Games for children need to meet two important criteria. The content must be suitable and the game must not be too difficult. Anyone who’s played a game on Xbox Live knows that teenagers require no handicap, but young kids often have trouble with complex titles.
What’s a parent and Mac owner to do? Direct your child towards one of these seven titles.
I purchased the children's books to read them in hopes they would learn the bible. The books are by far the best investment I have made. My kids love to do the studies; the studies make them think and best of all,her books are good for all ages. I even learn from the kids books. These 10 great games will help teach your students during your time as an ESL teacher abroad. Pair them up and have them play again, this time with their list, with their new partner. If you want to really extend the game and give students even more time to practice their speaking/listening skills, rotate.
Bastion
This colorful action-RPG is probably the most mature title on this list. It’s based around combat, so there’s technically a lot of violence, but the cartoonish style and typically non-human enemies blunt this title’s edge. There are also some very mild references to drinking (you can make certain drinks that buff up the main character). Think of it as a family-friendly version of Diablo.
Most parents will find that skill, not content, is this game’s accessibility roadblock. It starts out easy but gradually becomes more difficult. Each level introduces new gameplay concepts that must be quickly adopted to beat the game. I recommend only giving it to older children for this reason.
Bastion is $14.99 on the Mac App Store.
Bookworm
I consider this game to be a Popcap classic. It’s almost ten years old yet remains one of the best games for family members of old ages and, unlike many titles, this one has some serious education value.
Bookworm is essentially a word-based puzzle game. Players must form words to beat levels, and longer words provide a higher score. This goes a long ways towards helping kids play at their own pace, though certain game modes are quite difficult for anyone, regardless of age.
Bookworm is $9.99 on the Mac App Store [No Longer Available].
Cut The Rope
This popular mobile game is now available on Mac. Players attempt to feed a little monster candy by – you guessed it! – cutting the rope.
It sounds easy and it is, at least at first. As levels progress new obstacles and gameplay mechanics are introduced, providing additional challenge. Like all good puzzle games, this one tasks the player’s critical thinking skills. Combine that with cartoonish graphics and you have an excellent title for children.
Cut The Rope is $4.99 on the Mac App Store [No Longer Available].
The LEGO Series
The LEGO series of games has been promptly ported to OS X for years. There are now seven games from the franchise available on the Mac App Store. They include two LEGO Star Wars titles, two LEGO Harry Potter games and LEGO Batman.
All of the games, though they take place in different settings, have the same adventure-RPG feel. Players have to defeat enemies, solve puzzles and occasionally do some old-fashioned platforming. Most levels have secrets and bonuses that can be unlocked by particularly skilled play.
Most of the games are $29.99 on the Mac App Store. LEGO Batman is $24.99 [No Longer Available].
Pinball HD
When I was a kid, I loved pinball, and so did many of my friends. This makes sense when I think about it. Pinball is fast-paced and challenging, yet it is also easy to understand.
Pinball HD is arguably the best modern pinball title available on any platform. It has beautiful graphics, quick gameplay and three unique tables. The developer also offers a similar game called War Pinball HD, which isn’t as violent as it sounds. It’s just like this game but features tables that pay tribute to old action films. There’s even one that features Chuck Norris.
Pinball HD is $2.99 on the Mac App Store.
The Sims 3
The Sims franchise has always been kid-friendly. Although the title technically deals with adult topics like relationships and work, it’s all very hands off. Even language is entirely implied – players can tell when characters are happy, sad or angry by tone of voice, but nothing intelligible is said.
And that’s assuming a child plays the game like it is intended. The Sims 3 is open-ended. While adults may play it as a time-management strategy game, kids can spend time designing for hours, playing songs for money or dressing up new characters. There’s a lot to do, and the game rarely punishes players for doing something “wrong.”
The Sims 3 is $19.99 on Amazon. I also highly recommend the Sims 3: Pets expansion. At $35 it’s rather expensive, but it’s a fun game for a kid who isn’t ready for the real thing.
Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey
If you want a game for a very young child, look no further. Where’s Waldo is perfect. There’s no surprises here, really – the game focuses on finding Waldo and other characters (and objects). As in the books, characters are hidden in colorful scenes that include thousands of people and objects.
Unlike the books, objectives are pre-determined and must be completed within a time limit. Players also must find the devious Odlaw, who can temporarily block parts of drawing using various techniques, like splashing paint across it.
Where’s Waldo is just $.99 on the Mac App Store [No Longer Available].
Conclusion
I would have liked to include more games but I had difficulty thinking of titles that were fun to play, suitable for kids and available on the Mac. What do you think? Do you know of an excellent game the whole family can enjoy? Tell us in the comments.
I have a two-year-old toddler who loves messing about on our two iMacs. Of course, he’s a bit young to do anything useful, and mainly uses them to watch Pocoyo! However I have found a few Mac apps that he enjoys, so I thought I’d post them here.
5. Whoopee Cushion
Strictly speaking it’s a widget rather than an app, but my little one loves this. A great way to distract him if he’s bored. 3 or 4 clicks on this widget and he’s in hysterics!
As featured in my 5 fun Dashboard widgets post.
4. Ladybugs
This is a very cute and polished set of 3 simple games:
- Tangled Maze: Guide the bug around the maze to its home.
- Color Trouble: Similar to Tangled Maze except you have to guide the bug to the home that matches the bug’s colour.
- Ladybug Race: Again, this is similar to Tangled Maze but you race against a computer-controlled bug.
The games are professionally designed, and the soundtrack is equally slick and fun. My 2-year-old couldn’t play it on his own, but he liked watching the colourful bugs moving around the screen.
The one minor annoyance with this game is that it messes up all my Mac windows, causing them to shrink to the top of the screen. Hopefully it’s a bug that will get fixed soon.
3. Youdoo
This comes from the same people that made Ladybugs. It’s more of an art program than a game. There are 3 modes:
- YooGlow: A simple painting game along the lines of Magna Doodle where you draw with glowing dots.
- My Garden: A very chilled affair where you plant seeds and watch flowers grow. Trickier for younger toddlers since it involves drag and drop.
- Mister Monster: Create your own monster by sticking on eyes, noses, moustaches and so on. This one is the most fun and the 2-year-old loved it.
As with Ladybugs, the music and visuals are fun and high quality, and they really add to the appeal. It also suffers from the “shrinking windows” bug but I managed to get round this by not playing in full-screen mode.
2. Tux Paint
Tux Paint is a wonderful paint program for kids. It’s designed for ages 3 to 12; however my 2-year-old still has fun with it. (Hint: If you have a toddler then fire up the accompanying Tux Paint Config app and enable Fullscreen in the Video & Sound tab and No Button Distinction in the Mouse & Keyboard tab. This makes it easier for toddlers to use.)
There’s a huge range of brushes, stamps and effects available (you can download more stamps too) and the sound effects when you draw are great fun (and in stereo!). You can also save and print your little darling’s masterpieces.
Tux Paint is open source and totally free to use. Fantastic!
1. AlphaBaby
Although it’s a pretty simple app, AlphaBaby takes first place due to the sheer enjoyment that my 2-year-old gets from it. Written by a developer who was fed up with her kid pressing random keys and renaming her files (we’ve all been there), AlphaBaby is a full-screen app that takes over every key on the keyboard, allowing your toddler to bash away without risk of harming anything (except possibly the keyboard itself!).
Letter and number keys display the corresponding colourful character on screen, while other keys display random shapes. A sound effect is also played on each keypress (which my toddler finds most amusing).
Even better, you can configure AlphaBaby to display random photos from your iPhoto library. The toddler loves this option, especially when a photo of himself appears!
The app is also available as a handy screen saver. Sheer genius. Like Tux Paint, AlphaBaby is free and open source.
One tip: Make sure you don’t forget the special key combo required to exit the app (Control-Option-Command-Q). I’ve forgotten it a couple of times! (You can also type the word “quit” quickly if you forget the key combo.)
That’s my top 5 list of Mac toddler apps! If you found this post useful then you might also enjoy my top 10 list of free Mac games, which has a few kid-friendly games.
By the way, you can use the Mac’s Parental Controls to create a simplified, locked-down account for your toddler – perfect for safe exploration.