Best games to play with your kids

Playing games with your kids is a great way to build up problem-solving skills and also just have a lot of fun, and these are some of the best games to play

Outdoor activities with the kids are always a lot of fun, but sometimes in the summer it’s just too hot, or the rain just won’t stop.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to keep your kids entertained, and video games are as good a way as any. They can help develop problem-solving skills and fine motor control, as well as help you stay connected with your kids and their interests.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the best games to play with your kids these holidays.

Fall Guys

Fall Guys has players competing against each other in a series of obstacle course mini games. Picture: Epic Games

Fall Guys is an incredibly fun and family-friendly party game that also has the benefit of being entirely free-to-play. You can pay to get extra costumes, but the game comes with plenty of options right out the gate to customise your characters.

The game has you playing through silly obstacle courses, with a very simple control scheme consisting of a grab button, a jump button, and movement using the analog stick. It’s broken up into multiple rounds, and each round only takes a couple minutes, with entire games usually taking place in ten minutes or less.

It’s a multiplayer game, too, so you can play together at home or online with friends and family, and you can very easily turn off voice chat to keep everyone safe.

It can be a very competitive game, but it’s very easy to get the hang of, and children will quickly become adept at the challenges on offer as you laugh your way through courses.

Minecraft

Minecraft lets players build anything they want, and Creative Mode opens up options even further. Picture: Mojang Studios

Minecraft is the biggest game on the planet, and for good reason. Children absolutely adore it, and it offers a lot of different ways to play that build on a tonne of different skills.

Players can opt to survive in the world, dodging adorable skeletons and spiders, or they can switch over to creative mode and create whatever they like with unlimited blocks and resources.

If your kid already has a Minecraft world set up, that’s even better, because you can ask them to give you a special tour of everything they’ve done and everything they’ve achieved. You could even have your kid teach the game to you, giving them a good sense of achievement when you finally get the hang of things and they know they’ve taught you something cool.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the first proper 3D Kirby game, and was received well by critics and fans. Picture: Nintendo

Probably the most traditional game on this list, Kirby and the Forgotten Land still has a lot to offer for you and your child.

This adorable platformer game has players exploring gorgeous worlds as the adorable pink puffball himself, Kirby, who can take on the powers of enemy monsters, who are all similarly adorable.

There’s a co-op mode as well that can be used in a couple different ways. The first is that your kid could take on the role of Kirby, a bit more of a complicated character to play as overall and definitely at the forefront of the action. Alternatively, you could play as Kirby, and have your child play as the second player character, Waddle Dee, who has a much more simple move set and is more of a helper character.

No matter how you play, there’s plenty of puzzles to solve together, and plenty of challenges to overcome. It also has a cute little hub world town, which offers some very fun minigames which have you catching fish together, or working together to serve up food to customers.

Rocket League

Rocket League was once a paid game, but went free-to-play in 2020. Picture: Epic Games

Rocket League, like Fall Guys, is another free-to-play online game where you’ll probably want to turn off the chat before you get stuck in.

Once you do, however, you’ll find a very silly and very fun physics-based game, where you control a rocket-powered car playing soccer with a gigantic soccer ball. The gameplay is pretty unpredictable, as you never really know where the ball’s going to go next, but that’s part of what makes it so fun.

Much like Minecraft, if your child is already into Rocket League it could be a lot of fun to have them show you the ropes and show off their skills. Either way, if your kid’s into cars or soccer, this is an absolute must-play.

Goat Simulator 3

Goat Simulator 3 is actually the second game in the Goat Simulator series. Picture: Coffee Stain

The first Goat Simulator game was a bastion of silly fun, where players mostly just roamed the game world as a haphazard goat with ragdoll physics.

Goat Simulator 3 ramps up the silliness, and then builds on the formula by including multiplayer. You and your child can team up as goats and cause havoc throughout the game’s town, as you tackle solving some of the game’s many puzzles.

Or you can forego the puzzles altogether and just lick random objects and see how far you can toss them. You have total freedom in the game, and it’s all just a bit of a laugh to see goats rampaging through a town and knocking things over.

If you’re looking for a fun and safe way to see what hilarity ensues when you equip a goat with a jetpack, then this is the game for you.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.