Use this Play Together guide to learn how you can help your child turn Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 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 Self-Awareness, Flexibility, Working Memory and Self-Control thinking skills work, and why they are important for success in school and at home.

Set Gameplay Goals

The Legend of Zelda franchise is intended to be played by a single player. However, this sprawling adventure is great to play together, and can be great share during particularly challenging puzzles or boss battles. If you see your child struggling with the game or becoming frustrated, sit down with him and try to lend your perspective on the situation. If possible, do not permit your child to use a walkthrough or strategy guide to complete the main quest's dungeons and temples; for these will diminish the critical thinking required and dampen benefits derived from the game. If absolutely needed, consult a walkthrough yourself (they are widely available for free online) only for the section your child is stuck on to familiarize yourself with the dilemma and offer hints to help aid progress.

Gameplay Goals:

• Get a sword and shield in Kokiri Forest
• Get the Fairy Slingshot inside the Deku Tree
• Defeat Queen Gohma
• Visit Malon at Lon Lon Ranch
• Sneak into Hyrule Castle and meet Princess Zelda
• Use Zelda's Letter to gain access to Goron City
• Gaibn access to Dodongo's Cavern
• Obtain the Bomb Bag
• Defeat King Dodongo

Stop and Reflect

This is a good point in the storyline to stop and take a moment to reflect on how your child used the cited thinking skills while playing the game.

• Ask your child to describe a particular puzzle or point in the game that gave him trouble. Have explain the puzzle and the first approaches he took to solving it and how he eventually reached the correct solution. Explain to him that this self-reflection of what actions were making headway and which were having no effect is a great example of Self-Awareness, or the ability to judge your own performance based on social or contextual situations. 

• Although at this point in the game your child has only experienced a fraction of what the game will throw at him, he should have a good idea of the variety of puzzles presented to the player. Assuming he has completed the Deku Tree dungeon; have your child relate how the game keeps players on their toes by having them constantly adapting to new situations and shifting strategies to meet challenges. Discuss how remaining open-minded in these situations can reveal solutions you would not have otherwise came to and can help you deal with sharp transitions in activities.

• Throughout the game the player's Working Memory in being tested in various ways. Your child must memorize their available equipment (which will change at different points in the game), remember dungeon layouts and their various traps, recall enemy attack patterns and weaknesses, and retain various clues provided in quests. Try and relate these activities to his time at school: Did he remember to bring all the necessary supplies? complete all his homework? is there a long-term project due in the near future? can he always remember where the class last left off? can he apply past lessons to new material?

• The most important thing to remember while playing is to not become angry at the game, remember it is for entertainment in the end. Many first-time players can have trouble assessing enemies' weaknesses, especially bosses. If your child repeatedly died in the first dungeon, the Deku Tree, and their patience was being tried and became frustrated explain to them that playing in this manner clouds their judgement and can only make the situation harder. Teach your child to take a break and revisit the game, or whatever situation, with a clear mind. This approach promotes positive decision making and lowers stress levels.

Our Make it Real activities are designed to transform your child’s gameplay to 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 the pages for Self-Awareness, Flexibility, Working Memory and Self-Control. Then take some time to introduce these thinking skills to your child.

Explain that:

• Self-Awareness is the thinking skill that helps us to understand our actions, analyze our own thinking and articulate our thoughts and feelings.

• Self-Control is the thinking skill that helps us manage our feeling and behaviors, control our emotions and stop ourselves before we make a mistake.

• Flexibility is the thinking skill that helps us adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes and change what we are doing in order to deal with different challenges.

• Working Memory is the thinking skill that helps us to recall and retain information in our minds while we are working, follow multi-step directions, and solve problems in our heads. 

Self-Awareness Activity

Help your child to develop self-verbalization skills that will assist her with metacognition. Ask questions such as “can you think of another way of doing that?” or “how do you think others might have solved that problem?” Encourage her to ask these questions herself rather than depending upon external prompts. And encourage her to think about and discuss ways she has successfully completed difficult tasks in the past.

Flexibility Activity

Make mistakes. Showing your child that you are not afraid of making mistakes and that you can laugh at yourself, might allow him to laugh at his own errors. Show that you are able to learn from making a mistake. You can make a mistake by going the wrong way to an activity, mixing up ingredients in a recipe, making a hole in the wall while you are trying to hang a picture, or making an error when trying to complete a crossword puzzle or Sudoku. Encourage your child to talk about how he can learn from making mistakes.

Working Memory Activity

Relating new information to what is already known will help working memory. The rules of lacrosse are easy to remember if you know the rules for hockey, because the two sports are very similar. Many children find that they are able to remember the rules of new video games based upon what they have played in the past. Ask your child to reflect on how her past knowledge from games, movies, or activities can help in the present situation. For example, if she is watching a movie sequel, ask her to predict what might happen based upon memory of the previous movie.

Self-Control Activity

Encourage your child to get up and move if necessary. At school, these include movement between classes, recess or running errands for the teacher. Encourage more “regulated fidgeting” by providing a squeeze ball, a small polished stone, or something with which to “fiddle”. Also encourage your child to be able to identify the need to move and to find strategies appropriate to the situation. One very underused strategy that can be practiced at home and then used in many settings is stretching, both in standing and in sitting positions.

THIS GAME ALSO HELPS KIDS WITH:

Reading

All dialogue within the game is displayed as text only. Along Link's quest he will encounter dozens of citizens, creatures, wanderers, anthropomorphic animals and objects, and a host of simply unclassifiable characters, each with their own story to tell and proposals for our hero. Because the game progresses by conversing with these denizens of Hyrule the amount of reading done by players is palpable.

In addition to the characters Link must meet along the main quest, he will also encounter many shopkeepers, carnival game operators, ranchers, and a number of others who offer other side-quests, hints and items to purchase. All of these engagements require some degree of reading, and if players ever find themselves lost, or in need of some guidance, Link's fairy, Navi, is always present and more than willing to speak out...vai text of course.