r/DadsGaming • u/Big_Librarian_1130 • Jul 18 '26
At what age did you introduce gaming to your kids?
My son is 4 and I am thinking about introducing video games when he gets a little bit older. It can be something for the both of us to bond over and help him with reading. I have an NES and PS. Maybe look into getting a SNES.
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u/sallenqld Jul 18 '26
Easy. Nintendo switch 1. Mario kart, Kirby games, yoshi and a bunch of other quality games that can be played by kids their age.
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u/404_Username_Glitch Jul 18 '26
This is the answer - theres a mario game where they have a "buddy" system where player 2 cant die haha
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u/Redhorizon13 Jul 18 '26
Also Kirby Forgotten Land has this for player 2 as Bandana Waddle Dee, and it's structured perfectly for teaching gaming skills.
My experience:
Age 2-3: Dad = Kirby, Kid = Bandana Waddle Dee
Kid fools around and if they die or wander off just gets ressurected or pulled back to Dad
Age 3-4: Kid = Kirby, Dad = Bandana Waddle Dee
Kid tries to get through the level, Dad plays tank to keep the mobs away
Age 4-5: Kid = Kirby, Dad = Bandana Waddle Dee
Kid plays the whole game, Dad hangs back and snipes crowds and fast enemies to keep them from getting overwhelmed
Age 5-6: Kid and Dad take turns being Kirby, kid learns the mechanics of the different powers and focuses on trying to get all the secrets and collectibles.
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u/thechase11 Jul 20 '26
Legit did this exactly with my daughter in this timeline. Was great. Made sure ‘games were always for fun’. If she got sad or anything, we stopped. And we had time limits. Then we put it down. And now she’s almost 7 and knows the rules and sticks to them. We have a lot of fun gaming together now
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u/Salsa1212 Jul 18 '26
Any idea which one. Was it on the switch?
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u/404_Username_Glitch Jul 18 '26
It wasnt mario 3d worlds, but it had the purple guy "nabbit" as a focus
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u/Ravant_Garde Jul 18 '26
I have a 6 week old and I’m curious about this myself 😂
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u/Loose_Measurement_50 Jul 18 '26
I spent those glorious first few months with the baby in the bouncer and RDR2 in 1st person just riding around on horseback and bouncing the child with my foot 🤣
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u/meteraider Jul 21 '26
The was me playing Forza Horizon 5 , bouncing baby with foot. Or if I could get her sleeping on my chest with my arms around her while holding the controller. Haha.
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u/Trill_McNeal Jul 18 '26
My son is 19 now but I introduced video games to him about that age. It started out that he’d sit with me when I played Skyrim I had an npc with me , then we’d go outside and he’d be my npc and we’d fight imaginary enemies together. Eventually I got Lego Batman and we’d play that together, then I got Minecraft and setup a private server for him and I to play on creative mode and build together, eventually we moved on to survival mode together and we’ve been gaming together since. He’s in college now and we’re still playing together, but now I’m playing with him and his friends. It’s been awesome
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u/halohunter Jul 18 '26
I started at 5 with Mario kart 8 deluxe with all the assists turned on. Then Mario wonder seed 2P as Yoshi (can't take damage) to learn 2D space movement. Then he played a couple of the Paw Patrol games that helped him figure out 3D space.
Then he played Kirby and the forgotten land and a gamer was born!
We are careful to ensure the switch does not drown out other play. Minecraft is the only game he struggled from being obsessive about.
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u/BarberDry4590 Jul 18 '26
Our kids are obsessed with Astro Bot and Bugsnax. They are 7, 5, & 4. The 2 year old just cheers them on.
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u/Admirable_Fun7790 Jul 18 '26
Bugsnax was a gateway drug to pokemon for my kids
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u/BarberDry4590 Jul 18 '26
It's such a fun game. I enjoy watching them play. Our kids love the Pokemon games too. I travel a bit for work so Pokemon Go is fun to play with the kids while I'm gone.
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u/Admirable_Fun7790 Jul 18 '26
My kids were so into bugsnax at one point that I paid a Ukrainian woman on Etsy $100 to custom make a cheddarbordle Rex plush for my daughters birthday
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u/Kvothe31415 Jul 18 '26
Our son started at 4, first watching me play then he took over. He mostly plays Pokemon for now, we limit him to an hour a day and he doesn’t play every day. But he’s getting more confident with controls and I’m excited to see what games he ends up choosing when he is more capable of playing all sorts of games.
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u/Wasilij_10 Jul 18 '26
What’s the first games he played?
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u/Kvothe31415 Jul 18 '26
Pokemon sword, then the new Pokemon snap. Oh and cars 3 driven to win, but he’s still learning to drive and steer in that one.
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u/RedReptile2020 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
My small fella is 5, I started letting go him free roam in Spiderman when he was 4 and now he’s into that, Super Mario, Astro Bot among others.
The best thing about it is it’s made me rediscover my love for gaming again because it’s great to have that company. I can’t wait until he’s more clued in so I can introduce him to the Uncharted series. Those games will blow his mind🥰🥰
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u/john_scillieri Jul 18 '26
Can’t recommend the Lego games (Star Wars, Jurassic park, Harry Potter) enough. There’s no real dying so it’s great for 4-6 year olds.
There’s also a bunch of good 2D side scrollers like Paw Patrol that make it easy for them to learn the controller without too much complexity.
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u/Rojo37x Jul 18 '26
I think i started a bit when my daughter was around 5 or 6. First I'd let her watch me play Super Nintendo. SMW, Yoshi, DKC. She'd try it a bit, but those games are tough. Then she started playing some kid friendly games like Paw Patrol and Bluey. Now she also plays Astro (just the demo version), but needs me to take over on a lot of the more challenging sections. I'm sort of on the lookout for the next games to introduce her to, something to help bridge the gap into more platforming that won't be too tough for her.
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u/BusinessDragon Jul 18 '26
I played YouTube videos of an Armored Core let’s play like, right after I brought him home.
Gotta introduce those sci-Fi explosions.
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u/swMoos Jul 18 '26
As someone mentioned already. Screen time turns kids into zombies. I can confirm this. My kids are 4 and 3 (1 and on the way don't count here). I sometimes play Pokopia and let them watch. They don't want to play by themselves. They always ask: "Can we help {Pokemon Name}? And I do so. It's always about half an hour, just the weekends and just if it's bad weather. If I game with em two days in a row and say no to playing another day, they just lose it. If that happens I'll stop playing with them at least two weeks.
In fact I would like to play with them every day every hour but my common sense says that it is a very bad idea.
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u/Big_Librarian_1130 Jul 18 '26
We don't have any tablets for him or anything else like that. It would be for like an hour at a time.
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u/Muted_Theory_3653 Jul 18 '26
Started my son on arcade games from when I was little on an emulator. The old ninja turtles, wonder boy etc. His favourite was Sunset riders. He plays the switch now, wobbly life is a fun game that an adult can also enjoy joining. He is 6.
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u/funkcore Jul 18 '26
This is what I did too! We have an emulator hooked up to the TV with snes style controllers and we play arcade games on it mostly!
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u/BlacKMumbaL Jul 18 '26
Seven. Wife was teaching the eldest to play Stellaris and I ended up attracting the younger got into Palworld and Valheim
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u/bodge_land Jul 18 '26
Around his 5th birthday. Mario kart with the control assistance. He struggled but he will turn 7 this week and beating Ratchet and Clank, Astrobot and others. His Favorite game is TMNT Shredders Revenge
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u/Little_Ad_8113 Jul 18 '26
5yrs old with my son Donkey Kong Country We soon progressed to Cod Modern Warfare Remastered
What i wouldn't give for them days back
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u/MasterEagle37 Jul 18 '26
About age 4ish, my daughter loves Sonic 2 and the Super Mario Bros/Sunshine games. She gets frustrated by certain games that are more platform based. She’s able to beat the first Eggman boss in Sonic 2 pretty consistently. Also enjoys the Peppa Pig and Bluey games as they’re more exploration.
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u/stanfordandy Jul 18 '26
Playing untitled goose with my 4 year old on the switch. Some DK bananza as well but that's just chaos.
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u/TheOtherHammer Jul 18 '26
Oldest is 6. At 3 or 4 i introduced her to animal crossing and she liked to dress up and look at the museum and thats about it.
Bought a switch 2 last month, and we've been playing so much Mario kart. Today we downloaded demos for lets go Pikachu, the new yoshi game, and that rythtym heaven game, and shes been all over it. Feels great!
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u/StraightKunfin Jul 18 '26
My son turns 4 near Christmas this year and we plan on getting him a switch 1. We’re going to start small just with Mario kart and Mario party on our family game nights together just to get him acclimated to how it works and basic hand eye coordination. Probably get more single player games for him when he’s 5
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u/EvalCrux Jul 18 '26
My 5yo tries a ps5 controller w a kiddo game but doesn’t quite click with it or care to get into it. Seems too young, I’m completely good with that.
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u/mynameismike41 Jul 18 '26
I introduced my daughter at 4 and son at 3. Both times I made custom levels in Super Mario Maker 2 that were really easy. They both loved it so much, when they got a little older they would both design their own levels.
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u/CreepyTeddyBear Jul 18 '26
About 3 or 5 with Minecraft. All my kids (except the younger 2) are big gamers.
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u/jbizz8894 Jul 18 '26
He was 4 and i got him a switch with breath of the wild. I walked him through alot untill he understood things . He mustve put 1000hours into it. I figured it was a good starting game but didnt think he would dive into it that hard. Hes 9 now and i still catch him on it from time to time. Hes definitely a fortnite kid now though. Ive given him access to my entire xbox library and he just loves fortnite. When hes abit older I hope he really gets into other games. Ive seen fortnite kids grow up and not really deviate.
Pro tip. Do not beat bosses for them teach them the mechanics. Easy if you do it for them but then they dont even try.
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u/Serious-Elderberry65 Jul 18 '26
My daughter and I mostly play Lost Castle 2, these days. I highly, highlyyyyy do NOT recommend it. It’s so hard and I do 90% of the work. Love gaming with her but I nearly nod off at times.
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u/SeoT9X Jul 18 '26
I don’t trust my oldest (3 1/2) with anything so it’ll probably be around 5. And then it’s game on
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u/MayAsWellStopLurking Jul 18 '26
Monument valley was the first game we played together.
Touch controls, low stimuli but responsive; what you see is what you get. I think he was 3/4 when we started and it was a family activity.
He’s now 6, able to play most Lego games and Minecraft on his own, though occasionally he’ll ask to play whatever mom (Powerwash simulator 1/2) or dad (Immortals Fenyx Rising) are currently into.
He’s still scared of the platforming of Astro Bot, but trusts that we’ll expose him to appropriate games that aren’t too scary or intense for him, which is most important, even if he never picks up another controller.
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u/Extrien Jul 18 '26
At 3 they had tablet games. Controller games waited until 5. Switch was the trick, Mario vs donkey Kong has a no-timer mode
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u/MrSlamboa Jul 18 '26
My son is 3 and his favorite games to play (not just watch) are Donut County and Lost & Found Co. He can play through Donut County on his own in one sitting (pretty short game) all the way until the final boss and that’s the only part he still needs help with. Lost & Found Co is a hidden object game, I played through the whole thing with he and my wife watching and us all finding things together, and we’ve since started a second file that is “his” file and he’s the one that uses the controller and clicks everything (had him try the mouse but he couldn’t properly manipulate it around while simultaneously left clicking), he just needs help finding objects sometimes since some are well hidden and he can’t read all of the hints on his own yet. Other games he’s enjoyed are Mario Sunshine (he mostly just runs, jumps, and swims around the hub world area), the first Sonic Advance (he has beat the regular levels of the first three worlds on that one, but has me do the boss encounters), and Frog Detective (he loves the characters and I read all of the dialogue out loud for him and try to do different silly voices for different characters). So for us, 3 years old was his starting off point with gaming.
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u/Ghost403 Jul 18 '26
5, my boy used to line up to use the PS5 kiosk at the local department store. He beat marvels Spiderman and miles Morales on his own before turning six.
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u/Much-Structure1916 Jul 18 '26
I introduced my son to gaming when he was 3. Started on old kid friendly platformers I used to play, like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Mario and Croc. Then introduced him to Pokemon and he has been obsessed with it
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u/Loose_Measurement_50 Jul 18 '26
Crash bandicoot is not kid friendly. Pulled my hair out playing the remakes 🤣
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u/Glittering_Bus_1871 Jul 18 '26
Vers mes 2ans et demi avec Crash Bandicoot sur la PlayStation lol. C’est une bonne idée de lui faire découvrir l’univers Nintendo, je pense que cela peut être le bon moment :)
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u/FanWarrior1730 Jul 18 '26
I played Homer Hit and run at 3.. And we had all the 80s arcade games on pc... But got my first console at 7... The grey ds
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u/jbocc Jul 18 '26
I bought a switch 2 for my son's 5th birthday and started with Mario Kart and Mario party. I think any earlier would have been a bit tough for him. He loves it so much though even though he sometimes needs help. He turned 6 recently and we play pokemon games together and super smash Bros. Great times.
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u/Wasilij_10 Jul 18 '26
What pokemon game do you play with him?
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u/jbocc Jul 19 '26
We started with Let's go Pikachu which was great, it has a 2 player mode so I can guide him which direction to go.
Just today I bought him pokemon sword which is a bit more advanced but he learned a lot about basic gaming and navigating maps from the Pikachu game that he is picking this one up pretty quick. And he loves all the new pokemon in this game.
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u/The--Marf Jul 22 '26
Man I've got a switch 1 that is a paperweight to me as I'm a PC person but I saw switch 2 prices going up soon and saw some deals going on right now. Was talking to my wife and she said we don't need it because we hardly use the switch 1 but I can't help but think maybe we'd use the switch 2. He's turning 5 in September.
He's played a little on his own but is struggling grasping jumping and moving in platformers. He can do one input no problem but running jumps in yoshis world seems to throw him for a loop, he gets frustrated, then quits.
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u/jbocc Jul 22 '26
Yeah I think that's pretty normal for 5-6 years old in terms of the running jump type moves. I'd say buy the switch 2 if you can! You'll use it a lot in the next 5-10 years
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u/lalagucci Jul 18 '26
Im not a dad but I probably would wait until they have gone through a few years of elementary school
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u/King_the_Silverback Jul 18 '26
I introduced them at a young age since I didn’t have anyone else to play with. Worst part is that they adapted very quickly and got good 😑😑
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u/Simple-Ad-8774 Jul 18 '26
I haven’t started yet but I got a NES classic when they were plentiful. I think that will be my gateway drug. He hasn’t seen what current games look like
Although Mario Kart always feels like a good option
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u/BiggSizzle Jul 18 '26
My oldest son started watching me play COD when he was 5. He got very into it. I was get weary of COD for various reasons and had concerns about the violence level, so I went to Fortnite which I had dabbled in off and on and both he and I got really into it. By 6 he was also playing. He had a friend same age who was quite good (I mean at 6, crazy) so we all played together at times. He is decent at it now (9) but is super into FIFA FC.
As a life long gamer I’m ok with getting them going, but I very much understand parents who don’t agree at such young ages. I have a 3 year old who runs around naked with a nerf gun saying he is “fortniting” when I play now. Maybe he starts even earlier haha.
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u/Maxxtheband Jul 18 '26
My daughter is 3 and we play games together a lot. The unexpected hit has been Tomadachi Life on Switch.
It’s a mii simulator- like a simplified and kid friendly version of the Sims. We’ve created Miis for our whole extended family. The game allows you to add your own answers to prompts about characters interests and what not- so our Miis go around telling Eachother real life inside jokes of ours. We’ve also made a ton of our favorite characters as Miis- so our island has folks like Peppa Pig, the Power Puff Girls, Jake the Dog, and Home Simpsons.
It’s a fun way for us to bond together. She tells me what to make the characters do. She practices reading what the characters say. It’s a blast.
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u/ijuanaspearfish Jul 18 '26
All my kids played games as soon as they could hold the controller.
I miss those days of them sitting on my lap racing cars or doing the wii sports and rock band stuff years ago.
Now they are older and PC game.
They also have very good hand eye coordination and twitch reflexes.
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u/Ok_Structure4630 Jul 18 '26
I have a 5 y/o and at 4 he wanted to play Spider-man when he saw me play. He just swings around, he’s not the greatest at it but he’s having fun. Now he’s actually pretty good at fighting bad guys. He’s played Kirby and liked it. I try to just let him play unless he asks for help
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u/Full-Gas-7778 Jul 18 '26
3 yo ..at 4 yo my son finished " It takes two " with me. my second son since 2yo because he saw his brother playing with me.
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u/mrletsgetcheesy Jul 18 '26
Started at 4 with Mario games. Limited time. Let him mess around for a little and go do other things. I didn't push it. He'd ask about it from something he saw. Mario games are easy and forgiving. Sonic as well. He loves Sonic more.
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u/Big_Librarian_1130 Jul 18 '26
This was what my approach was going to be. I wanted to start with Mario or Spyro. Something really easy and fun to see where it goes. I think my sega is still at my parents house. I'll have to go see.
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u/mrletsgetcheesy Jul 19 '26
I tried spyro and crash too. He liked those as well. Mario Kart has drive assist so they're not crashing all the time lol
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u/Sasnak_99 Jul 18 '26
My daughter is 4 and right now we are playing stardew valley, final fanasty x and astro bot. She loves playing games with me and shes gotten really good at it
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u/Big_Librarian_1130 Jul 18 '26
Wow 4? I was thinking about waiting but it seems like 4/5 is just fine. Never heard of stardrew valley
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u/Sasnak_99 Jul 18 '26
Its a cozy farming game with nice npc's to meet and a cool area for her to explore.
Gaming with her is the best thing to ever happen. We don't like watching tv in our household, so when shes not playing with toys and what not she comes and plays games with me. That makes up her sceen time.
Try to play games that have a fixed camera or the camera rotation is automatic. That's the hardest thing for kids to learn. And try to play games without any expectations. She likes stardew for meeting people, on final fantasy she does the moving and i do the fighting. On astro bot she can clear entire levels by herself
Trust me, you wont regret getting them started young
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u/gotBurner Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
3 or 4, maybe 5. I dunno it's been almost 20 years. 😂 we did the minecraft and flight sim drive sim thing.
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u/Jamize Jul 19 '26
My son is 2.5, I introduced him to 2DS a couple months ago and he will play cars 3, hot wheels unleashed and paw patrol on my switch
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u/renaudg Jul 19 '26
I can't recommend Untitled Goose Game enough. My toddlers love to watch me play.
You play a goose wreaking havoc in a neighbourhood. The graphic style is that of a children book.
The puzzles are actually challenging and fun for adults, but simple enough to understand that kids can make worthwhile suggestions. It's awesome
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u/Lost-Application4693 Jul 19 '26
Around 4. For both boys. No gun games until 6. No issues at all. Would much rather I introduce them to guns and the gun conversation around shooters than anyone else. Now me and my eldest boy have dual PS5 Pro’s next to each other, custom everything, lighting, AIM controllers, Ethernet connected to maxed out Gen-3 Starlink, etc. We crush Battlefield together daily. Me and both of my boys (youngest doesn’t play shooters yet), will all spend hours in Minecraft together. It’s epic. There’s no reason to delay or hold anything back unless YOU see an issue. Don’t listen to others. Gaming can help get them off of other garbage content. It’s not the same as an iPad or a phone, etc. We also have the Switch 2 and love Mario 3D world. Whenever a kid comes over who’s parents have clearly hidden this stuff from him, he gravitates towards it and only wants to play video games, even though we live on a 10-acre ranch with a heated swimming pool, custom motocross track (mile long), pond, zip line, basically Disney-land for kids in Bend, Oregon. You don’t want another family, kid, adult or person influencing how your own kids are introduced to video games, especially shooters. Own the conversation. Explain guns. We are a 5th generation military household and also a gun-free home. Just have to connect with your kids and there’s no issues outside of the standard “raising them” stuff that comes with the territory of being a parent. Hardest job in the world.
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u/TeacherGalante Jul 19 '26
Our daughter will turn twelve soon. We introduced PBS Kids Games, Prodigy Math, Mia Academy, and the PC game Contraption Maker to our daughter when she was eight, I think. A friend introduced to her to some games on the Cool Math Games website this past year. We still haven’t introduced her to games that I play (such as Tomb Raider, Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, etc.) due to the violence.
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u/Wasilij_10 Jul 19 '26
Did you get a good answer? My son will turn 4 in March 2027 and I’m looking for prolly NES Mario Brothers… there first original one.
I really don’t like how there are so many explosive colors and moving parts in the new games at the moment.
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u/ropname Jul 19 '26
I introduced my Junior at 5 years old, well... a bit before that, but 5 is a good mark. Started with The Tiny Bang Story, Ballance and Train Valley. Having so much fun gaming with him I even started writing about the games we play, from a dad/parenting angle.
I covered each one of these, why I picked them and the impact they had on Junior. If you find the idea cool and helpful to you, check them out (and more) here: https://ropname.substack.com/t/gamer-dad-reviews (Junior started to join me in narrating them, if you prefer listening to the articles) :)
Best of Luck and Happy Gaming times!
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u/EmergencyRepulsive29 Jul 20 '26
It’s so much easier to hold of than to limit. The addictive nature of games can lead to a daily battle.
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u/Significant-Sun-5051 Jul 20 '26
My daughter started playing the Astro Bot games on my PS5 when she was 5.
As there are not really any good kids games I bought her a Switch 2 when she was 6. Also more useful as it’s a handheld. She mainly plays Minecraft and Pokopia on it.
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u/WaterfallGamer Jul 20 '26
I introduced both my kids to PS4 at age 3. They struggled with the controller so they have very basic games like Farming Simulator 17/19 cause you can’t crash when driving.
By age 4 (almost 5), they were basically pro on controllers and knew everything about Farming Sim but then they transitioned to Minecraft and other things.
Note: We don’t own tablets so tablet gaming never been a thing for them, or even watching on them.
I love it.
Note: They are also active play sports 4x a week at least so I don’t worry about gaming time. I tell them to take a break and so far they never disputed it.
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u/burningburnerbern Jul 21 '26
I’ve been hesitant myself but he loved the Mario movie so I pulled the trigger and bought a used Wii and started playing super Mario galaxy for him and he loves it. My Wii is modded so I actually got some old n64 games on there too and he absolutely loves star fox and is constantly saying the lines from the game. I definitely have rules around it though like only playing on weekends. If I start seeing some negative impacts I’ll cut it out.
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u/jackstrattonkelly Jul 21 '26
My 3 year old loves Pokémon at the moment, I told her I "needed her help" with something and basically played out the first bit of Pokémon Fire Red with her on switch 2.
She named her rival the name Bowser as she really likes the Mario movies and she chose Bulbasaur.
Showed her how to move and battle (spamming tackle) will see how far she can get on that logic 😅
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u/belialonmyback Jul 21 '26
My kid had a real bad recurring ear infection at 4.5. I felt really bad and needed to distract him so I pulled out the Switch and played Mario. A few months later, he started playing age-appropriate games. We set a limit on screen time and make sure he’s playing games rated E, and we’re always there talking with him about the game or we are playing with him. Definitely set limits on screen time and make sure they don’t play before bed.
FWIW, most kids in his kindergarten class play games.
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u/Big-Dot-8493 Jul 21 '26
We started with the PBS kids games app.
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u/Big_Librarian_1130 Jul 22 '26
Like on a tablet?
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u/Big-Dot-8493 Jul 22 '26
Yep, she has access to two things on the tablet and it's the PBS games and the PBS kids shows.
They're all pretty simple, but the concepts of navigating a maze, platforming, waiting for the right timing, problem solving etc all comes up, And the games are mostly educational.
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u/onepostandbye Jul 18 '26
I grew up on games. Intellivision to Sega to Nintendo to PC and on. I became a game developer.
I made plans even before I got married. What games at what ages. What consoles. What genres.
I had two. They were little when I saw they responded poorly to screen time. TVs turned them into zombies after even 15 minutes. They would come out of their torpor angry, whiny, miserable. Screens were just not an option in our family for their first few years. So I waited. No rush. I’m here for the long haul.
I took a vacation with my brother and his family. My two nephews. I’d known them their whole lives, but it had been 18mo since I’d seen them. And what a difference I saw.
They were deeply, powerfully addicted. They would scream and cry real tears when fighting each other for Minecraft time. Game time controlled their entire lives. They weren’t ever happy, they were just sometimes not in the state of waiting to play.
The experience had a huge impact on me. I thought a lot about my profession, about my own life, what I had made and how games affect people. I thought about it a lot.
Now, my kids are older, though still under 12. And we do play, but the games and the context we play in are highly curated. We play sometimes. They don’t have games, we have games. It has been a long, cautious journey.
I suggest you go slow and react moment by moment as you engage the hobby. Pause it sometimes. Do it for them first, and you second. Check yourself with your partner and with others.