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Animal Arcade Games

Monday, October 13, 2008

by guest author Jason Bradley

There has always been a great demand for options that let
children have their own virtual pet to love and care for in
order to receive some virtual affection. I would hope that you
can remember the old days of the little Tamagotchis that would
cry and beg for attention and selfishly demand food on a
semi-regular schedule. These quickly spawned hundreds of
imitators while also taking part in a market that now offered
Furbies and interactive pets that let you have the experience of
raising your dream pet without the work required. They could
even grow up before your eyes thanks to the miracle of fast
growth. The point made by all these inventions was that people
really like animal games.

This is still true today. Thankfully the great advances of the
Internet have helped these games evolve to newer formats with
better options. There is something for everyone. The manly man
is able to raise a wild dinosaur and train it to fight for its
domain. The less bloodthirsty girl can raise a cute pony,
giraffe, unicorn, or teddy bear and enjoy its lovable behavior.
These really aren’t too complicated. The more advanced games and
arcades function on an account system that has you log in and
feed them once a day. This gives a nice feeling a responsibility
that will give the feeling of really owning a pet. You should
count yourself lucky considering the sky rocketing prices on
unicorns these days.

Those who don’t want the responsibility of a dependent being in
cyberspace can take advantage of the plethora of other animal
games available. There are games for kids who want to have a bit
of an animal adventure. Girls can take a pony out for a simple
ride or they can run a little obstacle course. This is really a
basic principle for any animal that they really like. There are
games that let them do everything from play fetch with a dog to
letting them enter it in a show. Cat lovers are able to find
games that let them play with their feline friends without
suffering through hairballs and shedding. Birds are featured in
several different online games and even imaginary pets get their
share of the games. The truth is that there are many arcades
that feature games that let girls have a bit of fun with their
favorite animal. Whether they like ants or zebra fish they’ll be
able to find a game that works for them at a reputable arcade.

It is a simple fact that just about every kid should like
animals. This means that they’ll probably want to play some
games that involve their favorite one, especially for the more
“exotic” animals. No matter how much they beg you probably won’t
be able to get them a dinosaur or unicorn. In this case just let
them enjoy their own creativity with a little time in a good
arcade. I wasn’t joking when I said that animal games are
varied. There are games of varying difficulty and type so no one
should walk away from their online arcade unhappy.

Visit Jogos para Meninas to find and care for a virtual pet of your own!

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American Girl as a Source of Online Games

Friday, July 25, 2008

Following my own advice about going to kid-friendly products to find kids games online, I started looking at different toy brands.

I came across the “American Girl” historical dolls and books, which are very popular with girls from the age 7 to 12 set, I understand.

My six-year old DD had recently seen the movie Kit Kittredge with her grandmother and was absolutely sold on “American Girl.” Since then we have been to the library for other movies and books in the “American Girl” series, and I have been asked at least once a day when Kit will come out on DVD.

I found that the website http://www.americangirl.com/fun.html has games and other fun stuff. We first tried the activities under the Kit persona. There is “A Day at the Zoo” which is a kind of menu screen of activities. We choose “Sea Spell” to play. Guiding a swimming seal with your arrow keys you circle letters to play a hangman word-guessing style game. We then tried “Monkey Puzzle,” and we found that you only need to tap your arrow key once to make the monkey on the tricycle move in the direction you want it to go. When the monkey hits an object you want to collect, such as bananas, he will stop. It was a bit of a planning-your-strategy game, where it was better to slow down and think a little although there was the pressure of a clock.

From there we moved on to a different American Girl, Samantha. First we tried “Samantha’s Sketchbook” which was a very nice art/drawing activity. You can start with a blank canvas or color any of the outline pictures they have, like a Samantha profile or a teddy bear. There are lots of choices in colors and differing “pens” and “crayons” to use.

We then tried the “Samantha Scavenger Hunt.” We were presented with a map of Samantha’s hometown and told we would need to find four things having to do with Teddy Roosevelt. I knew this would be a bit hard for DD, but it was fine because she quickly moved on to a “Blueberries Galore” game in one of the houses on the map screen. This one she played on her own for a while.

We barely touched the tip of the iceberg of the activities and games available on this website, and I am certain we will be back.

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Discovering Kids Games Online

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Online games are a great attraction for kids and their parents alike. A parent, who may be familiar with online games for themselves, may wonder where their child can begin, though. The choices for kids’ games online are immense.

One great way to begin is to view your child’s television programs with them and look at the toys or foods that are marketed to kids. Then go to the web and look up the sites that represent those programs and products. Often they will have kid-friendly games. These kinds of websites can be trusted by parents. The companies have a family-friendly offline presence, and their websites typically have no outside advertising links to divert a child into the vast World Wide Web.

Some categories of games for kids that a parent may want to explore are educational games or learning games, including math games, reading games and typing games. I suggest that you do not disparage the kids games intended just for fun. Puzzle games and mazes can be great exercise for the brain. Also very simple but fun games that may seem to the parent to be a great challenge for the child may help a child to learn mouse control and keyboard skills.

A child’s first online gaming experience can begin from the parents lap. The parent can play a kids game while asking questions and engaging the child in what is happening on the screen. Let the child choose the next course of action in the game while the parent operates the mouse or keyboard. At first the child will answer the parent’s questions or point at the monitor. After watching for a while the child may begin to participate some of the time by pressing keys on the keyboard. The mouse is usually the last to be learned when precise selection or dragging is required.

A new kid’s game may require a great deal of parental help to learn it. After some time with the parent’s assistance the child will be able to play alone and even initiate a start-over of a familiar game. Even without knowing how to read, a child will quickly learn where the play button is. In time the child will be entertaining themselves with kids’ games online.

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Our Review of Miniclips Games

Monday, July 14, 2008

Miniclips is a games site that claims to be the largest free online games site. With at least 279 games in the Miniclips kids games category alone, I believe it. DD and I dove in for a try. First we tried Narnian Prince Caspian. Six-year old DD said it was challenging… a bit of an understatement, but she liked it. We went on to a Jet Ski game, which I have to say, made me seasick. Then we tried Sushi Go Round, and we found it a bit fast and overwhelming. I just about despaired of finding anything age-appropriate for DD when we stumbled upon Bloxorz. The object of this puzzle game is to move a block around a board to get it into its goal hole. I like the way the block made a satisfying chink sound as we moved it around the board. I was surprised at DD’s continuing interest in the game,
because it seemed a little difficult for her and she requested my constant help, but I got rather addicted, too, playing it after she went to bed.

I found an interesting article about the Miniclips website and its founder Robert Small in this newspaper article at the Business Times Online.

It said that Miniclips games are for the most part “simple, addictive and, in most cases, free to play.” I thought the part about how Miniclips shares its games with 300,000 other websites fascinating, too.

The Miniclips website contains advertising to other sites. From what I could tell, the games were in a flash format that could be played online with no downloads required.

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Food Sites for Kids Games Online?

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Here may be a novel idea for finding games for your kids to play online. Check the package of your child’s favorite foods. Especially check the packages of foods that market to kids. We are talking snack foods, candy, drinks, and so on. I know we do not like how some of these companies aggressively market to kids, but I have got to admit that some of them put up decent games for kids on their websites. Here are a couple that DD and I have discovered.

We will cover the best we found first. We liked Nabisco World Games We tried Video Safari Ocean, a game with realistic and pretty seascape graphics. The object of the game is to take pictures of the sea animals while panning the seascape with your mouse. A treat for the eyes. We also tried 3-D Billiards but it may have been a little too difficult for DD’s attention span. We tried Ping Pong, too. It was very easy to figure out how to play and the action is very fast… like a real ping pong game. All of the Nabisco games were nicely done with realistic video and audio to suit whatever "world" pertained to the game. The only thing now is I have this craving for Wheat Thins with hummus dip. Yes, they do throw up the ads for their foods rather frequently, but at least their foods are mostly nutritious, and I could not see any ads or links to take a child away from the Nabisco website.

Another games website we found was Wonka Games. "Enter the Wacky World of Wonka," they say. They make the navigation of their games website as entertaining as playing the games. After a bit of browsing we did find a straightforward table of contents list of the games, so do not despair. The Wonka candy types are featured in every game, so if you can stand your child playing with virtual candy, instead of eating it, you are fine. They also do not appear to have any outside advertising to take your child away from their site. One minor drawback was the need to register to play, but the process was less hassle than usual for website registrations.

Bon Appetit, gamers!

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5 Steps to Internet Security for Kids

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

by JR Lang

While the Internet has certainly brought a wealth of information, convenience and has a made the world a much smaller place, the Internet has its liabilities and especially so for children, teens and all minors. The responsibility of protecting children from online dangers lies with parents. There are several steps you can take to provide Internet safety for kids.

One solution, which some parents choose, is to completely restrict their children from using the Internet. This solution while keeping your children safe is not always the best option. One, the Internet is here to stay, it is an important part of everyday life, and its use is a skill that is often required by schools and in the work place. Also, if you just tell your kids that they cannot have or use the Internet then you eliminate the opportunity to teach them how to use it safely. So, if they do use it when they are away from you, (which believe me does happen, even with the best of kids) at a friends house or school then they will not have the tools they need to stay safe. Having talks and discussions with children about the risks is very important, and as a parent you should set certain limits and keep the conversation open in regards to Internet safety.

The following are 5 hands-on steps you can take to teach, limit and restrict children while they are online and therefore provide Internet safety for your kids.

5 Steps to Internet Safety for Kids:

1. Have a conversation with your kids. Explain to them, in as much detail as their age will allow some of the dangers that exist online. For example, that strangers in chat rooms, are just that, strangers. That they should never agree to meet anyone, give out their phone numbers, personal information like address etc. The same conversation that you had with them about not talking to strangers applies even more so when online, so use that and extend it further. Remember that most of these steps will only apply to computers you have at home. When your children are away from you they will have access to other computers and that is when those conversations will be the guidance that ensures their safety.

2. There is software available, which can help to protect your children from any content that is not appropriate for them. Software like, Microsoft Windows Vista Parental Controls, helps parents to manage, monitor and administer the use of the computer by children. The software, Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, filters certain chosen information and even a child’s searches can be blocked by filtering certain keywords.

3. All web browsers allow for parental control settings. You can make personalized adjustments from the browser to set limits that you desire and to insure your child’s safety.

4. You can increase children’s safety by creating Limited User Accounts for your children from your Administrative Account. This restricts children from changing system settings, installing any new software which includes chat programs, games, etc. You can see the help section of your Operating System for detailed instructions on how to create User Accounts. This is a simple process and the instructions are step by step.

5. Be active and be a snoop. Yes a snoop, keep track of the websites that your kids are surfing. You can view all websites that they visited in the History List or Cookies from the web browser. You can even see the email addresses, correspondence and downloaded files. If you see something inappropriate or dangerous take the necessary parental actions. Sometimes we want to be our children’s friend but we have to always be parents first.

Always remember that these are concrete steps that will provide Internet safety for your kids and protect them while they are online and still allow them to get the benefits of using and learning to use the Internet.

About the author:
JR Lang is a computer applications specialist and a parent, if you would like to read more about computers, and to browse all laptops and accessories at very cheap prices please visit his website: Used Cheap Laptops and Cheap Laptop Computers.

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Quick Rundown on Some Kids Game Sites

Friday, June 27, 2008

First we tried UptoTen.com. We tried the Treasure Chest Race but found that getting the boat to follow the cursor was frustrating on the first try. On The Great Honey Race we only had to click on a die to make our honey bee race a butterfly. I liked the realistic bee buzz noises. Ads go off site.

Next there is Learn4good.com. Ads go off site. When presented with the categories, we chose maze. First we tried Blox Forever. It had a lot of rules, but you can get into playing the game quickly because the game only introduced one new rule per level. We found it easy to learn. It was challenging for six-year old DD but she was enjoying it immensely with my help. We were disappointed when we finished all the free levels. You can purchase more levels.

Nanny Mania was another game we played on the Learn4good site. I thought it was an original concept in a game. To play you are pretending to be a nanny and you run around a house trying to keep up with the chores, occasionally changing a baby’s diaper or giving a bottle. DD came back to play this one at a number of different times. She can do it without much help from mom.

At TheKidzpage.com, DD was immediately drawn to Easter Flip. (I don’t know why… it is summer now.) You try to get 3 Easter egg designs in a row by swapping adjacent eggs. We also tried Breakdown, an arcade style game. You use a paddle and balls to hit a wall of bricks. We tried to play Wonka’s Chocolate Pipe Madness, but unfortunately it froze up on us.

Gamerevolt.com, I felt was too grown up for DD.

Kidshub.org. We tried Donkey Kong, but the picture was uncomfortably small for play and we never could figure out how to make the little Mario move.

Freegameshype. We tried Super Mario Flash. She like it for a while and said, “I am going to keep playing until I get out of this place (level 1)”, but it was a little bit too challenging. We never could finish the first level. We can play Mario games on our Nintendo GameCube, but the keyboard controls for this online game were too difficult to master. DD then tried Kung Fu Fighter, which was too violent a game I felt for a six-year old, but I have never enjoyed watching people (even animated ones) kicking and punching each other. I got DD to switch to what I hoped would be a less violent SpongeBob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Bust Up. It was a game reminiscent of a boxing match, with rather funny sound effects. DD actually won round 2. This website had plenty of ads to take one away from the site, and definitely requires adult supervision.

When we landed on Sess.net, it unfortunately had what I would call a semi-porn banner at the top of the page, so we left it immediately.

Terragame required downloads to try their demos, and we want to avoid downloads.

Perhaps I ought to explain my position on downloads. Occasionally when I try to play a game, a message from my browser pops up that says “your security settings do not allow websites to use ActiveX controls installed on your computer.” Call me paranoid , but I will not give any website ActiveX control of my computer unless I know the website has a massive presence online (like ebay.com or google.com, for examples) or a respectable offline presence like Nick Jr or Fisher Price.

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Internet Safety for Kids

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Seeing the off-site links on the Yahoo Kids site, that I mentioned in the last blog post, reminded me that I should probably be a bit more mindful of child safety on the internet.

During my next search for kids games online, I found a site called I Keep Safe. Although it is a very useful site for parents and educators to teach internet safety with videos, lessons, and great all-around information, I am sorry to say the games on the site were a little lame. The one flash game of a cat requires a child to jump over iconic villains of internet safety like spam and viruses.

Through this “I Keep Safe” site we did find another site at Net Smartz Kids. Now here was a game about internet safety that actually taught something while DD played. The object was able to move her pieces on a game board until she reached the end. Along the way were messages that would pop-up like “spam is unwanted junk mail sent to lots of people,” and “viruses can infect your computer and make it stop working.” As a game it was okay, but it could be a useful tool to encourage a dialogue with one’s child about best internet practices. I thought the game board was especially cute: it looked like the inside of a personal computer. There were other games with cute names like “Printer Panic” and “Clicky’s Quest.”

While on the subject of safety, one kid’s gaming website we found that we do not recommend is ToonTown.com. Although it had the Disney name all over the site, we were required to give an email address and a birthdate to register to play. After that we were asked to download software. That was the final straw for me and I quit the site at that point. It was just too much bother, and something just did not feel like genuine Disney about that site.

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Kids Card Games Online

Monday, June 23, 2008

Yahoo! Kids offers several kids card games online: Go Fish, Twenty-one, Canasta, Euchre, Hearts, Gin, Pyramids, Spades. An applet must load.

Bill’s Games offers a no-fuss way to play Solitaire (also known as “Patience” in England) on the internet. Bill’s Games is compatible with all browsers including TV browsers like MSNTV (WebTV), WorldGate and AOLTV. It doesn’t use Java, JavaScript, Shockwave, Flash, or other plugins or downloads. We tried it and it works great.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Here is an interactive “Learn to Play Demo” for the real world Pokemon Trading Card Game. There is also a Card Anatomy Demo. Both tutorials use the Flash plug-in.

File Buzz has freeware and shareware of all types. A couple of kids card games available as shareware are below:

3D Classic Card Games
This card games program “includes whist, seven up, war, crazy eights with up to three variations for each one. Whist, Whist 104, 2-Trump Seven Up, 2-person Seven Up, 4-Trump Seven Up, 4-Person, Seven Up, Closed War, 2-Person war, 3-Person War, Crazy Eights, Crazy Eights 108. Play with your friends on the network or online against others whose IP addresses are known. You may either begin a new game or join an existing one on the network. We offer simple and fun card games with 11 card models to choose from and the possibility to regulate the speed of card dealing. A number of image and sound options help to create an inviting atmosphere in a realistic environment. These options allow you to see the cards from many angles in a realistic graphic environment complimented by fluid animations. New players quickly learn the game rules thanks to player autonomy. Online help and menu help options are always available in the corner of the screen by clicking with your mouse. This program is compatible with Windows 98, Windows XP and Vista 32 Bits including a 3D acceleration card Direct3D and 8 megabytes of video memory.”

Card Master
“Card Master is a collection of 21 different card games that provides hours of entertainment with its selection of 2, 3, and 4 player games.It includes trick taking games such as Spades, Euchre, German Whist, Exacta, Spite and Malice, and Whist; rummy type games such as Arlington and Canasta; kids’card games such as Comet, Knaves, Scotch Whist, and War; and many less well-known games such as Fan Tan, Durok, Tablanette, Klabberjass, Skat, and Zetema.”

FamilyFun.go.com Games site For Solitaire on a grand scale there is “Hotel Solitaire.” This website touts a free trial download and the following: “Welcome to Hotel Solitaire where you have a reservation for endless solitaire fun! Step into the elevator and get ready for a variety of card challenges as each floor presents a new twist on classic fun. As you make your way through the hotel, you’ll unlock even more excitement in the hotel’s C***o, Recreation Room, and Terrace. Whether you’re looking for a relaxing game of cards or a frantic race against the clock, Hotel Solitaire has accommodations for all. Check in to this suite solitaire game!” The full Version features 15 different games on 100 Levels, two game modes, beautiful full screen display and unlimited play (once you buy it.)

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Yahoo Kids Games

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Making some searches we found a kids gaming website at Yahoo at kids.yahoo.com/games. Duh, I thought. Why didn’t I try here before. I used to be an addicted backgammon player on Yahoo many years ago. Let’s see what Yahoo for kids has for us.

First there was a very prominent image for Kungfu Panda which appeared to be a game trailer. We watched that. The page was very busy with image links to videos that could be watched, but we were looking for games. Finally I noticed that if that a game would have the words “play now” near it, whereas a video might have “watch now.” DD first chose the Perfect Pizza game. Matching an example pizza she had to use her mouse to click and drag ingredients precisely on a second pizza. It is also a beat-the-clock game. She liked it.

Then we tried JT’s Blocks but gave up after waiting for three minutes for the applet to load. Someone else might have better luck.

We then tried the Charlie & Lola maze, based on the Disney channel show, according to my daughter. She used the keyboard arrow keys to navigate the maze, that you cannot see on your screen all at once. That makes it more of a challenge. If you get stuck there is an “are you lost” button that lets you see the entire maze on the screen at once and shows you where you are. The characters have voices of real children (not cartoon-like voices) saying things like “race you back to the beginning” and “over here.” A nice thing about this maze is you are racing other characters and not just trying to beat a clock like many others.

We then tried the Veggie Tales Jump Ship game, but unfortunately could not figure it out.

From there we went to the Harry Potter Dolores Umbridge’s Cats. This is an original game whose object is the free the cats that have been magically entrapped in decorative plates hanging on a wall. DD completed level one of her second try after I showed her how to hold and release the left mouse button. Real cat video and audio enhance the play of this game and make it a must-play for cat-lovers.

Overall, we liked the Yahoo Kids Games and we will be back.

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