Games for young children

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

My nephew is an energetic if slightly naughty almost-four year old. He has an ipad with lots of simple games on it, but he seems more content lately to watch me on my PC when he visits, which is great (because it's nice to have his company) but frustrating as it restricts my gaming options. I fire up Skyrim to kill some Stormcloaks and just as I'm about to start lobbing fireballs he walks in and I load up a "nice" save where I ride a horse and jump around on rocks.

I'd like to let him have some fun and to that end I'd love any advice from fellow Escapists on appropriate games for 3-7 year olds. I don't mind adult nuance if that's as far as it goes, because that will pass right over his head...violent imagery and adult language is what I'm hoping to avoid. I don't mind cartoon violence but anything with bright colours, cute monsters, cool FX or a game in which he can't "lose" or time-out, stuff like that. Anything easy to navigate or open world, a sandbox for non-violent fun, or bloodless monster fighting like a cartoony Dynasty Warriors. Hopefully it would also be playable even if playing consists of random-button mashing and thumpad waggling. All advice gratefully received.

I have a PS2, Wii, XBox and XBox360 (no kinect) ready to go.

 

[NearLifeExperience]

Personally, I'm against this sort of 'protection', but I guess Kirby's Epic Yarn would be what you're looking for.

But honestly, kids really don't need this.
What are you trying to protect him from, being encouraged to shoot fireballs out of his hands?
Surely if your nephew isn't psychotic he understands that it's fictional

 

[chaser5000]

There is Transformers Fall of Cybertron, I think you can find that for 360. It's rated T, I haven't played it in a while but I don't remember it being too violent. Most of the game is pretty linear.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Entire Wii roster should be ideal for any kid as it is 90% flailing, just be sure to tape that stick to his hand.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Personally, I'm against this sort of 'protection', but I guess Kirby's Epic Yarn would be what you're looking for.

But honestly, kids really don't need this.
What are you trying to protect him from, being encouraged to shoot fireballs out of his hands?
Surely if your nephew isn't psychotic he understands that it's fictional

There's no knowing what images stick with a child. One thing I remember being afraid of was MJ's Thriller video. I was very young and the scenes where he became a werewolf was terrifying. I can still conjure the image in my mind's eye. Young kids have no moral compass and little ability to separate fact from fiction. If they see someone being hit with a sword on TV, very often they'll grab a stick and whack a relative. The killmoves in Skyrim are gratuitous, violent and not really suitable for such a young child.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That new Scribblenauts game looked pretty kid-friendly.

Katamari Damacy is probably a little too weird for a kid to fully appreciate, but I might be underestimating kids.

Viva Pinata looks kid friendly but is actually hilariously complex and fussy.

 

[epidemia]

If anyone could appreciate katamari to its utmost its kids, its a fun game about rolling stuff into balls.

 

[NearLifeExperience]

If they see someone being hit with a sword on TV, very often they'll grab a stick and whack a relative.

And that's where parenting comes in to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. Kids will always be exposed to such violence, no matter how hard you try to form a protective bubble around them.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I'd recommend the Super Mario Galaxy games

 

[Semudara]

How about The Legend of Zelda series? They're perfectly appropriate for kids, he's probably old enough to play them (by my reckoning), and you don't have to compromise your sense of quality or challenge.

For something you can play together, it doesn't get much better than Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Alternatively, I find that children tend to have a lot of fun with Wii Music (as do I, I must confess). It's pretty much a big, versatile musical toy, so it can be a lot of fun, or at least keep him (and you) busy. ;p

Just pick something you WANT to play, that you could imagine yourself playing as a kid. He may not like it, and you'll have to choose something else, but you never know until you try.

 

[Shdwrnr]

If they see someone being hit with a sword on TV, very often they'll grab a stick and whack a relative.

And that's where parenting comes in to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. Kids will always be exposed to such violence, no matter how hard you try to form a protective bubble around them.

I play games with my 7 and 5 year old. My son and I have started recording some of our games for youtube and our first co-op session was Left 4 Dead 2. My wife and I have explained the idea of context, fantasy, reality, etc. One of the most important things I've found is that if you're there to provide context and explain what is and isn't appropriate in certain situations, they will pick it up and follow your example. While they have been playing games with a large quantity of profanity, they don't use it. My son is fond of self censoring by making beeping noises in place of profanity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6wixjLSfQ

 

[Orphillius]

I would suggest Minecraft but it might be kind of tough to pick up on, and it doesn't work well as a "no risk" game because there is no feeling worse than dying and losing all of your dirt.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Dang, if you had PS3, I would have suggested Little Big Planet. Oh well.

For PS2, I would suggest the Sly Cooper series or Jak & Daxter 1. I played both when I was little and enjoyed the heck out of them.

Wii has Kirby's Epic Yarn, so that's a plus.

Xbox 360 has Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Although it's not as good as the ones on N64, it's still a pretty good vehicle construction/racing game.

 

[BeerTent]

I would suggest Minecraft but it might be kind of tough to pick up on, and it doesn't work well as a "no risk" game because there is no feeling worse than dying and losing all of your dirt.

Actually, this is a good idea with the inclusion of "Game rules" with the latest patch. I've been playing a lot at work, and there's a setting in the game where you lose nothing when you die if enabled. Look up "Game rules."

...

What? There's really not a lot to do other than build a Dragon's Egg Shrine at work... >.>

If they see someone being hit with a sword on TV, very often they'll grab a stick and whack a relative.

And that's where parenting comes in to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. Kids will always be exposed to such violence, no matter how hard you try to form a protective bubble around them.

While I agree that we shouldn't shelter our children, and that parenting is of utmost important, this isn't the OP's kid we're talking here. He can't sit down with this kid and say "This is fiction, don't stab your brother." On top of that, the parents may not want the kid to be around such imagery, and again, it's also down to knowing the kid too.

You're saying we shouldn't hide violent imagery from this kid, but at the same time, you've got absolutely no right, nor basis to say that. You don't know him, you don't know what the parent's limits are, and you don't know how he'd react to said imagery. In the OP's scenario, I feel like he's doing the right thing. (But at least give the boy something a bit more than just riding a horse around. )

Again, all of this heavily relies on how well you know the boy. If you know he understands what's going on, that it's all fiction, and that he won't get into it too much, why not do something more violent? But if you don't know the kid, or how they'll react to fireballs and decapitations, then perhaps Kirby is the better answer, keeping the Nephew's age in mind.

Last Edit I swear: also, keep learning curve in mind. It's not just the violence we're talking about here either should the kid pick up the controller, but how easy it is to learn the gist of things. He's not going to enjoy something like Aliens on Natural Selection because it's confusing, and difficult. You'll never get anywhere. But again, With Epic Yarn, it's easy to pick up and understand Kirby's skills and abilities, and it's a lot of food for thought when you think about mixing and matching abilities. It's why I enjoyed Brave Fencer Musashi so much when I was younger, he had a Kirby-esq move and I wanted to see what I could do with it.

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

Jak and Daxter.
Ratchet and Clank
Kingdom Hearts is really good for his age group, even 2 would be a good choice

Depending on what system you want him to play, Bastion is good. Could try him on Torchlight, or even something like Beyond Good and Evil. Might be abit hard to understand but a solid game.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Well, Mario games come to mind. I'd say the Wii is your best bet for titles for kids, but I have no idea what ones are really good. Most of the popular Nintendo games fit the bill.

 

[Ruedyn]

Modern Warfare 3. For optimal results, get him Xbox live and a headset, too.

Actually, try Kirby. Greatest way to make a future fat kid, but also really fun.

 

[Product Placement]

Uhm... Based on your selection of platforms...

Fez [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez_%28video_game%29], Bastion [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion_%28video_game%29], Viva Piñata [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_Pi%C3%B1ata] (and its sequels), Katamari [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Katamari], all those Lego games [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lego_video_games] (specifically thinking about those based on Star Wars [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Star_Wars:_The_Complete_Saga], Indiana Jones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Indiana_Jones:_The_Original_Adventures] and Harry Potter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Harry_Potter:_Years_1%E2%80%934]) Braid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_%28video_game%29], Epic Mickey [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Mickey] (and its sequel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Mickey_2:_The_Power_of_Two]) all those Mario games [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_featuring_Mario] (that can be played on Wii), all those Zelda games [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda] (know for a fact that you can buy the entire collection to play on Wii).
I'm probably missing some good ones.

PS3 has Flower [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_%28video_game%29], The Joruney [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_%282012_video_game%29] and LittleBigPlanet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_big_planet]. If you had Kinect, I could recommend some of those crazy kid friendly titles, like Kinectimals and such, and I could recommend a mountainload of indie titles for PCs but alas...

 

[Mr. Omega]

Mario. The correct answer is Mario. Anything Mario. EVERYTHING Mario.

Kirby is also a very easy series, so that'd be an even better choice.

 

[Whitewillow]

The Sly Cooper series is a good one, and Toy Story. The Lego Harry Potter and Indiana Jones are also good choices.