This summer, keep the whole tribe entertained in the holidays with these Top 6 Best family video games.
When you’re a parent, the start of summer means three things in Australia: hot days, school holidays and bored kids looking for something to do!
While the best kids games all happen outdoors, the weather doesn’t always co-operate. But some well-moderated and monitored time with video games can be a healthy and fun option for school holiday activities, too.
Moderate amounts of gameplay are linked to improved mood, emotional regulation, reduced stress, good social skills and increased motivation. So the kids can fire up the games console for some healthy fun these holidays — and so can you.
How much is too much?
Worried about what ‘moderate gaming’ means? Psychologists recommend we think of it as the Three M’s:
Mindful – Be aware of the time spent gaming and how it’s impacting you.
Meaningful – Make sure the time spent gaming is enjoyable and beneficial, not frustrating.
Moderate – Is gaming making it hard to get other things done? Time to scale back!
If you’re after a time limit, research suggests that moderate gameplay around 30-60 minutes a day up to a few hours a week is actually better than no gameplay — while more than an hour a day every day can have negative effects.
What to play?
There are some stand-out titles when it comes to games for kids. Here are just a few of the best games for Christmas. This selection concentrates on console games, as consoles let you connect a device to your TV and get the whole family gaming over the holidays.
Minecraft
Device: Xbox One
Minecraft is the gaming phenomenon that just won’t stop! The beauty of Minecraft isn’t in its blocky visuals, but in the completely open-ended nature of the game. Explore, build, survive, gather: how you play is entirely up to you, making it great for the family that games together. It’s proven to be a popular game for education, inspiring a lot of creativity. It’s a great game to watch and kids can share controller time for maximum fun. Be warned though: it’s a game the whole family will want to play, so connect your device to a shared TV.
Rocket League
Device: Xbox One
For fast and furious four-player action, Rocket League remains of the most fun games around. The game is basically soccer, if soccer was played by driving rocket powered cars into giant balls. It’s enjoyable and silly and the matches are usually just 5 minutes, so it’s one of the best games for Christmas when you have multiple people playing in the same room. It’s also great for a range of ages: younger kids can just muck around while the older ones can hone their skills and maybe even play online with similarly ranked players.
Lego Dimensions
Device: Xbox One and older consoles
There are so many different Lego games now that they’ve become their own genre. The popularity springs from the crazy, kid-friendly humour and simplicity of the gameplay. Lego Dimensions brings all the Lego worlds together — so the team can have Harry Potter, Batman and Scooby-Doo all playing side-by-side. It’s what’s known as a toys-to-life title, meaning you buy physical Lego figures and put them on the accessory toy pad to bring them into the game. The starter kit gets you rolling and then you can buy new character and world packs to keep the game fresh and fun.
Fifa 17
Device: Xbox One
The FIFA range of football games has long been the gold standard when it comes to video games featuring real world sport. It’s definitely one for the older kids, as it needs a bit of fine motor skills, but there’s a lot to love here, whether it’s having good mates round playing together or spending the school holidays drilling down into the online multiplayer aspects of the game. FIFA 17 prides itself on its realism and football fans will be able to tinker away and perfect their teams.
Just Dance 2016
Device: Xbox One and older consoles
When you say ‘fun for the whole family‘ you might as well be describing dance games. They’re silly, easy to play and keep the kids active even indoors. While previous games used cameras to track your movements, Just Dance can also sync with a controller or your smartphone to rank your ability to move it, move it. The game has won a Kid’s Choice award from Nickelodeon, but here’s a secret — it has a workout mode that you can use for a little lounge room fitness when no-one is looking.
We Sing
Device: Xbox One
Anyone who remembers the glory days of SingStar will love this karaoke-at-home style party game. We Sing is bigger than its predecessors and is the first of this style of game that can support up to 10 singers simultaneously performing! You can get a copy with two mics but a free app lets you use your smartphone mic to sing along (on PS4 only), so you don’t need to worry about forking out more bucks for more microphones!
#HisenseHack: Yes, you’re looking for a game to keep the kids occupied but many of these are fun for adults too! Take some time to make a family night out of it — you might even find yourself playing when the kids aren’t around.
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