Parents' Guide to

ThinkSmart Kids

By Christopher Healy, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Entertaining and well-designed brain trainer for kids.

Game Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi 2010
ThinkSmart Kids Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • ThinkSmart Kids Game: Screenshot #1
  • ThinkSmart Kids Game: Screenshot #2
  • ThinkSmart Kids Game: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 7+

Based on 1 parent review

familyman53
familyman53 Parent of 7-year-old
December 20, 2010
age 7+
It's great watching my son play a video game which is making him really think through puzzles.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

THINKSMART KIDS aims to sharpen the mental abilities of young players by drilling them on puzzles and questions that test their language, logic, memory, math, and awareness skills. An amiable host will lead you through the exercises and ask you to come back every day to train and re-test to improve your score. Multiple kids can join in quiz-show style multiplayer matches via WiFi or by simply passing the DS back and forth.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

In the realm of brain-trainers, ThinkSmart Kids is more fun and child-friendly than the sometimes stodgy Brain Age and more directly lesson-based than the colorful and cartoony Big Brain Academy. It is definitely more kid-appropriate than its companion title, ThinkSmart. While you may wonder exactly how some of the challenges are supposed to be educational, most are at least entertaining. The whole package is friendly and welcoming, from the unintimidating hosts to the colorful wallpaper. It's a good brain game for kids who are age 8 and older.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the types of skills that come into play for the different exercises in the game. How can each be applied to real life?

  • Is a game like this truly a measure of how smart you are? Do the scores you achieve in the game have any bearing on how you do at school?

Game Details

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