Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: Games for 4 year old

  1. #1
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Games for 4 year old

    I am looking for recommendations for Games and or Educational software for a 4 year old girl.

    One of the people my wife works for was going to toss out a pc and asked her if she wanted it so she brought it home.

    It's a foxcomm AM2 motherboard, Sempron 1.8Ghz with 2 Gig of DDR2 ram and onboard S3 graphics. We also got a 17" LCD monitor with it.
    Running WinXP Home (even got the original disk with it)

    Since both me and my wife already have PC's way better than this we decided to put it in our daughters room.

    I locked down the bios and installed magic desktop so it basically put the computer into kiddie mode so she can't hurt anything.

    Now I just need some stuff she can run

  2. #2
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    so after 118 views not one single person can recommend a game? I must say that surprises me

  3. #3
    Drum & Bass Till I Die deejayburnout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Kinglassie, Fife
    Posts
    2,013
    Thanks
    296
    Thanked
    133 times in 114 posts
    • deejayburnout's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte x470 Aorus Ultra Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 2600 at stock speeds ( for now)
      • Memory:
      • 2 x Corsair 8GB DDR4 Vengeance LPX 3000MHz
      • Storage:
      • Gigabyte 128GB M.2 PCIe x2 NVMe SSD, 120GB Kingston SV200, 2 x 1TB WD Drive, 2 x 2TB WD Drive
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS ROG Strix RX 580 8G Gaming OC Edition
      • PSU:
      • OCZ 750 Watt
      • Case:
      • NZXT Noctis 450
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34UM65-P Ultrawide
      • Internet:
      • 72mb Down 19mb up - Vodafone
    nothing springs to mind to install but the cbeebies website is good as there are a lot of games and educational stuff there.

    What kind of games do you want. I can imagine there are a lot of flash based games online.

    If you find some, making a shortcut on the desktop would be just like an installed app.
    Better to Burn out than Fade Away
    Check out my Youtube channel - Crispy Crisperson

  4. #4
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    Minecraft, in creative mode.

    Even better: Minecraft, in creative mode, played on a LAN, together.

  5. #5
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    No internet connection on that machine and there won't be until she is older so anything online is out of the question.

    And minecraft is a no go as it is IMO a horrendously boring game and there is not enough going on to keep a 4 year old occupied, well at least not our 4 year old.

  6. #6
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    Quote Originally Posted by Larkspeed View Post
    No internet connection on that machine and there won't be until she is older so anything online is out of the question.

    And minecraft is a no go as it is IMO a horrendously boring game and there is not enough going on to keep a 4 year old occupied, well at least not our 4 year old.
    It's not really a game at all.

    It's a Lego box with infinite pieces. See also the Youtube series "Minecraft with a 4 year old"

    But fine, let's ignore creative options, and any kind of co-op.

    What did you have in mind?

    Young kids, especially that young, need simple mechanics, and minimal punishment for "doing it wrong".

    Puzzle games are out, since they rely too much on deductive reasoning (which won't be there for a few years)

    Looking at my Steam library, only a handful of indie games would really do the job - and it's also a waste of time, since you've vetoed anything that requires Internet-based auth like Steam

  7. #7
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    I could get a net connection on there if needs be but would really like to avoid it.

    She knows how to turn the PC on and off by herself and it is in her room so she uses it unattended, this is why I never bothered giving it a net connection.

    Magic desktop prevents her getting to the main windows desktop and the web browser built into it is very limited.

    I could unlock the browser to let it go to cbeebies and such I just envision the running up and down the stairs every time she tries to click something that goes outside the cbeebies site and magic desktop sticks up a message saying she can't go there.

    As far as puzzles and such goes she actually has a very good head for them every kiddie jigsaw we give her she puts together without problem and magic desktop has jigsaws built in that she does without issue.

    I think that has a lot to do with the fact that she speaks 2 languages and often translates from one into the other so she is used to figuring things out.

  8. #8
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,457
    Thanks
    613
    Thanked
    1,645 times in 1,307 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    When I was a little older than that, I remember enjoying SimTown, SimAnt, that type of thing. There were some great DK games as well, like World Explorer. Sadly, I imagine that most of those are pretty antiquated now.

    Older than that there were things like Zoombinis.

    Some other ideas: DX-Ball was always a very nice game (and free). Maybe some PopCap stuff like Zuma, Insaniquarium, Bejeweled? Not sure if any of those need activation online, hopefully not.

    Sorry if these are all rubbish suggestions, trying to remember the sort of thing I played when young, but I never played anything at 4.

  9. Received thanks from:


  10. #9
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    World Explorer might be a bit advanced for her right now but that DX-Ball looks like something she could possibly like. I'll give that one a go

  11. #10
    Account closed at user request
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Elephant watch camp
    Posts
    2,150
    Thanks
    56
    Thanked
    115 times in 103 posts
    • wasabi's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI B85M-G43
      • CPU:
      • i3-4130
      • Memory:
      • 8 gig DDR3 Crucial Rendition 1333 - cheap!
      • Storage:
      • 128 gig Agility 3, 240GB Corsair Force 3
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Zotac GTX 750Ti
      • PSU:
      • Silver Power SP-S460FL
      • Case:
      • Lian Li T60 testbanch
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • First F301GD Live
      • Internet:
      • Virgin cable 100 meg

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    Used to run a school network. Most of the 4 year old kids liked simple left-right-jump flash based 2d platform games. Cute things that run around and jump over stuff. Best you're likely to get is very simple puzzle type move x to reveal y to open gate type stuff. That and 'dressing the doll up in gltzy clothes' games.

  12. #11
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    27
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    3 times in 3 posts

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    I don't know if they still make them for modern systems, but the Reader Rabbit stuff used to keep mine quite amused several years ago. Do not get her doing those nasty flash games - they do not encourage them to think at all, and I hate my (now older) children going on them online. Otherwise, there are several children's franchises with software, some of which is OK, some less so, such as Mr Men, Thomas, Barbie (*spit*), etc. Don't write off the puzzle games idea, you might find that a simple hidden object game with simple puzzles between levels would suit her to a "t" if she's a bright cookie.

  13. Received thanks from:


  14. #12
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    I just looked and the reader rabbit stuff is still available.

    And it looks like it will be good for her.

    I have to be very careful not to overload her with too much English learning at the moment, she speaks both English and Dutch but uses Dutch exclusively at school and a lot at home.

    I'll also look for some Barbie and Dora stuff since she likes those as well.

  15. #13
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    21
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    5 times in 2 posts

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    You can try this site, big selection of flash games which can be sorted by age. Shouldn't tax the computer much.

    http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/ag...old-games.aspx

  16. #14
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    Thanks I'll keep that in mind but like I said earlier in the thread there is currently no internet connection on that PC and will only be as a last resort.

    I do tend to wonder though how that site can class majongg as a game for a 4 year old

  17. #15
    stormrazer razer121's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    3,178
    Thanks
    880
    Thanked
    146 times in 128 posts

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    see now i play little big planet with my 4 year old lol have you a ps3?
    Quote Originally Posted by TAKTAK View Post
    It was so small that mine wouldn't fit into it

  18. #16
    Larkspeed
    Guest

    Re: Games for 4 year old

    nope xbox 360

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •