Thankfully, there is lots of great kids educational software that's now available free on the internet via websites.  However, my favorite has always been the Reader Rabbit software that's been available for years now.

When my oldest daughter, now 13, was younger, there wasn't that much educational software available on the internet, so I picked up a few Reader Rabbit games  for her to play. I wasn't sure how they'd go over because she's not the type of kid that really likes to learn very much.  She loved these games though and would play them for hours! For me, the best thing was that they really helped her to improve her reading and math skills. 

Even though software has come a long way, I still use the Reader Rabbit series for my younger children, ages 8 and 5, and they both love it was well.  Their kids education software can be used for children as young as 4 years old and covers reading, phonics, and math.  

All of the games that we've used are set up like  a journey and my kids actually want to keep working until they get to the end of the journey. The makers of this sofware have been able to do something that many others can't do - they make learning fun! 

The best part is that the all of their educational sofware is affordable. The most expensive games are about $10 and a lot of it is cheaper than that.  For a family on a tight-budget, this is $10 well spent and if your kids are anything like mine, they will definitely use it enough to make it worth what you spent. 

If you're looking for fun kids educational software, be sure to check out the Reader Rabbit series.