Games my kids loved (age 4-11)
A list for parents who are looking for inspiration. I'm not including the obvious iOS titles.
List items
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1. Animal Crossing: Wild World
Although they didn't have the reading skills my kids started playing this game at the age of 5. They got the basic machanics pretty quickly and loved to collect all the stuff. They decorated their rooms and wrote me funny letters that became more and more meaningfull while they learned how to read and write. I now have an awesome collection of documents of that period.
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2. Chibi-Robo!
It's a story about a family that is going through a hard time. As a little toy robot you're trying to support them. This is charming! I played while my kids were giving me advices.
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3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Actually ALL Lego games. But if you're reading this and you're a parent you probably knew already.
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4. Trine 2
The game play is very similar to the game play of the Lego games. So, yes, this one works.
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5. Marble Saga: Kororinpa
My daughter loved this one very much. She finished all levels and still returns to this one from time to time.
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6. Mario Kart Wii
No brainer (but pretty hard to master for a younger child)
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7. Elebits
This early wii title is told from a kid's perspective. Kept us busy for some weeks.
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8. Little King's Story
My kids forced me to play this so they can watch. Again and again. I *almost* finished it. It's a long game.
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9. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Another one my kids liked to watch me playing.
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10. Terraria
The first game I played online with my daughter (at the age of 10).
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11. Imagine Teacher
*sigh* - you have to accept it sometimes.
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12. Picross 3D
The perfect DS game. Very apt for an older child (around 10 years old).
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13. A Boy and His Blob
I guess watching me playing this is like watching a cartoon for my kids.
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14. Leedmees
Leedmees is fun for 15 minutes. A nice little game for your Kinect. It gets tricky fast though.
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15. Kinect Adventures!
My kids still demand to play this when friends are visiting. The rafting is quite good.
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16. Vessel
It's beautiful and the puzzles are fair. My kids play this with a xbox controller on the PC, works great.
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17. Nintendogs
My daughter played it, put it away, played it, put it away, played it, put it away, ...
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18. Puzzle Bots
A cute adventure game by one of my favourite indie developer. My son (at the age of 6) loved to help me solving some puzzles.
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19. Endless Ocean
My kids loved the atmosphere. Discovery is probably the best feature a game can offer to kids.
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20. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Swapping the little toys in mid-play is really impressing. Besides I don't really get the appeal of the game, but my kids seem to like it a lot. (Not being able to jump is something I find irritating.)
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21. Hoyle Majestic Chess
Probably the best game to introduce kids to chess. My son loves solving the small chess problems.
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22. Joy Ride Turbo
I know what you're thinking and you're right. I hate to support this brand. The kinect title was disgusting. But this one is actually different. In a free drive mode you can collect items to buy new cars. Driving around with no time pressure is perfect for my kids. The avatar's goofy stunt moves amused them a lot!
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23. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Another kart racer. My son learned how to start Steam for this one. It's a very forgiving game and therefore great for kids. Unlockable characters and race tracks are like crack.
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24. The Sims 3
This was the first time my oldest daughter (11) came to me and told me "Dad, I want you to buy this game."
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25. Botanicula
Our 4 years old loves her "spider game". It's charming, surreal and not too hard.
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26. Kingdom Hearts
at the age of 7 my son started to read Disney comics. Introducing him to this game on the PS2 was like giving him crack.
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27. Nuage
My daughter discovered this game at the age of 4. It's a relaxing experience with a slow piano track and great rainy sound effects. The player collects clouds to become a larger cloud. All you can do is rain and later make some thunder and lightning. Your rain will let flowers grow and the music adopts to the amount of rain you're dropping. Nice!
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28. Proteus
I finally understood the appeal of this while watching my 11 year old daughter playing it. Sometimes you have to see a thing through the eyes of a child.
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29. Kinect Party
Yes. This is what Kinect was made for.
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