THE GAMES LITTLE PEOPLE PLAY.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

So you bought a computer to help your child learn and instead monopolized the darned thing for yourself while Junior wonders when he'll get his parents back?

Well, just in time to assuage your growing parental guilt comes a raft of software designed to help young children learn basic skills in fun ways.

The titles, all pitched toward children somewhere between preschool and 10 years of age, are generally built around beloved characters from existing movies, books and TV shows your child already knows.

Unless otherwise noted, all titles are hybrids that will run on either a Macintosh (with usually at least a PowerPC chip in it) or a Windows-based PC (with usually at least a Pentium chip). Most also require at least Mac OS System 7.5 or Windows 95 to work.

Among the well-done recent titles worth checking out for your children:

The Rugrats Movie Activity Challenge: The Activity Challenge features nice production values wrapped around a series of moderately challenging, mostly familiar games recast with Tommy, Angelica, Phil and Lil, and Chuckie from the Nickelodeon cartoon series and upcoming movie. There's a Frogger clone, a Rube Goldberg-like workshop game and more.

Rugrats Adventure Game: Reptar, the indomitable ubertoy of the Rugrats kids, needs to be saved, and the babies are the ones to do it. The Rugrats kids face a series of tests and challenges to put together the pieces they need to save Reptar and defeat Angeleeka, the Alien Queen, who oddly looks a lot like bratty cousin Angelica. Best feature: Hit the ``cry'' button and Mom carries you back to home base.

Blue's Birthday Adventure: One of two CD-ROMs based around ``Blue's Clues,'' the preschooler TV hit centered on a blue animated dog. In this one, kids look for a series of birthday-related goodies for a party for one of Blue's friends. Live-action host Steve and the animated Blue help out. The clue search can be challenging for little ones, but it's a well-done disc.

Blue's ABC Time Activities: Another ``Blue's Clues'' title, this one is oriented more toward building preschoolers' basic learning skills. There's a ``felt board'' of shapes that can be stuck together for word puzzles, a word book, an alphabet maze, an African safari photo album, rhyming practice and more.

JumpStart Preschool: The latest, updated version of the immensely popular ``JumpStart'' series. This one provides a variety of fun lessons in phonics, numbers and letters. If your child collects enough train tickets, they get a virtual train ride.

My Disney Kitchen: Well, it beats an E-Z Bake Oven for quick cleanup. This virtual kitchen lets children experiment with food, appliances and more with help from Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Unlike the usually too-tidy Disney universe, this game allows for lots of messes (why be in the kitchen as a kid otherwise?) The appliances include a blender, toaster, radio and mixer. Kids can make cakes, sandwiches, spaghetti and more. It also includes 30 kid-friendly recipes. Who knows? It might even inspire your own little Wolfgang Puck.

Disney's Reading Quest with Aladdin: The Big Mouse is increasingly getting interested in education and making it fun. Here's one felicitous byproduct of that interest, a title chock-full of language games that should be a hit with kids and concerned parents.

Disney's Adventures in Typing with Timon and Pumbaa: Fifteen typing lessons with wise old baboon Rafiki (despite the game's title), and five other typing-related games (with said meerkat and wart hog) that kids will enjoy. In this computer age, it's never too soon for kids to learn to type. This might ease the process.