Dear Q3 Hivemind,
I’m just getting back into gaming after a multiyear layoff and would love to involve my 3 year old son if possible. Can anyone recommend any xbox 360 games, we could play together?
I’m imagining myself using the thumbsticks for steering/movement while he gets to pew pew on the colored buttons or a shoulder button for smartbombs etc.
My only thoughts had been marvel super hero squad or similar?
Bonus points if you recommend cheap/budget or live arcade games :)
I’ll preface this by saying my experience is on the PC (and some Wii) and not X360 - but three is really hard. I found with my son he didn’t really connect with actually controlling anything until a little bit older - 4+. It was just frustrating for him to actually control anything - your experience may vary of course. The Wii was better for this, particularly the sword fighting game on Wii Resort (because all he had to do to participate was wave the controller around)
What he did enjoy was watching me play, particularly games where there was an easily identifiable figure being controlled by me - so Red Faction Guerilla was a favourite to watch (just smacking down buildings with a hammer, no guns / shooting). I think this is on X360 as well. On the Wii, he used to like watching me play Zelda. I think I also just did some running around in LOTRO (PC MMO), looking at the Shire, Bree etc.
Anything without goals or a sandbox type mode is good, ideally in a over the shoulder 3rd person view. So if you have oblivion or something - running around the imperial city and just checking things out, or maybe fallout. (have to watch the maturity of content in both those games though - stay where you are not going to blowing somethings head off and turn off gore etc!). I’ll probably have to let others give you more concrete X360 examples.
I’ve got Viva Pinata (which is also on X360), but the first time we played that it didn’t really click, definitely too involved for three I think (more 5+).
I wouldnt necessarily advocate getting a Wii for family gaming either - my son at age 4.5 gets far more use and fun out of a crappy old retread PC in the family area - just watching transformer fan stuff on youtube, visiting kid sites with flash games. Thomas the Tank engine, Bob the Builder, ABC kids and even some proper reading learning sites - ABC reading eggs etc are all good. I am sure the BBC has similar kids game sites.
Bob the builder is good because there are flash games where all you have to do is click anywhere to advance building something, which is very do-able at three. A particular favourite was also the colouring games, where you have a simple brush and colour pallete and click inside pre drawn thomas/bob pictures to colour them in. It was good because it really taught simple how to use a mouse basics.
So maybe try out some of these kids flash games sites to play together on the PC - best of all the are FREE! (If you don’t mind your kid being further indoctrinated / marketed to on the particular licensed character involved :-)
EDIT - Also, I remember now he used to absolutely love watching on youtube anything involving a garbage truck coming along and scooping up the bins, or big trucks / equipment excavating. It’s not gaming, but it does introduce the computer and mouse etc. It must be a common toddler thing, because there are heaps of videos on youtube aimed at this - just guys filming trucks near there house etc. You can do heaps of other stuff as well, like look up “how are crayons made” etc
I have a coworker who’s 3 year old plays the crap out of this on the iPod Touch:
Tozzle
I was a bit curious that the kid would be able to use an iPod Touch but they bought it specifically for keeping him entertained on the go and I have been pretty amazed at how much it does, from shows for him to watch, to little kid tunes, and his own apps.
As for 360, there are a number of older Xbox games that might be fun for him, but remember, his reactions are still developing, and it might be more frustrating for him if they aren’t catered toward small children. Wii has more small child titles to be honest. But on the 360 I would say an easy racing game, or the lego games might be a good start. There are a ton of arcade games that would fit the bill though; Peggle, Castle Crashers, etc. What about the new Kinect games?
This may sound excessively retro, but a system with the most basic controls may be a better bet. My dad and I played space invaders together on the Atari 2600 all the time when I was that age. There are game variations where one player moves and the other shoots, or one player can only move left and the other only right, for example, which encourage very basic cooperative play where you can revel in your shared successes. I have one that still works that I’m saving for when my 13 month old can play. :)
Both my girls were watching me play games (anything not too violent, scary, or sexy) by the age of 3. My 4 year old is loving watching me and her older sister play Kirby’s Epic Yarn at the moment. I think they were each also playing Feeding Frenzy on XBLA by age 3, which they liked. That one just involves moving the thumbstick around.
Someone with forum skills: post that picture of a ball.
Kidding aside, I’d keep my kids away from video games as long as possible. I’ve had a few coworkers with kids, and those kids became seriously addicted to them. It’s all they wanted to do.
So, limit their time with games. Make it a social activity when they do play. It’s not hard.
Do you have any?
I was seriously addicted to games and seemed to come out fine.
(I even get paid playing them now)
Both my kids have been playing since they were toddlers (both started with www.pegebogen.dk which needs no language skills) and while the oldest (9 years) is eagerly into FTP browser games with lots of dress up options she is in no way addicted - she has access to every platform there’s currently being made games for and no set limits on the time she can play and yet she’s still first in her class in all subjects but sports (more due to her small size) and have plenty of other interests.
So I don’t accept your generalization.
While we’re asking, does anybody know any good iPad games for 2-3 year olds?
A co-worker asked and I didn’t own an iPad when my kids were that small, so all I could think of were the Monkey Preschool games for the iPhone.
I have 5 year old twins (just turned 5), and have tried to introduce them to some gaming. Special note: My son has some developmental delays around fine motor control, so it’s harder for him to get into games than his sister. Here’s the things I’ve tried:
Wii: Dora and the Snow Princess - Uses the wiimote to control, but you tilt the controller to move left or right rather than use a d-pad. Jumping/climbing involves other motions around the entire controller moving. No real button presses are used except in a few instances. My daughter was able to play this (and finish it) when she had just turned 4. It’s a control scheme that would drive us nuts, but is great for kids just learning.
Wii: Kirby’s Epic Yarn - I recently tried playing this with my daughter (my son watched) and at first it went pretty well. She has trouble getting the Move+Jump thing to get over obstacles, but it was pretty good until the 4th world or so. At that point it just got too difficult.
iOS: Monkey Lunchbox - Great game for kids to recognize letters, play Memory and some other simple games. Both of my kids can do this quite well and enjoy it. Controls are tap or drag/drop.
iOS: iWriteWords - Awesome game for both of my kids to help with letter and number recognition as well as developing writing skills. It guides them through the motions of how to create each letter. This has been extremely good for my son and has helped him greatly.
Leapster Explorer (system): This is a great device for any 4+ kid, but you will need to help out with reading from time to time. I give this device sole credit for getting my son caught up on letter and number recognition simply from the downloadable cartoon-movies he can watch on it. There’s a game called “Mr. Pencil” that is also pretty good for practicing fine motor control - involves tracing lines to complete shapes, letters, etc.
Hope some of that helps.
Our four-year-old’s opthamologist explicitly recommended video games as being a good activity to do while patching. Unfortunately, I rapidly realized that I have no idea what games might interest a four-year-old girl.
Yeah, even my (just recently turned) 7 year old has some trouble with the later levels in the game. Fortunately it’s got a nice mechanism where you just hold A and a little yarn angel carries you to the other player. That and you can pick up the other player and carry him along with you.
Wow, thanks Hivemind, once more you all deliver with spades! Thanks for the insightful posts :)
I’m reluctant I must admit to play games and have him watch, I would feel like I was not involving him, or being an absent parent. Probably an overreaction on my part but I dont want to feel like I am playing games and he just happens to be around if that makes sense?
Was even thinking streetfighter because then he could learn each coloured button makes the man on screen attack differently.
The flash games was a great idea, i need something like that on the console. I am not keen to get him onto pc gaming just yet, i work from home on my pc’s and dont want to set them up as somewhere he can interact with at will, especially when I am not around!
There isn’t really a dedicated kids game maker anymore, is there? Do people remember Humongous Entertainment and their games? Pajama Sam and the like? They were quite good at holding kids attentions, with the ability to click on just about anything on screen and have things happen.
I agree, three-year-olds are hard to find good games for. I have six-year-old twins, and these have been successes (a lot of these are actually too advanced for them to play very well, but they have fun anyway):
PC:
pbskids.org
Plants vs. Zombies
Max and the Magic Marker
Bob Came in Pieces
Madballs
Obulis
Osmos
Peggle
Puzzle Dimension
Portal (really!)
Toki Tori
World of Goo
Wii:
Kirby’s Epic Yarn (the current big fave)
Mario Kart
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Lego Batman/Star Wars
Boom Blox
Wii Sports/Resort
iPad:
Flight Control
Angry Birds
Cut the Rope
Yeah, that’s fine. No kids, I was too busy playing video games to spend time with girls.
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All I can say is that the iPad is the best invention of all for 2-5 year olds. It’s amazing how easy it is for them to grok the tactile controls, though you can really see the difference between well designed simple interfaces and poorly designed interfaces that require reading instead of visual cues due to developer dumbness, laziness, or intentional advert confusion.
It’s impressive how far you can go with simple free apps that little kids love to play with and can use way before a wii or ds. I love finger painting with no real paint mess! Of course you still have to teach your kids a wide range of motor skills but you don’t have to have real paint out all day every day. And dress-up dolls without the chads of paper everywhere!
You have to teach them not to drop it or smash things on the screen though. And you have to wash food, drool, and snot off it all the time. But it’s surprisingly durable so far.
At least in Denmark, there are some games specifically made for children of various ages, of which the most famous ones are Pixeline. They are only in Danish though, so while they have educational value as well (Math, language, geography and the like), I suspect that unless you want to learn danish as well, it has limited value to you.
There really isn’t games made for kids in the US or in english?
This is possibly a dumb suggestion but have you considered getting a second controller, taking the batteries out and letting your 3-year-old think that he/she is playing the game with you? Or is that just mean? I do it occasionally when I’m playing a game that’s a little advanced for my son (about to turn three). Like, he likes to watch me play ‘Project Gotham’ and sometimes wants to play himself. Except he can’t, so I give him the spare controller and let him think he’s play it when in fact he’s not but at least he’s participating. And, obviously, I talk to him as if he’s the one doing all of the driving so he still gets a positive vibe from hanging with me.