Building A Future: Enriching Your Child’s Learning And Life Through Games

As I write this issue’s For all agesEditorial: My daughter sits next to me with her face hidden in my cell phone. Finally, she asks me about “beta”, and I answer. She’s playing a game called Wordscapes, which is an excellent tool for helping kids practice spelling and discover new words. My daughter and me made an agreement that, if she completes Wordscapes in 20 minutes she will be able to go upstairs with her friends to play Roblox for two hours. After initially refusing to accept the deal, she now enjoys Wordscapes. She periodically asks me for help and cashes in her in-game coins for answers when she has them, but the game is helping her learn, and I’m grateful for it.

Wordscapes is designed for children aged eight and over. It’s a free download but is one of those miserable apps loaded with ads. All ads can be removed through the in-game shop, which costs $5.99 Wordscapes’ unique feature is that it constantly feeds new challenges and allows the user to have a fun play-through without having to stop or be redirected to a menu.

Wordscapes

How to organize, clean and build

Through The Sims, I’ve lived many different virtual lives and have learned a lot about myself. One of my big takeaways was I liked how clean and organized my Sim’s life was. After I realized how organized and clean my Sim’s life was, I decided to stop playing the game one day. I’m hoping my daughter has similar observations while playing Unpacking, a wonderfully made game about placing items where they belong in rooms.

You simply need to open a container, take the most important item out of it and place it in the right spot. If you grab a book, you can put it on a shelf, desk, or in a drawer – all these locations are correct. You can place some objects, like backpacks, anywhere you want, but the game won’t allow them to. The ambiguity of some of the placement can be frustrating – as you canʼt move on to the next room until it is appropriately sorted. These moments are rare, but my daughter had fun playing. Is it teaching me any lessons in life? It has not. It’s not yet. She leaves candy wrappers behind on the counter over the trashcan. Her bedroom always looks like it was hit by a tornado.

Unpacking

Robloxʼs Welcome to Bloxburg, a sim-like game developed by Coeptus, is helping my child learn to build in 3D space. The gameʼs focus is to live a complete virtual life, right down to owning a house and vehicle, going to work, and getting to know your neighbors. My daughter’s interest is solely in the building aspect – something she discovered on her own while watching one of her favorite YouTubers, Frenchrxses. Her videos include tutorials which guide the user step by step through building elaborate mansions. My daughter spent days working on Frenchrxsesʼ Christmas home. My daughter would first play the video and match the building plan in the game. When it was time to make little changes to the room, her creativity would be added.

After completing the elaborate build, all of my daughter’s future builds were far more dynamic and beautiful. My daughter was having fun and learning about design. I smiled as I watched. It’s something she enjoys and is eager to master. Bloxburg’s onboarding process is very steep. It is important that your child works hard to master the tools and build complex structures. Bloxburg’s items are also unlocked using an in-game currency, which is earned through play, but odds are, youʼll likely need to spend some real money to get the Robux to buy them.

Bloxburg

Another game that encourages creativity is Minecraft. To remove combat elements from Minecraft and to eliminate the need to search for resources, parents or guardians should change Minecraft to Creative Mode. This allows you to focus on making whatever it is that you want. Bloxburg, as well Minecraft, support cooperative play. If you are interested in joining your child’s creative endeavours, I suggest that they be in the same space as you on a completely different gaming system.

Toca Life World appeals to young players who are primarily on smartphones. My nine-year old daughter loved the creativity and ease of the inputs. Toca Life World, a decoration game that you can play for free, allows you to freely put items anywhere you wish. Many of the items are customizable, so you can choose hairstyles for your characters.

Toca Life World

You get the game for free, with eight locations and 39 characters. That’s just a small fraction of what is offered, however, and you’ll have to pay to unlock more. If you want to add a little more, you’ll spend a few dollars for new buildings and props to expand the options your child has. To get it all – the route I would recommend if you feel your kid will play the game extensively – unlocking everything costs roughly $70. This will allow your child to explore more than 100 places, interact with over 500 animals, and choose from 500 characters. It’s a huge game with plenty of environmental variety. Getting it all also removes the inevitable “Will you get me this?” inquiry from your child whenever they boot up the game. This path should be enjoyed by your child.

Here’s my next plan For all agesThis is where I will share some of my views on how play time should be managed and what is appropriate for children. This is where I’d love to get your opinions and see what you use. If you have input, drop me a line at Reiner@GameInformer.com

Original publication of this article was Issue 345, Game Informer.