reading.

 

[Anthony Soprano]

Buy a VTech smile game console with 20 games on eBay or Amazon for like $20.

Trying to stay in home computer or console realm.

 

[yet_another_alt]

I'm not sure how well they run on a modern OS but back in the 90's Disney made a bunch of point and clicks based on their IPs. They're abandonware now.

 

[ClanOfNone]

There was a great ipad game/app for reading and spelling but damned if I can remember the name of it.
That was probably seven years ago, but I don't doubt that there are probably more than a few on the app stores. It would have the kids use a stylus to trace the letters right, and then have them structure sentences and whatnot.

 

[Fuz]

 

[UnNamed]

Xenoblade 2. Meh meh meh!

 

[SmokedMeat]

Surely there has to be some educational reading games on PC and tablets.

Consoles? Nah.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Doom Eternal. It has a lot of lore and text logs to read, and he's gonna grow some hair on his chest while slaying demons!

For real though, I'm not sure if he's gonna learn how to read by playing video games all day. Certainly not from the ones that are appropriate for younger kids. He could probably get a lot out of computer RPGs like Pillars of Eternity or graphic adventure games like Monkey Island, because those games tend to be plot-heavy with lots of text. However, I'm not sure how riveting those kinds of games would be for a younger kid in terms of gameplay.

Honestly, if I had that kind of a problem with my kid then I would just get him into reading. It could be literally anything as long as it has text to read in it. Comic books, gaming magazines, or some kind of educational encyclopedias with pictures in them. It can be a great tool if you just want your kid to learn reading properly.

 

[Fuz]

Humongous games, maybe?
Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy Fox.

 

[Gee]

Father of three, and as a gamer I would still advise regular old books.

 

[SEGA_2012]

There is a indie game called Storm Boy based on the book with the same name, there is not much reading in the game but the story is really good, maybe your son will feel motivated to read the book after the game.

 

[Lasha]

Taking away the Xbox and reading with the kid will be much more effective than trying to find games with reading.

 

[nush]

Taking away the Xbox and reading with the kid will be much more effective than trying to find games with reading.

When I worked in a games shop I's see this all the time. The parents coming in looking for educational games because they thought the kid would just get smart all by themselves because they liked playing games. Rather than just sitting down with their kid for 30 minutes a day and a book.

 

[Gobjuduck]

Taking away the Xbox and reading with the kid will be much more effective than trying to find games with reading.

Yea… because taking away something he enjoys will make him more likely to read….

Dragon quest builders 2 is on Xbox, it's similar to minecraft and the dialogue is all text. Maybe that's a good idea.

Probably alternating reading out loud with the child is the best way. I struggled with reading comprehension, and it wasn't till high school that I started reading for fun.

 

[Lasha]

Yea… because taking away something he enjoys will make him more likely to read….

Dragon quest builders 2 is on Xbox, it's similar to minecraft and the dialogue is all text. Maybe that's a good idea.

Probably alternating reading out loud with the child is the best way. I struggled with reading comprehension, and it wasn't till high school that I started reading for fun.

The kid is a toddler. Take away TV and games and he will find something to entertain themselves. Reading with dad becomes relatively more entertaining and the habit will form. Games are too easy and seductive for young kids. Regular reading with a kid is definitely more effort than handing a kid a game but I'm 2/2 so far in producing above average readers so the method does work.

 

[G-Bus]

Games are great and all but as someone else said, books.

Even better fined stuff he likes then read with him nightly. 15 minutes a night would probably make a huge difference.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Video game writing is generally pretty crappy, long-winded (especially Japanese games… especially Nintendo first party games), boring, and it's annoying because you just want to get it over with and play the damn game.

My older one always loved video games but wasn't excited about reading. We'd try all sorts of video games where we'd alternate reading lines (Pokemon Sword, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Odyssey, etc). But it didn't work so well.

Finally we just started her doing Kumon and that worked 1000x better. When Kumon is done, then you get to have some gaming time. Trying to turn gaming into a reading practice sucked as a teaching tool and it ruined the fun of gaming.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Fire up a DS and get the kiddos some TouchDic. Super intuitive an-

Oh, wrong gaming forum.

I basically learned to read from Zelda games. Words are "big," enough to make a kid feel badass and like a high fantasy edge lord, but simple and direct enough that it serves to reinforce the patterns of the language while slowly expanding vocabulary. "Wtf is a brazier?" *looks up word* NEW KNOWLEDGE

 

[poodaddy]

Letter quest is a great one. Legitimately a fun little RPG that is essentially scrabble at its core.