SmartyRents has cornered the "try before you buy" service for educational games. Started by credentialed teachers, they rent games for Leapster, Didj, Clickstart, Little Leaps, the V suite of game consoles (Smile, Motion, Flash, and Smile Baby). They have also gone through and documented the exact skill sets that each of the games teach so you know if it is age appropriate. Interestingly, they also have the back catalog for all of these consoles. So you can rent games that are actually out of circulation. Packages start at $9.99 a month for 1 game at a time and up to $24.99 for 4 games at a time.

This is a really great service if you kid burns through games or gets bored of them fast.