A Test for Parents, Games for Kids

While hardly the first Web site to sell educational toys, Games2Learn (https://www.games2learn.com) debuted last week with a twist: a personality quiz to help parents shop for gadgets and games best suited to their child’s study and play habits.

Let’s say your child resists buckling down to homework and only wants to play Nintendo all day while eating so much candy that the words “sugar high” seem inadequate.

A 10-question quiz asks parents to rate word groups on a scale of 1 to 4 that best describe their kids. Is your child “social, enthusiastic”? “Serious . . . plans ahead”? “Decisive, leader”? “Patient, supportive”? The answers are computed to profile your child as leaning toward one of the four groups: “perky promoter” (social interaction is critical so games should require two or more players); “precise planner” (wanting to get things right is key, can play solo, every parent’s dream); “powerful producer” (leader of the class, the team captain, this kid likes to win but also plays solo games well if they allow her to accumulate points for the gold medal); and “patient peacekeeper” (camaraderie is essential, and cooperative games with less focus on winning and losing are a good choice).

“I was the kid who only had the stub of one brown crayon left in the bottom of my desk at the end of the school year and hated to be told when to study,” quiz author and former teacher Vicki Barnes explained. “I was not the ‘precise planner,’ who has all 12 crayons sharpened in the box.”

According to Barnes, “If you are one and your child is the other, it can help to understand that” to find the learning game that best engages your child.

The 1,000 products range from $9.95 to $284 for a total phonics reading system, which is what the Costa Mesa-based Games2Learn specialized in when it formed five years ago under the name A Better Way of Learning.

Games2Learn owner Blair Armstrong offers an interest-free payment installment plan for orders of more than $50 because “especially with the phonics games, one of my frustrations is that people who need it the most can sometimes afford it the least.”