2014 has seen the introduction of the next generation of gaming consoles, but many of the best games for these consoles are designed with older kids in mind. If your younger child is feeling left out, there are still many absorbing games to play and learn from. Here are our recommendations for the top five games for younger kids Christmas 2014.
New Super Mario Bros. U, a Wii U adventure game for ages 5 and up, is now two years old. But like nearly all installments of the Mario Bros. franchise, its appeal is enduring. Players guide Mario, Luigi and the Toadstool gang across various side-scrolling landscapes as they battle enemies, navigate dangerous terrain and pick up power-ups to help aid them in their journey. Kids can have fun and improve their attention and effort to tasks at the same time.
Don’t Shoot Yourself is a unique puzzle game for ages 6 and up that appears simple but proves quite a wonderful surprise for those who enjoy a fun, puzzling challenge. The use of speedy reflexes, strong awareness of your surrounds, and cunning strategy, are all important parts of success in the game. Don’t Shoot Yourself is a fun game that helps with adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.
Triple Town is a puzzle game that challenges players ages 6 and up to build a village one random item at a time, using a match-three (or more) approach similar to Bejeweled. Self-control plays a large part in success in Triple Town. Simply placing objects willy-nilly in the village will fill the board up quickly and waste a player’s limited turns without netting many points. By resisting that impulse, and planning out moves, a player tallies up more points, and thus more coins to trade for extra objects or playtime.
Minecraft is an action game for ages 6 and up, and it isn’t new by any stretch, but the fact that it’s available to play on nearly every imaginable gaming platform speaks volumes about its continued popularity and universal appeal. Objectives are imagined by players, allowing them to truly create their own virtual world by mining materials and building tools. Players can easily become lost in the borderless world if they do not pay strict attention to their relationship with the landmarks around them or the direction in which they start their journey, making their focus extremely important.
Sonic Dash is a mobile game for players ages 6 and up. Use the touch screen to guide the popular blue hedgehog through a series of obstacles. During gameplay players must adapt quickly to a changing environment, making them more flexible as Sonic is presented with obstacles like logs, trees, hillsides, and pesty crustaceans and fish. What makes Sonic Dash good for short and long-term memory is that the levels follow the same sequence of obstacles for the first minute or two and gameplay.
