Mario’s Early Years – Fun With Letters series is a trilogy of point-and-click educational games released on MS-DOS and Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Software Toolworks. The three games consist of Fun with Letters, Fun with Numbers and Preschool Fun.

Gameplay

In each product, the player has a number of islands to choose from. Each island contains a different activity. The game highlights any items or characters which are clickable. Throughout the activities the player is prompted by voiced instructions and every word, letter or number is read out. The SNES versions of the products contain less activities than the original DOS ones. The Super Nintendo versions support the SNES Mouse peripheral.^{[citation needed]}

Educational goals

The three games are each made up of several minigame activities designed to reinforce or foster basic skills^[3] and help children in discovering aspects of everyday things, providing them many hours of entertainment.^[4] The respective games help children recognise colors, letters and numbers.^[5] Fun with Letters teaches phonics to users. Fun with Numbers teaches grouping, separating and organising objects to/from a set as well as thinking about numbers through songs.^[3] Preschool Fun teaches learning materials for children on their first school year with a mix of Mathematics and English language.^[6] All three products aid in promoting self-esteem, interaction between children and parents,^[2] developing new skills and imagination as well as confidence and being positive about learning.^[4]