- Family themes, fun for a wide age range of players, and good options to play with your kids.
= Freeware Game New! = Games listed in the last 30 days
Educational
- Dora's Carnival 2
- Learn, have fun and win great prizes at Dora's carnival!
- Math Blaster 7-9
- Exciting story & game combined with age 7-9 math!
- Bookworm Adventures
- Battle mythical monsters with your word-creating wit!
- Caillou Preschool
- Learn shapes, colors and the alphabet in three languages.
- Franklin the Turtle
- Your kids will love learning with Franklin the Turtle!
- JumpStart 2nd Grade
- Get Ready for 2nd Grade with a Worldwide Adventure!
- JumpStart Preschool
- Get a headstart on your child's early learning skills!
- Reading Blaster 9-12
- Stop a madman who's turning people into appliances! New!
- Bookworm Deluxe
- Feed the Bookworm the longest words possible!
- Reading Blaster 6-8
- Can you recover the lost books with your reading skills?
- American Girl: Kit
- Build & decorate your own treehouse with Kit Kittredge.
- Aqua Words
- Make words out of fun bubble letters.
- Beesly's Buzzwords
- Help Beesley gather honey by making words.
- BT Kindergarten
- Learn counting, spelling, art, music, math and more!
- Bob the Builder
- Save the Carnival and do fun educational activities!
Animals
- Feeding Frenzy
- Eat fish and grow to be the big one at the top of the food chain
- Insaniquarium
- Raise fish to earn money and protect them from alien attack!
- Feeding Frenzy 2
- Eat small fish to grow big and track down the shadow fish!
- Penguin Catapult
- Launch penguins to knock out polar bears!
- Corral Club
- Let's ride! Train horses for fun competition!
- Lets Ride Friends F.
- Care for your horse & get it ready to ride & show!
- Puppy Luv
- Raise your own virtual puppy and teach it to do tricks!
- Saddle Up
- Take care of and train your very own horse
- Safari Adventures
- Explore Africa and meet 50+ animals on 90 adventures!
- Zoo Vet
- Take care of all kinds of zoo animals!
Just for Fun
- Airport Mania
- Manage air traffic and load up passengers!
- Chuzzle Deluxe
- Save the cute and fuzzy chuzzles in this match 3 game.
- Zuma Deluxe
- Stop the colored balls from advancing in ancient temples!
- Mad Caps
- Move and match bottle caps and find the fun secrets underneath!
- Candy Land Dora
- Join Dora on a tasty trip through Candy Land.
- Iggle Pop
- Pac Man style game play for this generation!
- Nicktoons Racing
- Race as one of your favorite Nicktoons characters!
- Super Granny 4
- Embark on a whirlwind adventure with 3 wild grannies!
- I SPY: Spooky Mansion
- Search for clues to escape a creepy mansion. New!
- Jumpin' Jack
- Follow a trail of coins and save Jack's family from the demons!
- Superstar Chefs
- Jump and grab food items and avoid enemies.
- Tumblebugs
- Fun spin and match like Zuma and Luxor!
- Sponge Bob Collapse
- Collapse and Sponge Bob meet for some non-stop fun!
- Baby Luv
- Have a blast taking care of a baby!
- Bounce Out Blitz
- Match multi-colored bouncy balls and release their bouncy power!
Just for Fun
- American Girl: Julie
- Save a family of endangered bald eagles!
- American Girl - Mia
- Help Mia learn how to figure skate and win competitions.
- Bubble Bobble
- Trap enemies in bubbles and pop them into oblivion!
- Doulber Gold
- Collect diamonds and avoid enemies!
- Rollercoaster Rush
- Drive fast & steer carefully but don't crash!
- Simplz: Zoo
- Create the world's best zoo! Fun blend of sim and match 3.
- Smash Frenzy 2
- Creative brick breaking fun with new animal, nature scenes in 3D
- Snowy Puzzle Island
- Non-violent, mind building gameplay with levels for all!
- Speedy Eggbert
- Help Speedy Eggbert find eggs and treasure!
- Super Pop & Drop
- Want a simple game to unwind with? Look no further!
- Teddy Factory
- Help make stuffed animals for an orphanage!
- Tower Bloxx Deluxe
- Stack blocks as high as you can without tipping the building!
- Wonderland
- Find a way out of the maze using all kinds of clever tactics!
- Wonderland Adv.
- Wonderland is in trouble and needs your puzzle solving help!
- Wonderland Fire Island
- Save Wonderland by solving mind-bending adventure puzzles!
Learn About Kids’ Games
What are Kids’ Games?
Kids’ games include any video game designed to be played by children. Such games are often, but need not necessarily be, educational in nature. They feature age-appropriate content, with no realistic violence or inappropriate themes. They naturally avoid too-complex rule systems and are designed to be aesthetically appealing to certain age brackets. Within that broad definition, there are a great many subcategories of children’s games.
The History of Kids’ Games
Before looking at the history of games specifically designed for children, it should be noted that most popular early arcade and home games would probably be considered as appropriate for children as adults. Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., etc., contained no objectionable material which parents might has sought to shield their children from. Only later would games with more mature content and themes, such as Mortal Kombat and Doom, enter the mainstream of gaming. The 1990s saw an increase in controversy over adult themes and violence in video games. Eventually parents’ desire to protect children from certain games led to the creation of a ratings system, the ERSB, in 1994.
That said, however, there has long been a demand for games which specifically cater to children. As the use of home computers and consoles for gaming has grown more widespread over the last thirty years, the demand for kids’ video games has expanded as well.
In 1971, Don Rawitsch, a student history teacher from Carleton College, decided to create a computer game to explain a certain aspect of American history to his young students. With the help of two other student teachers, he created one of the most enduring and iconic of all kids’ games: Oregon Trail. The game has been revised many times since, but the essence of the game remains the same: the player is responsible for leading a party of pioneers from Missouri to Oregon, facing the same challenges that real-life Americans did on the trail in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Originally released for the home computer, it has more recently been ported to new devices such as the iPhone. Oregon Trail is typical of a successful educational video game: it provides accurate knowledge while also entertaining the students. A spin-off, Yukon Trail, was also created.
In 1985 Brøderbund Software published Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, which teaches players geography as they hunt down a globe-trotting fugitive. Sequels included more specific locales, and one branched out into teaching history as well through the device of time-travel. The series was so popular it inspired television shows, board games, and other cross-media spin-offs.
Another major educational franchise began in 1987 with the release of Davidson Associates’ Math Blaster!, which taught children mathematics as part of an astronaut-themed game. Math Blaster! was remade several times and, beginning in the mid-1990s, its model was expanded to teach other subjects as well. Yet another franchise, JumpStart, which premiered in the 1990s, focuses on a variety of subjects and age groups.
Other games which provide a combination of learning and fun place more emphasis on the latter than those above. In this category might be included Feeding Frenzy, in which the player rises up the ocean food chain by eating other fish. Virtual pet games not only provide a substitute for real pets but also prepare the child for the responsibilities that come with caring for a living animal.
Another genre of children’s games includes those adapted from other media. Such games have grown increasingly popular in recent years. The children’s television network Nickelodeon, for example, has successfully marketed video games based on some of its popular series, such as Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants. Also, LucasArts has worked with the Lego Company to develop video games based on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises which are designed to appeal to a younger audience.
Who Would Be Interested in Kids’ Games?
Since kids’ games are marketed toward a specific group, children, the answer to this question might seem obvious. Nonetheless, the great variety of games and the rapid development of children’s minds as they grow up necessitate a certain level of caution from parents. They should carefully check to see whether a game is appropriate for their child’s age and abilities, as well as if the game contains material likely to interest the child.
In addition, some adults may find that they enjoy games that are ostensibly for children. Nostalgic gamers in their twenties or thirties may find it appealing to revisit the games of their youth.
