Question for parents?

[thedarkstar]

Hello all. Long time article commenter, first time poster in the forums. I had a question for all of the parents with small kids out there. I was playing a game while my daughter, who is two, was out with her Grandmother. When she came back I was just finishing up when she came into the room, grabbed a controller, and goes "Daddy, game?" This surprised me because I never really play consoles when she is awake. She then indicated she wanted to play.

While I absolutely love this, and love the idea of playing games with the kiddo especially during the cold winter, I am at a loss on what to get to play with her. Obviously she is not playing Dead Space 3. I was thinking maybe I should get a Kinect, but the space available in my house is not the best for a Kinect to work in. Any thoughts? I own a Wii, PS3, and 360. I own handhelds too, but she is too small for those. I worry she would break them. Thanks in advance.

 

[GRColin]

As a parent I wouldn't let my daughter play any video games at 2. If you must let her play with you though I think anything that involves physical activity like Kinect or PS Move games would be ideal (or a Wii game with lots of activity I suppose.) Aside from motion based games however, anything relatively free of scary, violent images and heavy language which you already mentioned by saying you wouldn't let her play or watch Dead Space 3. That would be a parenting fail for sure.

I know you can pick up the UDraw game for like 7.99 at most places and it wouldn't be bad to encourage drawing. Puzzle games would be beneficial for her, even if she doesn't quite know how to solve them. And you can't go wrong with Ratchet and Clank or Rayman Origins.

 

[thedarkstar]

Thanks Lethean. I was thinking the exact same thing. It would give her something physical to do in the winter time when it is too cold to do much outside. Heck, it would get me moving a bit more too.

 

[GRColin]

Thanks Lethean. I was thinking the exact same thing. It would give her something physical to do in the winter time when it is too cold to do much outside. Heck, it would get me moving a bit more too.

And I certainly didn't mean to sound preachy at the start of my post. It was more like a "if you can avoid having her play them at this age great but do what ya gotta do". You also sound like someone who wouldn't let them get addicted to the T.V since your first thought was kinect games.

 

[De-Ting]

I'm not a parent, but I'd say invest in some computer games designed for kids, or classic retro games.

I highly attribute my knack for problem-solving and analyzation to the point-and-click adventure games I played as a kid.

Behold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humongous_ ... hed_Titles

Seriously, forget current-gen stuff when introducing your kids to games.

 

[GRColin]

I'm not a parent, but I'd say invest in some computer games designed for kids, or classic retro games.

I highly attribute my knack for problem-solving and analyzation to the point-and-click adventure games I played as a kid.

Behold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humongous_ ... hed_Titles

Seriously, forget current-gen stuff when introducing your kids to games.

I agree with this. Adventure/puzzle games. I'd bet my right arm that they in some way shape or form help with spatial ability and problem solving skills.

 

[Psuedo]

My nephew plays Minecraft. Got it for the Xbox because our pc sucks.

He plays Rockband, and Guitar hero. You can pick those up for cheap. Like a dollar for some of them, to 5 dollars. You can get the drums, and guitar in thrift stores that's where we found ours. The microphone we had to get from gamestop for about 11 bucks though. Drums, and Guitars were only three.

Rayman. Sidescrolling games are great for kids. You have all three consoles, so you should have no problem finding kid friendly games with such choice.

About the video game addiction thing. You're the parent. They play too much? Tell them they're playing too much they need to do something else. My nephew loses interest pretty fast if no one's playing with him. He's been playing for too long? You need to take a break. Simple as that....

Also instead of console games flash games on the internet are very much more kid friendly to play. He can play 90% of the flash games on the internet.

 

[drathbone]

I'd say almost all of the Lego's games are probably ok. Although I'm not sure ihow gritty the newer ones (batman/lotro) are. My bro said he plays Toy Story 3 alot with his daughter.

Also, several XBLArcade titles are cutesy/mild enough for a child (peggle, plants vs zombies, feeding frenzy etc)

edit: guess I missed the 2 year old part. The stuff i listed I'd probably say is 5 or 6+ at least.

 

[Sourdeez]

Id play co-op lego star wars any day. Doesn't matter what age.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

At two, hand-eye and ability to problem solve may not be quite where it's needed. Even if game time with dad is just have a controller in hand while dad games. Find something fun to look at and it'll probably just be daddy-daughter time at first. I don't know if you have a phone/iPad or whatever, but touch games are great for that age. Where's My Water comes to mind. Eventually there will be a day where the Lego series and almost anything Nintendo will set a fine base for your budding future.

 

[daverabbit]

Have a three year old and he just grabs the other controller and helps me stop the bad guys. Usually only for like 5 minutes at a time then he goes back to playing with his trains and what not. He also has a Leap Pad that lets him play games and learn at the same time. Already knows the soft sound for each letter and somehow knows the alphabet backwards. I sure didn't teach him all that. Oh and plenty of puzzles and learning games on the Ipad.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Games where she "helps" you. Suggestions? Mario Galaxy with her controlling the second wiimote or Rayman Origins since the co-op in that lets you revive anyone who dies by popping their bubble.

 

[used44]

My daughter is much younger than yours, but I'm really close with my sister's kids who are between 3-8 (I think, I suck with remembering ages). Everybody's advice has been good so far. But I can attest to how most two year olds will have no ability at gaming. So don't be discouraged if she can't figure it out for a few more years. At this age maybe just stick to touch games or pretend playing alongside you.

But later I would definitely start with retro games. 2D sidescrollers like Mario of course. Great for developing hand-eye coordination required for more complicated controllers.

Kinects are great for kids but I'm not sure they work great with toddlers.

 

[Optimus-Crime]

toddlers love Fruit Ninja on Kinect, they just need parental supervision to navigate and restart the game when needed.

 

[thedarkstar]

This is why I love this site and the people that frequent it. Thank you all for your comments. Lethean, I didn't think you sounded preachy at all. Any of the advice I have received here I have been grateful for. I like the idea of Fruit Ninja, but I do not have enough room for a Kinect in the house, I do not think. I have had her play some educational and shape games on my Nexus 7 tablet, and she likes that so far, but a lot of times gets frustrated when she can't get the shape exactly where it is supposed to go.

She still seems to want to play the consoles with daddy, so EARLY this morning when she, for some unknown reason, was up at 4am and wide awake, I asked her if she wanted to play a game in Daddy's room. So I started up Jetpack Joyride on my PS3, handed her my 360 controller (which she seems to like a lot. When I tried to hand her the PS3 controller she got mad), and she pressed buttons while I played. After a bit she wanted to "play" something else, so I started up Sonic Adventure, and she seemed to like that, too.

So again, thank you GR. You are a fine bunch.