Make a little child understand how to play...

[Stormrider]

My little niece is almost 3 years old now. She loves watching the screen of my computer when I play videogames and also smashing the control panel and moving the stick. Now I'm trying to make her understand how to play. I've tried with colourfull and simple shoot'em ups and also with Pacman. She understands when I tell her right!, left!, up!, down.!.. and she moves the stick in the right direction, but I'm not sure if she's able to understand that the sprite (which she follows with her eyes when I tell her so) moves according to what you do with the stick. At what age should I expect her to understand this? How could I teach her? I don't know what other games would be better for this, so advice is appreciated. I've heard some kind of chimpanzees were able to understand how to play pacman and the fact that they have to escape from the ghosts and even that they can pursuit them after eating the big pills, which is really impressive. So, I hope my niece is able to reach the primate level soon.

[Hoopz]

It will vary from child to child, but from my perspective it will occur between 4 and 5.  Until then, they have difficulty with the relationship between the controls they have in hand and the movement on the screen.

If you have a trackball, you may try a "slower" game like Golden Tee or a bowling game.  They have more control, can go out there pace for the most part, and may pick up the fact that what they do dictates the behavior on screen.  My two daughters started on those games and Pac-Man but were "better" at the trackball games earlier than Pac-Man.

[patrickl]

I found that the trouble is not so much that my kid couldn't understand what to do, but the game just goes too fast for him to catch on. Most games are just too difficult for a small child just getting to grips with the whole concept.

He did play games like Donkey Kong and Galaga, but he had more fun playing flash games that don't have him die in 5 seconds. I bought him a Wii and that's even easier.

[weisshaupt]

I found that the trouble is not so much that my kid couldn't understand what to do, but the game just goes too fast for him to catch on. Most games are just too difficult for a small child just getting to grips with the whole concept.

He did play games like Donkey Kong and Galaga, but he had more fun playing flash games that don't have him die in 5 seconds. I bought him a Wii and that's even easier.

I Agree. The Arcade games are simply a bit too fast for them . You eaither need to slow the emulation down or provides them with different gaems. I have mine set up so they can go directly to IE explorer in kiosk mode - THe kids can't get off the site pointed to and they can play the flash games there. I have places like Noggin, Nick Jr and Lego that the kids just select off of the menu...

They play the arcade games when daddy is around, and mostly play web games when I am not. (Except my Son has discovered TMNT and now plays that quite a bit. Enough his old man can't beat him at it anymore0

[ahofle]

One of the first games my son was able to play was World Class Bowling.  All you do is roll the ball forward.  There was also a darts game that worked the same way (Shoot the Bull I think).  Try those out for starters.  Gauntlet is also a good game to teach a young person with because you have time to just run around and get a feel for the controls without dying.  It will come in time.

[Ginsu Victim]

I was five in '82, so it was the best time to start learning. Man, I miss arcades. There was just a vibe you don't (can't) get anymore.

[SavannahLion]

Around five or so seems to be the "catch on" time, every child is different. Though if you don't start training them early, their spacial coordination is stunted. I have a seven year old whose gaming coordination is seriously stunted. So with her, relatively simple games on a 2D plane with very few rules are just about her limit. ie, she can play Pac-Man but she can't play Barbie's Horse Adventure (or whatever it's called). She just adores Wii Bowling, probably due to the simple controls. But Wii Tennis is proving impossible for her. Meh.

In any case, Check out the Constructing the Baby Entertainment Unit (B.E.U.). For a three year old, it might be a little too young of a project, but note the software he chose to use. I'm sure there would be similar games targeted specifically to the three year old crowd if you looked around.

I'm considering doing something similar for my (almost) six month old son, except I have some reservations about the impact video monitors may have on the development of a child at such a young age.

[patrickl]

note the software he chose to use.

On my kids first birthday I gave him a Comfy keyboard for babies and todlers (mine looked quite different, but it's the same idea). You hook this up to the computer. At 1 year old he couldn't really do much but bang on the keys and giggle at the colors and sound effects, but at one and a half he could play the easiest level games quite comfortably.

[Spaz Monkey]

4yr kid plays first level of Super Paper Mario preaty much by himself.  Only needed help on a few jumps, mini-boss, and chapter boss.

[SteveJ34]

When my son (now 18) was 4 he received a Nintendo set for his birthday.

By the time he was 5 he had pretty much mastered play of Super Mario, my favorite series Mega Man, and many others.

[ids]

Going back about 15 years....at age 3 my son was doing quite well with Commander Keen.  The second child was not as quick to pick up games, maybe 4 or 5 before taking an interest and showing ability.

I agree with the idea of finding the right game - something with simple controls and a modest pace.

[Fozzy The Bear]

My little niece is almost 3 years old now. She loves watching the screen of my computer when I play videogames and also smashing the control panel and moving the stick. Now I'm trying to make her understand how to play.

At three years most children haven't yet developed full spacial awareness and coordination. You can't "make" her understand how to play.  Until she develops the connections in her brain, that allow us to do this with ease, it's simply not possible.

Because we find that easy, we completely forget that what we're doing is actually a very very complex set of coordinated movement and visual interpretation. The amazing and astounding thing is that we as human beings can do this without really thinking about it. That's a skill that develops with time not one you can teach.

Just let her do what she likes to do on there and do it so that she associates it with being fun. If you try to push it too hard she'll get frustrated and bored and asociate it with being a torture more than being fun. Then she'll grow up not wanting to play games at all.

It's a bit like forcing a child to learn to play piano before they want to try it themselves. Most children who grow up with that, go on to never going anywhere near a piano as an adult, because they associate the lessons with being pure torture and not fun at all.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)   

[patrickl]

Well you cannot force them to understand the more complex and fast games, but there are games even a 2 year old can play on a computer. But yeah when they die ever 5 seconds they pretty quickly get fed up with the game.

When a kid enjoys watching you play arcade games it might also work to play together. My kid was the same. When you play together you can take over the more advanced part and let the kid "help" you. For instance, playing Galaga with my 3 year old, I would steer the ship and he would fire at the aliens.

[ChadTower]

Does she need to play it "right"?  It's a game - she is a child.  If she has fun just sitting at the stick and watching then let her do it.  She'll figure it out in her own time.  There is no need to force it on her.  Let her have her fun her way.

[patrickl]

Kids want to play it for themselves. The trouble is it's impossible for them to do so.

[Dustin Mustangs]

One of the first games my son was able to play was World Class Bowling.

Ditto.  My 4 year old niece loves this game and is surprisingly good at it.  She has an 8 yr old sister who also considers this her fav game.  All they have to do is roll the ball forward when it is their turn which is easy for them to tell because the frames and balls are color coordinated.  When that purple ball comes up she knows it her turn to roll, no reading involved and she can easily tell how good she did with a game like bowling.  This is 4 plyr alt. which is also nice because it allows others to play with them.

It didn't take long for their mom and dad to be asking if I could build them one.  I was like, uh, mind if I finish mine first?