The Game Recommendation For Your Kids thread

Yoshi's Wooly world has a mode where instead of double jump its just an infinite glide. My 7 year old daughter loves that game because of that, and it was a great intruduction to that style of game.

Fastmav347 wrote:

Yoshi's Wooly world has a mode where instead of double jump its just an infinite glide. My 7 year old daughter loves that game because of that, and it was a great intruduction to that style of game.

Played this demo in two player mode with almost 4 year old today. What a charming game. They make a lot of smart decisions regarding playing with someone who might not have a great grasp of platforming.

Yeah I'm pretty sold on getting a Switch by mid year for my kids (and me duh) and the new Yoshi game is high on the list.

This thread has been less about tablet apps of late, but whoever recommended the Dragon Box games, thank you! I've started with Dragon Box numbers which my 5 year old loves, I could have had her start it a year or two ago though, it's VERY accessible. Will get Dragon Box algebra now also given its billed for 5+yos.
We have a very big drive home from the in laws on the weekend (attempting the 10hr trip, could be a disaster... but we have done plenty of 6hr drives)
If anyone has found some good new apps for the 2.5yr to 6yr bracket I'm all ears.

Can anyone recommend good GBA/DS games for a 4 year old? Found the wife's DS and a bunch of old games and let my son try it he's really enjoying it.

My 4yo and 7yo really enjoyed the demo level of the new Switch Yoshi Crafted World game. Question is does it get a lot harder in the main game? Will it still be playable by a 4yo?

pandasuit wrote:

My 4yo and 7yo really enjoyed the demo level of the new Switch Yoshi Crafted World game. Question is does it get a lot harder in the main game? Will it still be playable by a 4yo?

Pretty sure that won't be a problem

It's a humorously pithy response, but I'm not sure it really helps with the question. I'm curious too as I'm still planning on getting a switch for the kids very soon.

pandasuit wrote:

My 4yo and 7yo really enjoyed the demo level of the new Switch Yoshi Crafted World game. Question is does it get a lot harder in the main game? Will it still be playable by a 4yo?

My 4 year old loves it. We put it in easy mode (you can basically fly by holding down jump). He's been able to complete around 85% of the levels, although I've had to help him with the rest (a hard jump there, a few puzzles, nothing big).

It's really worth the money, lots of stages all with different themes, tons of unlockable costumes, and the stages all have a "find poochy pups" mode that basically reverses the level and let's you hunt pups down and he loves it. Plus, two player mode is fun, too.

Argh, I need this game!

My kids enjoyed the previous Yoshi game on "Mellow Mode", although I didn't really care for it.

A Short Hike just released this past week on steam, a sweet and highly accessible 3d platformer adventure game.
"Hike, climb, and soar through the peaceful mountainside landscapes of Hawk Peak Provincial Park as you make your way to the summit."

'Very positive' reviews on steam and I've played about 20 minutes of it with my 5 year old. Can be played without reading ability but probably not completed without competent reading ability, certainly not full enjoyed without being able to read the dialogue with characters you meet. I'd say ideal for 7+ years of age but my daughter about to turn 6 advanced a fair way with me popping by the help out here and there.
No fail states woohoo!

Anyone got a list of tablet games for an almost 4 year old? Parenting thread turned me off of trying to let him use a controller for now. He does like tablet games, but I want something perhaps with a story or plot for him to follow. Ideally educational, but he could use something to help with hand eye coordination if it's not too early for that.

I have a good word one and he already knows his numbers and alphabet backwards and forwards literally. Maybe basic math functions... he counts groups of items really well but I'm not sure about his addition and subtraction.

(Mainly want him to have something other than movies for long car trips.)

manta173 wrote:

Anyone got a list of tablet games for an almost 4 year old?

Apple or Android?

We're on Android but I think all of the things i'm recommending are also on iOS:

DragonBox have great apps for maths and the 'Endless' apps by Originator are similarly great for literacy and a numbers app too, for a 4 year old id start at the basic level on both and go from there (so, DragonBox Numbers and Endless Alphabet and Endless Numbers).

Sago Mini have some cute interactive diorama type games, theyre all pretty similar so just pick a setting your kid digs. Toca Boca make a heap of great 'gamey' apps, hair salon, kitchen stuff. Dont know if your child watches and BBC programs but there are good interactive diorama type apps for Sarah and Duck, Hey Duggee and Ben and Holly. Also the Australian Broadcast Corporation have some good apps that I assume are available internationally. There is a LOT of garbage out there, but also some real gems.

Also on iOS is a beautiful game called Paperbark that i'd recommend for a cool little environmental narrative.

Fire tablet actually... So sort of android.

I think most of those are available so I'll see what I can get him interested in.

Fruit Ninja is good for younger kids, though without a plot or anything.

At four I'd think reading in a game is more than they'd want to do. That'll come later. Games take up a bunch of brain power to play and reading stuff just complicates things imho.

+ 1 Toca Boca games for younger kids. Kitchen and Hair Salon were faves with the boy.

Looks to be many other themes from them now. Most are premium pay up front, no pesky IAP, which is a solid move for lil kids games.

A lot of time was spent doing Santa's hair... and beard styling.

Bubblefuzz wrote:

+ 1 Toca Boca games for younger kids. Kitchen and Hair Salon were faves with the boy.

my kids loved toca train

also dr. panda, restaurant and firefighters were big hits at that age.

My youngest son loves Endless Alphabet. The letters are fun to move around and listen too, and the words have silly animations to accompany the definition as it read aloud. He’s only 2 1/2 (so maybe to young?), but is picking up letters and sounds quickly!

Edit for stupidity...

Hi everyone, first post after a lot of lurking over the years. I’m just dragging myself back to gaming now the kids are 4 and 2. My mini SNES has been great the eldest can play Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country and the both like watching super Metroid which is amazing as it’s one of my favourites and still holds up. Is there anything that anyone has found on ps plus that’s good for this age range? My sub goes back years so I have a big library on there.

Sonic Mania
Rayman Legends maybe
Knack is meant for younger folks, but probably not 2 and 4
Little Big Planet 3
Hohokum

Those are all PS4 games

Grabbed Crayola Scoot on sale for Switch. My 4 year old loves it. It plays pretty well for the $4 I spent on it. The combo of Splatoon-meets-Tony Hawk works surprisingly well and is lots of fun.

Sonic mania is a great shout downloading it now for post swimming lesson gaming!

Rocket League, put it on freeplay mode. They'll have fun just driving around at first and eventually developing the coordination to use more and more of the controller without any pressure.

garion333 wrote:

Knack is meant for younger folks, but probably not 2 and 4

Knack is a PEGI 12, which surprised me. I was cool with the boy playing at 8, bit of comic violence all good. He really enjoyed it.

+1 Rayman and Hohokum.

There's a side scrolling shoot em up featuring a cigar toting muscle bound goldfish, well two as we enjoyed it co-op for a fair while. I shall be back with the name unless anyone can help out on that...

sortimat wrote:

Rocket League, put it on freeplay mode. They'll have fun just driving around at first and eventually developing the coordination to use more and more of the controller without any pressure.

My kids (4 and 8) both enjoy Rocket League. We started with free play like you and now my 8yo is getting comfortable with 1v1 matches against bots. I find it is a way better experience for them if they aren’t in the same game together as it minimizes the arguing. I setup my 4yo in freeplay on the Switch while my 8yo does 1v1 on the Xbox. I play on a PC in the same room. It’s possible I own too many copies of Rocket League....

My wife and I recently tried Worms WMD with the family as the Worms series is one of my wife’s favorites. While I don’t regret trying it as they have a lot of fun it is more violent than things they’ve played before. The main thing I would warn about if you consider a game like this is to turn off the worm voices because they regularly say things you do not want your kids to repeat.

Racing games like Mario Kart and Sonic Racing are still the main go to games we play as a family. I’m hoping the new Sonic racing drops in price soon.

We are exploring a few more of the games on the mini SNES this morning. Yoshi’s island is going down well but harder than I remember. I’m sure it’s nothing to do with the intervening 25 years since I played it last......

Anyone got any not-crap "educational" games on Steam to recommend for a 6 year old? Basic math, elementary reading, that kind of thing?

Off the top of my head, some of the educational adventure games that came out in the 90s (Zoombinis, Pajama Sam, Freddie Fish, Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish) are all on Steam.