Looking for Wii Game Ideas, Family with Younger Kids

Hi K.,

My boys used to get soooooooo frustrated when struggling to learn an new video game. Gosh, I had almost forgotten!

First of all, when I sensed the frustration I had to remind them that these games are supposed to fun, and if it's too frustrating that we need to take a break for 30 minutes until we feel better. They usually calmed down right away after they learned that I was serious :O) Especially boys have this trouble :O)

Now for the games. The driving games are the most difficult to control for us, only my 12 year old has it mastered. My 6 year old still learning and mastering. And me....well, let's just say that I'm always driving off cliffs....I'm terrible!

I think "Wii Play" or "Wii Playground" would be good for your age kids. They are reasonable in price, too. And, we absolutey love to play Rock Band as a family...that game was from Santa this past Christmas :O) It's pricey, but maybe by Christmas your kids will be ready. Santa brought an extra Guitar so the kids wouldn't fight over it. It's a fun system!

I also heard that "Wii Music" and "Wii Dance" was fun for the girls.

Hope this info helps. Have fun!

~N.

A friend sent us a wii this week. My 7 yr old wanted to play, so I suggested she read the manual and put it together. She did. She wanted to play the games. She decided trial and error was better than reading the manual. She likes the TRAINING portion of SPORTS because you do all the sports for short bits of time and practice.

s

We received the Wii as a gift to my son for Christmas, we enjoy playing the Wii Play games which include many different types of games like fishing, bowling, hockey, tennis and things like that. Also if you spend a few more bucks ($25 or so) to get the device which allows you to connect online they have a very large selection of other nintendo games old and new which offer different age appropriate games. You simply order Wii points (equivelent to dollars) and each game is downloaded right onto your unit. We found this to be much more conveinent and simple to do (instead of purchasing one game at a time at game store outlets). We also give our son the privaledge to play for one hour each night as a reward for a good day (chores, homework, playing nicely and so on) he is 6 too and our daughter is 3, she doesn't really play much; I think girls tend to just have less of a drive to play videogames anyway...our neice isn't into it much either and she is 8! As a family it can be really fun...my daughter and I will be a team against Daddy & her brother which helps her out too! Hope that helps!

you'll love the Carnival Themepark & Carnival Golf, it is so much fun for all ages. Everyone makes their own character up. It's a great game for the family. Have fun!

Hi K., Wii is alot of fun for everyone. We have had it now for a few years and the kids love it. My kids are older, but my niece is 8, but she has it it for 3years now. Did you get the sport game that came with it? Bowling is pretty simple. Here are a few other suggestions, Boom Blox, Carnival games, Game Party, Mario party, and even Big Brain Acadamy. We play Smarty Pants as a family as well as Hasbro game night, but your daughter might stil be too young for that. They do have the virtual pet games as well as some princess games that could be just for her. Good luck and have fun.

We have two boys, ages 5 and 8. The 8 year old is OBSESSED with the Wii. We have had to cut back on some of the games because of it. However, there are some family friendly games that the whole family likes to play. Tiger Woods Golf is our favorite. Other favorites are the tennis and boxing on the wii sports game. The 5 year old likes all of these, but anything other than that he just wants to watch his brother. They get frustrated when playing with just each other, but when we play as a family we are able to help the younger one and put out the fire before it starts. As for little girls, not sure what she would find interest in. We have other friends with little girls and they like the tennis game as well. Check craigslist for used games, or Game Stop. Good luck!

Hi K.,
My 6 year old likes Wii Fit for the yoga and skiing exercises..
My 2 year old does the bowling and golf. He isn't real precise but he feels good about being in the game..
The whole family will play kind of like a game night just using the wii. It is great for building self esteem. Everybody claps and says good job. Even our 16 year old son will hang out with us when we all play.

I'm not big on gaming systems BUT we love the Wii. The boys (5 and 8) have special interest games (Lego Star Wars) that they really enjoy and then we have the basic Sports that came with the system and Outdoor Challenge--they both enjoy those games as well and it keeps them active. (I played tennis for an hour or better one day and my right tri-cep? bi-cep? sorry, I taught English! :)) was sore for a few days.) You really can get a work out going. Speaking of, we got the Wii Fit and though it's not hard-core exercise it certainly gets you going. The balance games are a big hit with both boys--if they want to play the Wii before school that's what they get to play.

My oldest will get frustrated, too, and we just ask if it's time to stop playing. That usually settles him down and he thinks about what he needs to do to make it work.

Have fun! M.

I have a 3 year old daughter and 5 year old son and we just got the Wii a couple of months ago. I would forgo all the games that involve having to fight through scenes to get to the other scenes, too hard! (like Ben 10). I would recommend the disney princess game for your daughter. It has a room for every princess that you play games in and help each princess through 3 chapters each. My daughter likes using the remote as the magic wand and my son uses the numchuk to help walk the little princess around, so they can play together. Also, the basic sports games are great and if you aren't against shrek, there is a good shrek carnival games disc that has fairly easy carnival games to play. Hope this helps.

Mario party is pretty good. They just have to bounce the remote up to roll the dice, then the characters move automatically. There are mini-games they can play, too, but they're quick and mostly easy, and the 4 year old might win some by pure luck.

My 3 year old mostly chooses to watch her older sister play the Wii, rather than get frustrated playing. But she'll play Mario Party.

I know exactly how you feel, I did not grow up on video game and when we got our Wii my boys were 4 and 6 and are now 5 and 7 and when they got frustrated they would turn to me who was clueless however let me tell you the Wii can be very addicting for all. We like to play the Wii sports as a family. For the kids for starters make sure it is an E for everyone. My kids have Lego Star Wars that they can play together or alone and they really like it(Avatar the Burning Earth is another one you can play together) DO NOT get Meet the Robinsons, it is fun but charging and there is a glitch at the end that I(yes I said I) can not get past to beat the game. We play is a great 2 player and comes with another remote,(Oh and trust me you will want the charging Dock or you will be changing batteries daily!) Spongebob Atlantis they liked a lot but there are a few levels they may need help on, Paper Mario is one of my Youngest favorites however you need to be close by because there is a lot of reading involved also there is a great walk through online to help with this game( http://guides.ign.com/guides/853822/page_10.html ) also if you go to the main menu on your Wii you can download the old game right onto your Wii (like Mario, Space invaders, Ecco, etc.) and they only cost around $5 and some seem to be pretty easy just make sure when you download them that they do not require a special remote. Now some games I do not yet have but I think would be fun is Shrek Carnival games and I Spy. I do have quite a few other games but I would not suggest them when they are starting out. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

By the way my 4 year old went from a frustrated kid to a 5 year old Wii head that could potentially beat any one of us. My sister-in-law has the Wii Fit and my kids love the balance games which give them the exercise they don't get by playing video games all day.

K.,
My kids (4 yr old boy & 3 yr old daughter) like to play Mario Party 8, Endless Ocean (you are a scuba diver and pet and learn about ocean creatures), de Blob (your creature paints buildings by bumping into them) and Wario Ware Smooth Moves (very silly and so random that the person in last place can easily win - I think the kids enjoy laughing more than winning in this one and the adults love it, too). Both kids actually like the Disney Princess game - since it requires the remote and the nunchuck, my daughter usually plays with mom or dad. If you don't mind a fighting game, my son loves to play Godzilla (Godzilla and such stomping over San Francisco) with dad. Places like gamespot.com have recommendations for kid games or you can just google best kid (or family) wii games. We also tried gamefly.net where you can rent games - it's similar to Netflix. You could get a subscription for a month or two to check out games before committing to buying them or keep it going and avoid buying games that you won't use repeatedly.
Have fun!
C.

We have a Wii and the whole family loves it. I think the best games for the littlest kids are Cosmic Family, Wii Sports, and Mario Karts. Cosmic Family is specifically designed for younger kids and is super easy to play. The Sports are great. All very easy. Although my teens have found all sorts of ways to boost points when playing Karts, it can also be played as a simple race game. One thumb controls speed and the other turns. Easy and fun.

We also have the problem here of the younger child getting frustrated and the older one taking over in the guise of 'helping'. We have this problem in more areas than just games. :o) It may be a good idea to arrange a time for your younger child to play without her big brother around. Maybe when he is having a play date at someone else's house, or he's out with daddy somewhere. My younger daughter thinks about things a little differently and does WAY better when she can be given a some time to figure out things on her own.

Have fun!

We were given a wii for Christmas, I don't know that I would have bought it ourselves, video games seem to be used and abused by the kids we know and I prefer the good old fashioned kind of outdoor play for my 2 & 4 year olds.

Having said that, We are enjoying it. We limit its use to one or two nights a week. My 4 year old daughter loves to bowl and she is really good at it. My son gets very frustrated, he can't get the coordination down, he is just 2. We give him a remote that is not working and let him go thru the motions while we secretly bowl for him and cheer him on, to keep the game moving, he seems to enjoy it. He also likes baseball. The disney princess one is challenging for my daughter, she hasn't quite got the hang of it. The both love when my hubby plays guitar hero, they grab pretend microphones and dance and sing around the room. This can go on for hours...they each have their favorite songs!

Lastly, one game that came highly reccomended to me, which I have not purchased yet, was cooking mama. I don't know too much about it other than it teaches techniques about cooking all different kinds of foods and is supposed to be fun for girls our age.

Have fun!

I want to suggest the disney princess game as well. It's pretty simple and even I enjoyed playing it!

I myself have a 4 year old and an 8 year old. My 4 years olf takes over the system more though, because my oldest has Down Syndrome. I've learned that one game they can play really well together is Hasbro's Family Game Night. There are the old fashion games of: battleship, yahtzee, sorry!, sorry! sliders, connect four, boggle and maybe one more I can't remember. This makes them have to take turns and it's pretty easy. Just point the controller and push A. There is also another one of these but I don't remember the name and I also have not played it or seen it played. Hope this helps you.

my daughter was 4 1/2 when we got ours and she loves(and is quite good at it!) the sports one with tennis, bowling, golf and baseball... we showed her the tennis one since all your basically doing is "hitting" the ball back and she figured out how to do the rest by herself!! i also have the wii fit and she likes getting weighed just like mommy! as does my 2 year old!

Have you tried the Wii Fit? It requires the balance board, but a lot of the games are short, don't require a controller, and the more time you spend on it, the more games open up. Plus, it shows you how to do the movements before the game starts, often offering a "practice round". My husband and I have gone to barbeques at a friends house where the adults and the kids ended up playing Wii Fit for hours.

My kids have a game called outdoor challenge, they love it. its about $55 but it comes with the game and a mat for them to play on. they have all sorts of games to play that get them up and moving, jump rope, log jumping, mine cart racing to name a few. It's fun as they are exercising while playing.
hope you find some games

I am not a video game person. I am not good at them and do not have any desire to practice until i am. my husband is a video game guy. mom got us a Wii system. i have a 7 year old and a 2 year old. the 2 year old likes the wii sports stuff (and we have the soft pack of 'bats' and 'rackets') and can play with the 7 year old for a bit. my older girl is not good at video games, and is easily frustrated by things she believes she should do 'better' than she is. we like donkey kong (jungle adventure game/uses controller and little mini controler hooked together) and mario kart. we can all play and not stress out. also, carnival. there are a few games on there that my daughter does much better than i do.
of course, when frustrations rise the game gets shut off. it is for fun not tears. we are very clear about that especially since darling hubby gets frustrated, tries to give directions, daughter doesn't listen and the circle zips around.
good luck.
S.

I have a 3yr old son and he loves the Wii. We also have the Lego Star Wars and he goes to town with that game. He just waves the controller around for the light saber and is quite good at the game. Wii Sports is also very popular with him. He loves all of the games especially boxing and baseball, since you don't have to press buttons you just wave the controller. A suggestion for you is to go to blockbuster and rent different games. That way your children can try them out before you purchase them.