Gaming with 2yr old for Father’s Day

[julian]

So Father's Day is coming up and my wife keeps asking what I want to do....not much really. But she's very anti-videogames for our kid, so I thought it'd be funny to suggest us all playing games together. To my surprise, she was cool with it! Ok, really, it will just be me playing and my kid watching as he's only a little over 2 and can't actually play anything. But what little he's seen of Mario Odyssey mesmerized him - it helps that his Mario doll is his favorite and I taught him to "wahoo" at a young age.

I was looking for any game suggestions to blow away a 2 year old. Or just share stories of showing your young ones your games.

Assume I have access to everything past and present but Xbox systems at the moment.

 

[L Thammy]

In my limited experience, 2 year olds tend to be fond of such acclaimed games as "grab all their limbs and lift them up", "rotate them around when they lie on the carpet", or "pretend to be overpowered when they try to tackle you".

But aside from that, maybe Kirby? Or some kind of sandbox thing where they can just press buttons and things happen.

 

[Arta]

That's really young. I was having issues buying games for 10 year olds that their 5 year old sibling might enjoy.

It's hard to beat the charm of Mario. Does your wife have an issue with games being "violent in order to win"? Maybe something relaxing like Abzu.




I was thinking something like Planet Zoo but that's PC only for now.

 

[Catshade]

My 3 year old currently loves Slime Rancher very much (make sure to play in casual mode, tho).

 

[DjRalford]

Switch mario kart

Turn on all the assists and just give them the controller, show them what car is theirs and watch as they're amazed they can drive round the track.

 

[julian]

That's really young. I was having issues buying games for 10 year olds that their 5 year old sibling might enjoy.

It's hard to beat the charm of Mario. Does your wife have an issue with games being "violent in order to win"? Maybe something relaxing like Abzu.




I was thinking something like Planet Zoo but that's PC only for now.

Click to shrink...

No, I don't tend to play super violent games. It's more that she pretended to believe in the no screens rule....but then proceeded to show him tv and her phone. I try to point out that games are actually interactive unlike other mediums, but she drew her line. It's silly.

 

[Phokal]

This can vary greatly. Some kids that young will be disturbed by bright crashing like the LEGO games. Others, totally fine. I think Zoo tycoon (Xbox Kinect) was cool around then bc you can feed the animals.

 

[JJConrad]

My then-2-year-old started wanting to play video games with Mario Odyssey and BotW, too. They were too complicated for him play and too painful for us to watch him try. A broken old controller worked best for us for about a year.

He's 4 now and can play some games on his own. He has gotten a lot of mileage out of the Kirby and Yoshi demos. Demo's are great because 1) They're free. 2) Repetition isn't a problem for little kids. 3) They have a built in time limit. He also enjoys Mario Tennis and my wife is playing Pokemon Let's Go with him (since he can't read).

 

[Lucas M. Thomas]

Got my oldest son into gaming by playing co-op Yoshi's Woolly World with him. Mellow Mode. 2 is too young for that, but around 4? Keep it in mind!

 

[julian]

I should clarify that I don't really think he'll be playing anything. I did try showing him Mario Kart a little while ago, but he didn't seem remotely as interested in it as he was in Odyssey and 3D Land (he also likes to just draw in the 3DS notes section). I'll probably just give Mario 64 a shot and maybe 3D World or a 2D one....I've gotta think of some non-Mario games. Lol.

 

[GodofWine]

Bloodborne

 

[Chopchop]

My kid likes watching someone play Mario Tennis.

 

[julian]

Oh my god. I just realized what I'm missing. He loooves basketball. I don't own any basketball games, but aren't there a few Mario basketball games? Or any suggestions on just a good basketball game? That's really a genre I haven't delved into since...NBA Jam? Lol.

 

[L Thammy]

Oh my god. I just realized what I'm missing. He loooves basketball. I don't own any basketball games, but aren't there a few Mario basketball games? Or any suggestions on just a good basketball game? That's really a genre I haven't delved into since...NBA Jam? Lol.

Click to shrink...

There's also the 2010 NBA Jam.

I'm resisting the urge to recommend you show him Shut Up and Jam Gaiden.

 

[mrpookles]

My 3 year old loves watching me play Forza, because he loves cars.

 

[Chucker]

Don't play God of War like that one guy did.

 

[julian]

Alright, now I'm really thinking I should buy a solid realistic basketball or Mario sports games.

 

[julian]

Well Father's Day came and went. Due to some scheduling and weather snafus I didn't get to play games with my kid as long as I'd hoped.

An hour or so before bed though I did tell him it was storytime and I showed him Wind Waker. I read him all the captions and told him the story. He was loving it. Since it's basically a tutorial island it kinda made villager talk a little boring, but I played with the pigs and told him we needed to find them all. So he'd call out the color and location of pigs he saw and I'd go grab them and deliver them to the lady looking for a pet. He would also exclaim every action Link took like "running!" "Jumping" or "swimming". I told him we needed to find grandmas house and he remembered from my storytelling earlier where it was and was telling me to head there. I think swordplay was a totally new thing for him, so training for it really intrigued him, but at the end of the day he was getting a little bored and knew that Mario existed, so I switched to Odyssey.

He fucking loves Mario. He just likes jumping in general and his move set is so wonderful and expressive that I can entertain him by moving about. He would get annoyed when I took over a creature like a frog cause it meant Mario wasn't there anymore. I told him I needed to gather moons so he would shout out any he'd see like "green moon"! In the sand kingdom.

It was brief, but he loved it and I'm clearly on my way to creating a monster. But he's my little monster.

Happy belated Father's Day to all.