It's back to school time again and although most of you may not like the idea lets face it, things could be worse... You could be facing a firing squad or being horribly tortured with some matches and a pair of pliers, or, even more terrifying, forced to watch a Bob Monkhouse TV show with special guest stars Bruce Forsyth and Jeremy Beadle. See, going back to school isn't that bad.

Although Mr. Brown in 4C with the long nose, dandruff and bottle bottom spectacles might be a boring old fart there are in fact far more enjoyable ways of learning. One of which is right here on your Speccy - educational software. It's puzzling, informative and fun, and best of all, it gives you an excuse to play on your Speccy during time normally allotted for homework without incurring the wrath of your elders. (It also gives you a chance to slip in the odd arcade game for mental stimulation, though don't tell your mum I said this.) There are a wide variety of educational games available so here, to help you choose, is a selection of those currently readily available and a quick guide to their usefulness.

Designed for children at pre reading age. Lander's Mix And Match introduces young 'uns to the concept of matching similar objects, picking the odd one out of a set and memory recall tests. It does so with the help of a character named Maggie. Maggie looks a bit like the Loch Ness monster - very strange. This type a of learning helps children develop recognition techniques essential to reading. Mix and Match is definitely only for the younger kids but it certainly reaches its goal in a fun way plus it gets those young hands used to computers at a formative age.