Use this PlayTogether guide to learn how you can help your child turn Kinect Sports Season Two: Tennis play time into a positive learning and relationship-building experience. To learn more about why playing games with your children is so important, check out our Science of Play page!

Talk Before You Play

Take a minute to talk with your child about how the Flexibility, Focus, and Self-Control thinking skills work, and why they are important for success in school and at home.

Set Gameplay Goals

Kinect Sports Rivals has single- and multiplayer game modes, but the best way to play with your child is to play competitively. Because Kinect Sports Rivals lets players enjoy the action simultaneously, both players can work together to meet the gameplay goals listed below.

Gameplay Goals:

• Complete the tutorial in its entirety, and play the initial Wake Race.
• Earn the "Seasoned Wake Racer" achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.
• Earn the "Seasoned Bowler" achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.
• Earn the "Seasoned Climber "achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.
• Earn the "Seasoned Shooter" achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.
• Earn the "Seasoned Soccer Player" achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.
• Earn the "Seasoned Tennis Player" achievement by reaching level 10 in the sport.

 Stop and Reflect

After you have completed the gameplay goals above, take a minute to pause the game and talk with your child about how the game is exercising your Self-Control, Focus and Flexibility skills.

• Share your ideas on how good Flexibility skills helped you play better. How does switching between swings sports require you to adapt to new conditions and shift your approach to the game?

• Talk to your child about some activities at home that require the ability to quickly change between actions. For example, how do you multi-task when preparing a big dinner — prepping food, sauteing vegetables, simmering a sauce or baking a roast?

• In Kinect Sports Rivals you can focus earning difficult achievements that are more challenging, more rewarding than simply finishing levels. Try keeping your opponent from winning a single round during the game.

• Relate this to focusing on earning the best grade possible on a reading or writing assignment, rather than simply completing the minimal requirement.

• Talk about how Kinect Sports Rivals requires you to use careful, steady motions in order to successfully control each action. Share times when you messed up a bit, describing what you lost control of while trying to make a difficult action. Did you get flustered or frustrated? How to you work through it and "beat" that part of the game?

• Connect the elements of Self-Control in this game to a real athletic activity. For example, shooting free-throws in basketball or timing the swing of a baseball bat. Why is controlling action, emotions and temperament important in real-world sports and competition?

Our Make it Work activities are designed to transform your child’s gameplay into real-world improvements in thinking and academic skills. If you’re just getting started with LearningWorks For Kids, we suggest you try them all to find which are the best for you and your child.

Introduce the Thinking Skills

Read over our Flexibility, Focus, and Self-Control pages, and then take some time to introduce these thinking skills to your child.

Explain That:

Kinect Sports Rivals & ADHD

Active games can have numerous benefits for children with ADHD. Firstly, physical exercise that involves complex body movement and keen coordination. The motion-based gameplay found in Kinect Sports Rivals requires a fair amount of physcality, along with good concentration and focus. Players will likely not do too well at first, requiring them to practice and exert a level of commitment in order to become good at the game.

Additionally, research shows that vigorous physical activity can help boost attention for up to 4 hours after exercise. Basically, exercise boosts the production of brain fuel, which sticks around for a while even after the exercise is done. This makes exercise and active games a smart playtime activity for children, especially before tackling attention-demanding tasks, such as homework or studying.

How to Use Kinect Sports Rivals for Kids with ADHD

• Use the game to model goal-directed persistence. At first, your child might not be very good at the game. This is because a degree of practice is required in order to internalize the game controls and learn how to react to the prompts. Setting simple goals to strive for, like “winning three matches in a row” gives your child something doable to aim for, and will let him see the payoffs of his practice sooner than later.

• Use gameplay before homework. Exercising before starting an academic task will help your child reap the cognitive boost to focus afforded by physical activity. Studies have show that the brain benefits of working out last up to four hours, so try to schedule playtime right before study time.

• Play together. The compilation of sports titles included in Kinect Sports Rivals is best more active when played against others, so for the most exercise we recommend playing some rounds together competitively.