What PC Games I LOVE to Play with my Kids

With my 5 year old daughter I LOVE the HUMONGOUS Games like Fredi Fish, Putt Putt and Pajama Sam. I wrote a list of my favorite genre (adventure games) to play with kids and here is a clip from that post:

—- Putt Putt is for kids ages 3-6 and is a car traveling with his dog sidekick. My favorites are Putt Putt Saves the Zoo and Putt Putt Joins The Circus. Although some of the others are easier for first time adventurers.

—- Freddi Fish is a girl fish traveling with her sidekick Luther the little fish and is for ages 4-7.
My favorite is Freddi Fish: Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse.

—- Pajama Sam is a little boy who is in his PJ’s solving his adventures. Ages 5-8.
My favorite of this series is Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When it’s Dark Outside

— Spy Fox is a Fox who is a Spy and uses lots of cool spy gadgets to solve mysteries.
Requires a little more thinking outside the box and is probably better for the seasoned
adventurer. Ages 6-9 and my favorite is Spy Fox: Dry Cereal

Other favorite PC Games:

Zoo Tycoon 2 – I LOVE to play this with my son Alex. Following is a clip from my full review — to read it in its entirety click here.

So all this time in zoos and animals definitely had me interested in the game Zoo Tycoon where you set up your own Zoo. The first Zoo Tycoon was amazing but definitely had some limitations. I recommend Zoo Tycoon 2 a lot more heartedly and you don’t need to have played the first one. In it you can do tutorials to learn how everything works first. Then you have the option of making your own zoo from scratch or playing a game with tasks you have to complete.

Zoombinis Logical Journey is an all time favorite of mine. It is good for Ages 6 and up. Here is the review:
Zoombinis Logical Journey is a WONDERFUL game. If you look at the reviews on amazon you will be amazed to see not a negative word can be said about the game — it really is brilliance. First you pick 16 of these creatures called Zoombinis, and you are supposed to free them from their island. On the way to their new home, there are several tests (games) to go through. Each game is great and will test logic and brain use. This is truly a game for the whole family and I have seen much younger children playing it as well as adults and everyone finds it intriguing.

My Favorite Nintendo Wii Games to Play with my Children:

We still play the original game that came with the Wii more than any of the others, “Wii Sports” and our favorite game to play as a family (all 4 of us) is Wii tennis. We can play doubles and have a blast.

I mentioned Mario Party 8 in another post and this is still a GREAT one for the whole family. All 4 of us can play and have fun. I recommend this for ages 5 and up. Lots of great ways to play as an adventure, mini games or like a board game with mini games.

Online

My favorite place to go and look for an online games to play with my kids and I can play together is Jay Is Games. We go to look for an Escape the Room game or quick adventure game to play.

My Favorite All Time Games

Adventure (my favorite genre).

You can read the full list here… but here is a summary of a couple of my favorites:

Zork started out a dry text adventure with lots of good puzzles but the last in the series was my favorite….Zork Grand Inquisitor. There is some light questionable language and some adult themes so I would recommend it for age 13+ or if you are playing with your child or have a mature child I am sure a little younger would be fine. The puzzles are JUST right in this game — challenging but possible and the humor makes it entertaining. You have to gain spells and figure out where to use them. This is one of my favorites of all time.

Monkey Island Series — I had SO much fun with this series of games. The only one that is available now readily is the last in the series, “The Curse of Monkey Island“. This one is funny and has some good puzzles. Age 12+ is appropriate.

Syberia is like The Longest Journey only it IS appropriate for ages 12+. You play as Kate Walker, a lawyer and what you think will be a simple trip, of course turns out to be much more. This is an easier adventure game and a good one to start with. The puzzles are not to complicated and the graphics are stunning. Syberia II is also good and I love the travels she goes on. It is longer than the first and a bit more challenging but not absurdly so. These games make you feel like you ARE in the story. I would say Syberia II is also for ages 12+.

Arcade:

I recently did a review of Play First Games which has 2 of my favorite all time puzzler games…..

Play First has voluminous games so I would not be able to give recommendations in every category. I noticed they have TWO of my all time favorite Arcade Games available online that I haven’t yet mentioned on my site: “Zuma” which you can play online or purchase. This was the first game since my old teen-aged Tetris days that I had found that I loved as much in the puzzle/strategy genre. The music is wonderful and you shoot colored balls at like colored balls before they reach the end of the pattern they are going in. Clear all the balls and you move onto the next level… sounds simple, right? This is one I recommend highly to try and you might wind up buying it because once you finish the levels offered online you will WANT to keep playing! The other online puzzle game that I highly recommend is CUBIS…another one with seemingly simple instructions…. match 3 cubes of the same color and clear the screen of cubes to move onto the next level…. This is definitely a game of strategy and another one you might want to buy after completing the levels available online…

Blocky — My newest online Game — any age can play but the site has a lot of ads and does have some questionable games affiliated with it — so I would say ages teen and up.

My mom’s favorite computer games

Glinx – Play for free online. Link matching pieces to form chains. Click on the last link in the chain to remove the pieces. A very fun puzzle game!

Nisqually – Free online at shockwave.com. Remove the required number of colored blocks by swapping pieces — sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Those are my Mother’s Day picks…. Games that I love playing with my children as well as some of my all time favorites and a couple of the games my mom loves. I wish all the moms out there a very happy Mother’s Day! Make sure you take some time and relax!

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Ok — so if you read my blog you know I am a Nintendo addict. So my top suggestions have to be to check out my posts on the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS. Those are expensive gifts but they provide TONS of entertainment. We got the Wii last Christmas and I have to say it is the most used gift we have ever received. My kids use their Ds’s a lot. It is a life saver if you need to wait in a doctor’s office or for a long car ride. They also love sending messages to each other from different parts of the house. Wii and Ds Games run between $20 – $50 depending on when they were released.

Gifts (Under $25 )

Ages 7- Adult
1) Zoombinis Logical Journey is a WONDERFUL game. It builds logic skills, there are tons of games and it is timeless. You can read my full review here.
2) Zoo Tycoon 2 is SUCH a fun game and there are tons of ways to play. You can play a challenge game where you have to meet certain requirements to advance, you can build the zoo cage by cage, you can have fun being a zookeeper or you can wander around and take pictures of the animals. There are tons of opportunities for learning about animals and having fun. For my full review click here.
3)The Incredible Machine gets your imagination going as you build machines to complete the task given or build your own machines for fun. This will always be one of my favorites and you can read why here.

AGES 5-8
Wizmo’s Workshop is an awesome learning game that is often overlooked for almost all ages up until 9 as well. For the younger ones they might need some help with a few of the games. You are trying to win minigames to get parts of inventions Wizmo is trying to put together. You also get funny prizes and trophys for your “room” for winning games. A beautiful game and lots of fun . This one holds the interest from archery games, concentration type games, pattern games and even reading games…. An all time favorite in our home.
Spy Fox is a Fox who is a Spy and uses lots of cool spy gadgets to solve mysteries.
Requires a little more thinking outside the box and is probably better for the seasoned
adventurer. Ages 6-9 and my favorite is Spy Fox: Dry Cereal
Pajama Sam is a little boy who is in his PJ’s solving his adventures. Ages 5-8.
My favorite of this series is Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When it’s Dark Outside

Preschool
Putt Putt is for kids ages 3-6 and is a car traveling with his dog sidekick. My favorites are Putt Putt Saves the Zoo and Putt Putt Joins The Circus. Although some of the others are easier for first time adventurers.

Freddi Fish is a girl fish traveling with her sidekick Luther the little fish and is for ages 4-7.
My favorite is Freddi Fish: Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse.

My old favorite to teach was Thinking Things 1. These games are not the traditional learning games. The ages are 4-6 although my daughter started playing at 3 and had fun with it. The games include one where the kids can create their own musical and shape collage, my favorite where you own a “fribble” (cute cuddly puffballs) shop and have to get the customer the kind they want; be it curly haired, glasses, color etc. which is great for young ones to learn sorting and colors. All the games are cute my only warning would be that some may have trouble getting this older game to work on Windows XP. It worked on my daughter’s computer no problem but when I tried to install it on another it just wouldn’t work…..

Dr. Suess’s Preschool Learning is a GREAT game. There are 10 mini-games to play that teach memory, math, sorting, reading, etc…. Emma Sue a little girl very much Dr. Suess style has lost her mom. You are helping her to find her by gaining clues as to what she looks like every time you solve a few levels of each mini-games. Yertl the turtle is here along with some other favorite Dr. Suess characters. Fun for all and the difficulty increases as your child gets better at the games.

Under $15 or Stocking Stuffer
Webkinz — Read my article on them here. Webkinz are all the craze right now and rightly so. They run from $7 – $15 and are stuffed animals that come in just about any animal or breed of dog you can imagine. With the purchase of your Webkinz you get access to their site which has tons of great games AND learning activities. I’m a HUGE fan of Webkinz and think the stuffed animals are so cute and cuddly and they have become my kid’s favorite stuffed animals.

I wish everyone very happy holidays. If you have any games or sites you want me to check out, please feel free to email me: jennymannion@yahoo.com Please check out my other blog on natural healing methods as well.

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