Child friendly PC games 2-3 year old

I haven't tried setting the controls yet which leads to my reluctance to let him on the net.

Can you just blanket ban all websites on a machine bar one or two?
 
If you can still get it the Adiboo games were good or Floras fruit farm while a bit girly isn't bad for children. Failing that something like motor evo top down car game?
 
Been playing with my 3 year old:

10 Second Ninja - Too fast for her but she finds it hilarious when I cant' do it and she got me an achievement by walking about without killing anything.. :)
Banished - Likes telling me what to build
Crayon Physics - This one is great, I have to do it for her but she likes to tell me what to draw and have a go herself.
Pac-Man championship (demo) - Eating ghosts? Always a winner
Peggle Deluxe - made of win, fact there's a unicorn in it just adds to this..
Secret of magic crystal - Don't get this, horses, honestly I should never have put this demo on.
Starbound - 2D minecraft that's easier for them to grasp
Super laser racer - nice little overhead racing game
Tiny Brains - She goes nuts for this
Toki Tori - Another good platformer.
Zero Gear - 3D racing game, Mario Cart basically.

^^ all on steam :)
 
The only sensible suggestion I can think of that hasn't been said already would be Viva Pinata. It isn't really educational, but it is slow paced, relaxing and lets you look after cute animals, which seems perfect for a 2 1/2 year old
 
Why? :confused:

Far too young as far as I am concerned, at that age it should be words, pictures and reading. ;)

Not some monolith of information for a 2-3 year old. :eek:

Just got my 7 year old a nexus 7 for xmas, keep tech to 5 years and above I say. ;)
Let them be babies, kids and pretend about stuff instead of shoving tech down there throat, playdoh, lego anything creative until they old enough to read.

That is what I said to my daughter, you become old enough to read you can have a computer/tablet etc.

Let kids be kids ! ;)

They not good at game at that age as in they dont understand the concept of a game.

Wii is good at that age just about though! Goodluck
 
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I agree, personally I don't think he should be on it yet but he's obsessed with them and can work them rather well so stopping him seems pointless especially when there are already laptops/tablets/smartphones around the place. Any technology he's obsessed with so I would rather set him away with something age appropriate and controlled to stop him causing mischief.

He is limited to an hour a day he can use the thing but as I say with how much he likes them I don't particularly want to stifle him.
 
Seriously don't even introduce them at that age to computers, they should be outside having fun or doing something else, the last thing they should be doing is just sitting inside and about 2 inches from of a monitor like some kind of Robot.....
 
http://www.coolmath-games.com/

Loads of sites like that kicking around. There's a 3 year old section on there. Best off waiting a year. Mines 4 and is brilliant at all the lego games. On PS3 mind, but they're all available on PC for the most part. As has been suggested already I see!

It's a solid idea though, they're great for puzzle solving and you can play co-op too. Although being woken up at 6 on a Sunday being handed a Playstation controller is not something I'm particularly fond of.
 
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call of duty

and before anyone says troll - my 4 year old plays it single player and loves it. wont let him go online though. and yes its the first cod on pc
 
I'd be wary of giving them too much screen time at that age too. Mine were just turning 5 before I let them anywhere near a video game, and then only in very limited stretches.

Their brains are wired to explore physical stimuli and interact with parents at that age, not a good idea to mix things up with virtual stuff until the wiring's a bit more established.
 
No1newts said:
I haven't tried setting the controls yet which leads to my reluctance to let him on the net.

Can you just blanket ban all websites on a machine bar one or two?
Click to expand...

Yes you can. You just block all the categories so it lets nothing through then add your chosen website as exceptions
 
JamesG87 said:
the last thing they should be doing is just sitting inside and about 2 inches from of a monitor like some kind of Robot.....
Click to expand...

Thats what parental control is for, ie parents take responsibility for how much there children use these devices. The above sounds like a typical ignorant response that fuels the news articles that tar all computer activity with the same bad brush. We all dont let our kids stare at monitors for hours on end.

My 4 year old goes to nursery twice a week. He has had a laptop about a year. In the 1½ year plus room and 3+ room they have a laptop that children can use for small periods of time. This is where my son learnt to use a PC before he had one. I was quite amazed (and still am how quickly he picks things up). I have it set to allow use from 9am (after breakfast) to 7pm with 12-1pm denied, 5-6pm denied for mealtimes and continuous use set to 1 hr then it logs him off and doesnt allow him on again for rest of the day.
He doesnt play "video games". All the ones he plays (mainly on the cbeebies website) have some educational merit.

How many parents have this kind of setup ? Not a lot I would say.

He is a very active child, he has a scooter, a bike, he plays football and has lots of friends (and girlfriends too....)

I made the decision to buy him a laptop (no way is he ever having a tablet its too portable and not easy to control whilst he lives under my rooftop, disgusting things :p ) to give him an advantage when going to school it also helps with his reading/writing the same as it does when we read a book together. He also will never be getting a console.

My last job involved training teachers/staff at schools on a software product we sold. I had not been in a school since I was there 30 years ago and I was shocked to find how many laptops, netbooks, Ipads schools have. In the IT depts there were ipads and netbooks stacked 20-30 high, school kids walking round with netbooks taking them from lesson to lesson being used just like an exercise book. When I was at school all we had were chalk and hand held blackboards! So to see the level of IT tech being used by pupils in school is why I want my son to be comfortable using a PC before he goes (this September) and I think at this age it can be as valuable as learning to read and write.

Sorry for the rant.
 
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varkanoid said:
Thats what parental control is for, ie parents take responsibility for how much there children use these devices. The above sounds like a typical ignorant response that fuels the news articles that tar all computer activity with the same bad brush. We all dont let our kids stare at monitors for hours on end.

My 4 year old goes to nursery twice a week. He has had a laptop about a year. In the 1½ year plus room and 3+ room they have a laptop that children can use for small periods of time. This is where my son learnt to use a PC before he had one. I was quite amazed (and still am how quickly he picks things up). I have it set to allow use from 9am (after breakfast) to 7pm with 12-1pm denied, 5-6pm denied for mealtimes and continuous use set to 1 hr then it logs him off and doesnt allow him on again for rest of the day.
He doesnt play "video games". All the ones he plays (mainly on the cbeebies website) have some educational merit.

How many parents have this kind of setup ? Not a lot I would say.

He is a very active child, he has a scooter, a bike, he plays football and has lots of friends (and girlfriends too....)

I made the decision to buy him a laptop (no way is he ever having a tablet its too portable and not easy to control whilst he lives under my rooftop, disgusting things :p ) to give him an advantage when going to school it also helps with his reading/writing the same as it does when we read a book together. He also will never be getting a console.

My last job involved training teachers/staff at schools on a software product we sold. I had not been in a school since I was there 30 years ago and I was shocked to find how many laptops, netbooks, Ipads schools have. In the IT depts there were ipads and netbooks stacked 20-30 high, school kids walking round with netbooks taking them from lesson to lesson being used just like an exercise book. When I was at school all we had were chalk and hand held blackboards! So to see the level of IT tech being used by pupils in school is why I want my son to be comfortable using a PC before he goes (this September) and I think at this age its as valuable as learning to read and write because most of the reading and writing these days is on some kind of display screen.

Sorry for the rant.
Click to expand...

Parenting at its finest I say :) Nice one
 
varkanoid said:
Thats what parental control is for, ie parents take responsibility for how much there children use these devices. The above sounds like a typical ignorant response that fuels the news articles that tar all computer activity with the same bad brush. We all dont let our kids stare at monitors for hours on end.

My 4 year old goes to nursery twice a week. He has had a laptop about a year. In the 1½ year plus room and 3+ room they have a laptop that children can use for small periods of time. This is where my son learnt to use a PC before he had one. I was quite amazed (and still am how quickly he picks things up). I have it set to allow use from 9am (after breakfast) to 7pm with 12-1pm denied, 5-6pm denied for mealtimes and continuous use set to 1 hr then it logs him off and doesnt allow him on again for rest of the day.
He doesnt play "video games". All the ones he plays (mainly on the cbeebies website) have some educational merit.

How many parents have this kind of setup ? Not a lot I would say.

He is a very active child, he has a scooter, a bike, he plays football and has lots of friends (and girlfriends too....)

I made the decision to buy him a laptop (no way is he ever having a tablet its too portable and not easy to control whilst he lives under my rooftop, disgusting things :p ) to give him an advantage when going to school it also helps with his reading/writing the same as it does when we read a book together. He also will never be getting a console.

My last job involved training teachers/staff at schools on a software product we sold. I had not been in a school since I was there 30 years ago and I was shocked to find how many laptops, netbooks, Ipads schools have. In the IT depts there were ipads and netbooks stacked 20-30 high, school kids walking round with netbooks taking them from lesson to lesson being used just like an exercise book. When I was at school all we had were chalk and hand held blackboards! So to see the level of IT tech being used by pupils in school is why I want my son to be comfortable using a PC before he goes (this September) and I think at this age it can be as valuable as learning to read and write.

Sorry for the rant.
Click to expand...

Is the right attitude to have.

Tech is so ingrained and central to our lives now, it's almost irresponsible to deprive your child access to it.

To the parents saying kids shouldn't be allowed access to laptops/internet/tablets etc. until they're 7/8 and when they were young all they did was play football; sorry, but the world is a different place to when you were young.

I'm sure going back a few years ago there were parents saying "little Timmy doesn't need to learn all that reading and writing malarkey, back in my day we spent 14 hours down t'pit" ;)

Of course that doesn't mean let them sit in front of the screen for 4 hours a day, everything needs to be in moderation.
 
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