Help Wanted: Games for Young Children

Greetings Wii Aficionados:

My wife and I are looking for good games for our three four-year-olds. I am a hardcore gamer, my wife plays Zelda and Mario Kart. We'd like to engage the kids in what we find to be a fun activity, but Zelda and Mario Galaxy are too complicated as of yet.

We bought Carnival and Nickelodeon Fit, but the first was a big disappointment and the latter single-player.

Note that we have the Wii, four controllers, one Motionplus, two steering wheels, and four nunchuks.

Help me, Wii Forumgoers, you're their only hope.

Happy gaming,

Boz

I could beat the first super mario bros for the N.E.S when I was 4. Dunno if that makes me special or not but maybe try the NSMBW game? I feel like NSMBW is generally a little easier than SMB. I know one guy with a kid thats either 5 or 6 and his kid loves it.

I have three children (2,3 and 9) and we play video games together. The games that we enjoy the most are:

1: Animal Crossing: One plays while the others watch and you can take turns controlling the character. Kids really like the animal characters and since there is no real objective it is impossible to lose.

2. Mario Party 9: A game with colorful characters which the children like and the game itself is very simple to play. None of the minigames are all of that difficult with some of them being very easy motion controlled affairs. This is also a good game to teach sportsmanship with by cheering for the other players when they do well.

3. Kirby's Epic Yarn: It is literally impossible to die in this game which makes it easier for younger players to get along with. There is a little angel character that you can summon to carry your player around so that if you get to a trickier platforming section that your child cannot get past he can call for the angel who will carry his character along behind yours. The graphics are super cute and the storyline had my kids laughing.

4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii: This one is a bit harder than Kirby's Epic Yarn but four people can play at once (KEY only allows for two) and it has the same help feature that KEY has insofar as if one of the players is having a hard time progressing past a difficult section he can shake his remote to put himself inside of a bubble that will tag along behind the other players until they pop the bubble for him.

5. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure: This game has a ton of cool character toys that you buy and then put on the portal of power (which comes with the game) which makes them come to life in the video game. The game itself is a super easy Gauntlet kind of affair where you traipse through a level solving puzzles, whooping bad guys and collecting treasure. You gain new powers as you level up as well as different hats which make you stronger. The storyline is fun and humorous and as an extra bonus the kids can play with the toys even when they are not playing with the video game.

Those are the games that we tend to play together the most. Hope that is somewhat helpful.

I bought Kirby epic yarn for 13 bucks and thought it was a perfect game for young children. AutoPilotOn

I'm loving the fact that Kirby's Epic Yarn is getting recommendations in this regard, as I think it's pretty much the ideal game for this situation. First of all, it's a great game, regardless of age, but the fact that there is no severe punishment for taking attacks, falling into pits, etc. makes it an excellent choice for introducing younger, less experienced gamers into the fold. Plus, a second, more experienced player can assist the first player whenever a difficult situation arises. Not to mention that the game's unique visual approach would also be very appealing to kids.

The fact that I've thought about introducing my kids to a game like KEY in the past (and I don't have kids at the moment, lol) makes the game about as great of a recommendation that I could give to anyone looking for a fun title for their children to have. :D

Kirby's Epic Yarn and A Boy and His Blob are perfect for kids I'd say. Charming, very easy to pick up and play but still fun.

Kirby's Epic Yarn and A Boy and His Blob are perfect for kids I'd say. Charming, very easy to pick up and play but still fun.

bulby_g

A Boy and His Blob is certainly a very charming game, but I don't know if it makes the best game to pick up when talking about 4 year olds. Advancing in the game requires that players know when and HOW to use the blob's different tools, and while some of those tasks may be simple enough, many of them are probably too complex for a young kid to enjoy in a fairly carefree manner. Not to mention that because the boy dies whenever he makes contact with an enemy or takes a fall past a certain distance, I could see that being the cause of frustration for a lot of kids out there.

Still, it's a great game for experienced players that wants a great puzzle platformer, while also giving kids something fun to look at in the process. I just don't think the youngers will enjoy playing nearly as much.

I would definitely recommend Mario Party. Kirby's Epic Yarn can support co-op play and might be a good choice considering you can't die in the game. I don't think you should get NSMB Wii because I think the game would be way too difficult by the second world. Besides a bunch of party games, I'm not really too familiar with any family friendly games.

My 3 year old loves Mario and Kirby games. Mario games are pretty good but Kirby games are the best. Any Kirby game would be okay but Return to Dreamland is probably the best option. It's really easy and can be played with 4 players so you could help. Kirby's Epic Yarn has been mentioned a lot and my son did love that but although you can't die it does have some puzzles in it that might be too hard for young kids. If you play cooperative it should be fine but otherwise it is probably too hard.