Summer seems to have disappeared again, and we’ve been having some rubbish weather here in the UK. Yesterday I fell down a bit of an internet hole trying to find some other options for my “bored” sons.
I’ve never been particularly into gaming myself. But living in an all male household, and my older son getting more interested in games has forced me to reconsider. I do remember as a young adult playing some PC games, such as the Sims and SimCity.
My parents were always quite keen for things to be ‘educational’, and now as mum myself I can see why. It’s so hard tearing the kids away from screens, that I often feel that it can’t be too bad if they’re learning something. The main difference between my childhood and theirs is the sheer variety of games on offer; and then trying to find something that’s suitable and not too expensive.
I found a few suitable sites when searching – and one of my sons has shown an interest in cooking recently – so I found some cooking games for him. They were fun for a while but made us both hungry!
I think one of the issues is that I get a bit obsessed with productivity. I often feel like ‘standard’ games are a bit, well, pointless. My husband and son are quite into Minecraft at the moment, and tell me that it’s quite creative. I guess that’s one that I would consider, but seems like a lot to learn!
Since my other son is into lego and Minecraft, I found some other free games that filled a fair bit of time on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Whilst hunting around for them, I found some that were actually more up my street, and gave me some nostalgic feels – including this one that featured the Powerpuff Girls, involving fighting off fireballs and flying around amongst skyscrapers!
I did find that having a dabble around with some of these games that I previously thought were ‘just for kids’ did give me an appreciation for why people enjoy them – it’s a good way of playing with concepts and switching your brain to something different. I often end up scrolling on social media when I want some down time, so maybe I should start showing a bit more interest in the family gaming-fest! Do you play any online games? Got any other nostalgic ones to recommend? Or educational ones that the kids could have a go with this summer?