For entertainment, there's the opportunity to play with little purple Putt-Putt, Mickey Mouse, and Lego mini-figures come to life; for learning, solid content — reading, math, problem solving, creativity — underlies these interactive exploits. Our picks deliver on both goals in a blaze of brilliant sights and exuberant sounds.

Ages 18 months to 3 years
	Little Bear Toddler Discovery Adventures (Ages 18 months to 3 years, $20) A small cub with a big pedigree (the star of a series of award-winning, Maurice Sendak-illustrated books) turns in the sweetest of performances. Little Bear and his forest friends draw first-time computer users into breezy, outdoor-oriented activities — catching sea creatures of different sizes and colors, dressing up a scarecrow, counting and planting seeds, and finding objects hidden in the woods. Kids can print out pictures to color. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 2 to 4
	Lego My Style: Preschool (Ages 2 to 4, $20, Lego Software) A novel take on early learning: Colorful, 3-D-looking Duplo animals act as personalized coaches, each offering an appealing array of math, language, art, and music activities in different styles. Some kids may respond to monkey Looky's artistic approach to the alphabet (painting the letters he names), while others might go for elephant Digit's mathematical method. Children then teach twins Clicky and Bricky their new skills — an ingenious ap-proach that boosts fun and learning. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 3 to 5
	I Spy Junior: Puppet Playhouse (Ages 3 to 5, $20) A new twist on an old favorite. As usual in I Spy titles, rhyming couplets invite children to search for familiar and fanciful sights, but in this version, a whimsical world of handmade puppets, props, and sets replaces the typical collage-style picture riddles. Narration and pictographs (for key words) help pre-readers get into the witty wordplay. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 3 and up
	Blue's Reading Time Activities (Ages 3 to 6, $25, Humongous Entertainment) Fledgling wordsmiths join the staff of the Big News Gazette, purveyor of all the news that's fun to print. Bubbly Blue and other cute characters from the Nick Jr. series are the big draw. They keep kids company on reading-related "assignments" that are more play than work. Children label pictures with words to fix Dot's dictionary, use verb cards ("walk," "jump," "turn") to navigate Sarge Ant's mazes, and gather trash to order for Al Luminum's recycled art. Hardworking newshounds get a piece of a puzzle for every five newspapers completed. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 3 and up
	Bear's Imagine That (Ages 3 to 6, $20, Knowledge Adventure) The signature azure abode of TV fame will tickle the imagination of even the most literal-minded kids. It's stuffed to the rafters with playful pastimes — directing fairy-tale puppet shows, illustrating and narrating stories, building toys from odds and ends, composing rhyming songs, and whipping up the world's strangest sundaes. Buy it from Amazon
	Putt-Putt Joins the Circus (Ages 3 to 6, $25, Humongous Entertainment) The show must go on, but it can't without the main attractions. Phillipe the Flea has flown. The Flying Porkowskis are grounded, and Pectoro the Strong Van is weak. To the rescue rides Putt-Putt. Kids steer the purple convertible to search for missing things and creatures and to get to the bottom of everything that's amiss under B.J. Sweeney's Big Top. The tasks take a keen eye, nimble thinking, and a good memory. Putt-Putt is the VW Beetle of children's software. He never goes out of style — nor runs out of steam. Buy it from Amazon
	Alphabet (Ages 3 and up, $20, Tivola Publishing) This eye-popping parade of letters is full of surprises. Music from around the world plays as the ABC's introduce themselves — out of sequence, of course. Letters dance, fly, strut, and morph into one another. A click of the mouse or keyboard starts free-form games that involve animals, motion, and music. Q becomes an audio paint palette (colors make sounds); T turns into a kite. Every action gets a richly rewarding reaction. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 4 and up
	Mickey Mouse Kindergarten (Ages 4 to 6, $20, Disney Interactive) Everybody's favorite mouse returns to the computer screen in a nifty new role: ace reporter. But it's kids who do the legwork, clicking on the windows, doors, and alleys of a retro-looking street scene. What they uncover is a clever collection of activities that comprises kindergarten fundamentals (letter names and sounds, vocabulary, counting, telling time, following directions) and a few excellent extras — computer literacy and the chance to create neon art from lighted tubing. Buy it from Amazon
	Kid Pix Deluxe 3 (Ages 4 and up, $25, The Learning Company) Turns out, you can improve on a classic. The mother of all paint programs has a new look and some fresh features but keeps its strength — a glorious collection of traditional art tools, Wacky Brushes (eyeballs, squashed fruit), stamps and stickers, and noisy electronic erasers. Tenth-anniversary updates include bigger buttons, fewer words, and e-mail capability for kids' creations. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 5 and up
	JumpStart Artist (Ages 5 to 8, $20, Knowledge Adventure) Inside the tents at a festive art fair, creative kids can do more than just paint with wild abandon, using a rainbow of blendable colors. Also available to whet artistic appetites are collage- and quilt-making activities, crafts to build and paint to order, color mixing, and a matching/memory game about famous artists. Along with the simple satisfaction of creating something to print out and put on the fridge, children's art endeavors pay off in parts of carnival rides, which spin into animated action. Buy it from Amazon
	Oz — The Magical Adventure (Ages 5 to 8, $20, DK Interactive Learning) In this riff on the famous tale, Dorothy gets captured by the Wicked Witch — and kids hold the key to her release. With Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodsman, and Scarecrow in tow, children travel through a magnificently animated Oz filled with surprises and comic characters in need. Kids help a Munchkin regain her lost memory by mixing a fruit drink in the right proportions, get water flowing again by untangling knots of color-coded pipes, plant a garden whose flowers obey rules of logic, and otherwise show mental mettle and a neighborly nature. All these good deeds earn jewels that will bail out Dorothy, though that seems secondary to enjoying the trip down the Yellow Brick Road. Buy it from Amazon
	Mia: Romaine's New Hat (Ages 5 to 11, $20, Kutoka Interactive) Although lesser known than another mouse, Mia is making a name for herself. In her second computer caper, the perky rodent takes liberties with her mother's snazzy straw hat, and it lands on the head of an evil (humorously so) rat. Kids search in and around a gorgeous old Victorian house for glittering gold coins with which to ransom the hat. Some of the money is hidden in the lush, larger-than-life scenery; more is earned by playing inventive science games. Maneuvering Mia past obstacles in the 3-D terrain is a lesson in itself. A rock blockade? Analysis and experimentation reveal the clever solution: a Popsicle-stick lever. Buy it from Amazon
Ages 6 and up
	Legoland (Ages 6 and up, Lego Software, $25) Using picture menus to pick rides, restaurants, and landscaping, children snap together dandy imitations of amusement parks in a simulation that's easy enough for a novice but capable of challenging craftier kids. These bright, bustling 3-D tourist attractions are works in progress. If tycoons-in-training keep their mini-figure customers happy and the place shipshape, they earn neat, new amusements for their park's guests, like a driving track or a pirate ship. For mini-managers, there is an assortment of diverting hurdles to success — inspections to pass, design goals to meet, and levels to ascend, while free spirits can play purely for pleasure. Buy it from Amazon

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