Family Time: The 10 Best Video Games For Kids - And Their Parents

If video games weren't part of family time, it's only a matter of time before kids ask about the mostly colorful, digital games. What may seem like wasted time to some parents out of ignorance, in fact teaches children a whole range of important skills in a playful way. Many games for children are ideal as family games. And sometimes the grown-ups find so much joy in the supposed children's video game that they secretly continue playing after the little ones have been put to bed.

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Video games offer a number of advantages: With digital games, children can easily learn to make decisions, take responsibility, resolve conflicts and plan ahead. Creativity and social skills, especially in multiplayer games, are by no means neglected. No wonder then that video games for children are constantly improving in terms of gameplay and graphics. They are usually in no way inferior to those for adults.

Video games for children are all the rage

We have selected ten exciting video games for children and families for you. From well-known favorite heroes like Super Mario and Zelda to Snoopy, there is something for every child, young and old.

Off to the island! With Animal Crossing: New Horizons

USK 0 - video game for families: The videogame "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", from gaming experts Nintendo, is a sugar-sweet real-time simulation game. Here you can discover, collect, build and live a digital life on a brightly colored fable island. The game begins with a tent that the player receives at the beginning of their journey. Now all you have to do is decide on a suitable place to live on the island and a new adventure in the game series that has been enjoyed by big and small gamers for many years begins.

In "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" you interact with cute islanders, expand and improve the living environment and environment of the island, useful products are grown and mined, plants are planted and harvested, fished, collected and sold again. In addition, the character can be completely restyled and there is a lot to do on the island to match the seasons.

Depending on the time of day, more surprises and tasks await the player. In the real-time game for children and adults, there is always something to experience, without any specifications or time pressure. Changing residents and visitors as well as the redesign of the island environment ensure exciting variety. If that is not enough for you, you will find additional entertainment and possible tasks in the daily news and the washed up message in a bottle.

New to "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" is that players can make online purchases, book trips to other islands and receive new game content via a "Nook Phone" and the "Nook Bonus Miles Program", which must first be unlocked. The video game is accompanied by relaxing music and thus has something of a temporary vacation. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Nintendo Switch.

Build your own amusement park in Planet Coaster

USK 0 - video game for families: Planet Coaster is a building game from Frontier Development that the whole family can spend hours of fun together. The aim of the video game is to build a functioning amusement park. You can choose from three different game modes (challenge, career and sandbox).

The challenge mode is for the future financial expert of the park, while the career mode has a variety of tasks to complete. The sandbox mode of the amusement park game should be particularly interesting for families, because it invites you to freely design.

Creativity means what it should with "Planet Coaster"! Objects can be viewed from almost any angle and objects can be attached while doing so. In terraforming mode, the park environment can be almost completely recreated and even completely crazy designs, such as levitating buildings, objects and nature, are possible with clever clicks.

Older players can build the entire park according to their own dreams and younger players can easily fall back on templates. At the end of the park design, the players happily jump into the rides of their own amusement park. The video game is so far for the PC and the consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4 released and will be available for the next-gen consoles Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 appear.

With Bibi & Tina at Martinshof, riding dreams come true

USK 0 - video game for children: "Bibi and Tina on the Martinshof" is a video game by Markt+Technik for children who love to ride and little fans of Bibi & Tina. In this horse game, the young player can expect almost everything that a real horse farm has to offer. The riders can choose from 10 horses that are available, including the Bibi and Tina stars Amadeus and Sabrina.

An open world around the Martinshof can be explored at a walk, trot and canter. Meanwhile, great photos can be taken and hidden objects can be found. In addition, six exciting mini-games await the rider, all of which revolve around horse care: showering, feeding, hoof care, massaging, trimming, grooming. But what would an equestrian center be without competitions such as checkpoint, hurdle, orienteering, path, slalom and races or pursuit riding? Pretty dull. That is why the video game “Bibi & Tina auf dem Martinshof” offers exactly these tournaments to small and large players. The children's game is available for the consoles Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Dancing competitively with your grandparents: Just Dance 2020

USK 0 - video game for families: The video game, part of the dance game series Just Dance, by Ubisoft is fun for the whole family. Here, the players dance to the latest hits from the music world, following the dance steps of on-screen dancers. This often leads to fun moves, especially when a player swings their hips with two left feet. But also played solo, the video game is fun for children and adults alike. "Just Dance 2020" has the World Dance Floor ready for soloists. Anyone who enters this will measure themselves against other players from all over the world in an exciting online dance battle.

There are 2020 danceable songs included in the Just Dance 40 base game. These can be increased to over 500 additional titles with a paid unlimited subscription. In addition to the world dance floor, the video game for dance enthusiasts offers an all-star mode in which players can travel planets while dancing to 10 other songs from past "Just Dance" games. Just Dance 2020 is for them Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Wii and the PlayStation 4 appeared.

In Snoopy's Great Adventure in Finding the Peanuts

USK 0 - video game for children: In "Snoopy's Big Adventures" from Activision Blizzard, little adventurers accompany the cuddly dog ​​Snoopy through places of his imagination. The goal is to save all his Peanuts friends, especially Charlie Brown. Joining the party are the feathered Woodstock, which players can also play with in 2-player co-op, and the Beagle Scouts.

The Jump & Run video game is easy to play throughout and without time pressure, so that young players in particular enjoy it. In "Snoopy's Great Adventures", players must run, jump and fly over hurdles and obstacles, which often result in great skills and rewards. If you also find all the Beagle Scouts in the game, you will receive a great surprise. And don't miss out on the peanuts either! Between the sequences, comic inserts from popular friends await the little players. The video game was released for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Ostwind the game takes players on a horse adventure

USK 0 - video game for children: Wild River Games' East Wind Game is a treat for horse-loving kids. An open world full of horse adventures awaits the young riders at Gut Kaltenbach. The game is based on the movies and books of the same name about the horse whisperer Mika and the horse Ostwind.

In "Ostwind das Spiel" the player takes care of his horse. He takes care of it, ensures there is enough exercise in the form of rides, and takes care of his health. Of course, a large portion of affection should not be neglected. This is the only way horse and rider can survive all the adventures at the riding stable together, where Gut Kaltenbach has to be explored, tasks fulfilled, friends met and well-known film and book locations visited. The game is accompanied by Ostwinds film music and a child-friendly riding stable backdrop. The video game with horses is for the PC and the consoles Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 .

Go back to the past with Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Ages 6 and up - video game for families: The videogame "Super Mario 3D All Stars' by Nintendo is full of nostalgia! Here the popular classics "Super Mario 64", "Super Mario Sunshine" and "Super Mario Galaxy" are waiting to be discovered by children and rediscovered by adults. Exciting stories from your own childhood days can be told while playing. The games were revised so that they are modern Nintendo Switch Console can withstand.

"Super Mario 64' was the first video game title about Nintendo's popular Italian plumber, in which all the power stars hidden within the classic must be found. In addition, Mario hops into the paintings of the mushroom palace and finds himself in tricky Jump & Run sections.

In "Super Mario Sunshine' it's off to the radiant Isla Delfino, where quite a few opponents are already waiting for the player, but luckily the player has the powerful Dreckweg 08/17 water pump backpack at his side. "Super Mario Galaxy' can be played alone or in pairs. The adventure of Jump & Run series takes place in space and Mario's task is to help Rosalina and save Princess Peach. If only it weren't for the villain Bowser who wants to ruin these plans.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Escape from Cocolint

Ages 6 and up - video game for families: In 1993, Nintendo's video game The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was first released for the Game Boy. With the remake for the Nintendo Switch Console parents can indulge in old times and children can experience part of it in a playful way. The video game was adapted to modern requirements, but also contains classic game elements from the Game Boy version. The players experience adventures in the style of a 2D platformer.

Link, the popular main character of the Zelda series, is shipwrecked and stranded on the island of Cocolint. The goal of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is to find your way back home, but it's not that easy: Link's safe journey home requires exploring and collecting. Because this is the only way to wake up the wind fish that can bring it home. There are also numerous dungeons full of nasty enemies to be passed and the residents of Cocolint to be interacted with. In doing so, the players keep discovering characters that are known from other games, such as Super Mario. Big and small tinkerers also get their money's worth with the video game "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening", so they can collect chamber stones while playing and use them to build their own dungeons.

Action-packed dungeon crawler in Minecraft guise

Ages 12 and up - video game for families: "Minecraft Dungeons Hero Edition is an action-adventure game from Microsoft inspired by classic dungeon crawlers and based on the popular game Minecraft. Equally suitable for children and adults, the video game can be played alone, in online co-op mode or locally with four other brave players. As the title suggests, brave heroes fight their way through dungeons within the Minecraft universe in Minecraft Dungeons Hero Edition.

The aim of the action adventure is to save the villagers and defeat the villain Erz-Illager. The players can choose between melee, ranged or a kind of tank hero. Meanwhile, the opponents wait in canyons, mines and swamps to be fought with weapons and objects.

But, unlike what big and small fans of "Minecraft" are used to, there is no crafting (manufacturing) and dismantling and building the well-known block world. Here the dungeons with their puzzles, fights and the loot are in the foreground. In return, the player is rewarded with experience points, enchantments and items that give the game a new twist. Minecraft Dungeons Hero Edition is for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch and the PC has been released and will be available for the next-gen consoles Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 appear.

Defeat the chaos of a meteor in Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups

USK 0 - video game for children: Oh no! In the Bandai Namco video game Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups: Rescue Adventure Bay, a meteor wreaked havoc. Now it's up to the brave player to eliminate it. But not only has Adventure Bay gone completely off the rails, the meteor has suddenly given the dog friends powerful powers: With the help of the super fast Chase, the heated Marshall, the whirling Skye and the entire Paw Patrol team, the player can do everything again put in order?

In the video game with dogs, seven paw-tastic missions and mini-games await the little rescue heroes. In addition, there are a lot of leisure activities such as rope jumping to discover. Whether in the adventure bay, the snowboard resort or in the jungle, there is always a task ready for the Fellnasen team. The cute dog game can be played solo or in the cooperative 2-player mode. The video game is for that Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One appeared and will be for the next-gen console Xbox Series X appear.

Video games for children and families not only offer plenty of reason to be happy, they also have a learning effect and are perfect as a gift for holidays or as a souvenir on special occasions.

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