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If you are or plan on raising a gamer, you’re going to need to know about these 25 Best Xbox One Games for Kids. The age range and official rating will accompany each title, along with suggestions on how to navigate the game with your child and what real-life skills it can teach. All parents should keep in mind how the rating system works in the US and other parts of the world, depending on where each game was developed.
Despite popular belief, Nintendo is not the only console with games directed towards kids. Microsoft has been at the forefront of indie and AAA games directed towards children and adults alike. This is great for optimal interaction and really getting your kids passionate about video games.
In addition, the Xbox One features Co-Pilot Mode: the ability to map any game’s controls across more than one controller. This provides an automatic couch co-op mode for any game on the Xbox One and will help your child learn the fundamental basics of gaming.
As such, here is a list of the 25 Best Xbox One Games for Kids:
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
You could probably argue this game is suitable for ages 7 and up, but that very much depends on the child and parents in question. Marvel Super Heroes 2 is not necessarily as graphic as the movies it is based on, but there is plenty of cartoon violence.
However, as a LEGO game, you know it’s going to be good. If your kids really enjoy the latest Marvel movies, they’re going to love Marvel Super Heroes 2. The game has a completely original story that brings together almost all the superheroes and villains from the Marvel comic book universe, including favorites from the movies like Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man.
This is definitely an easy one, Marvel has made superheroes popular again with movies that are sure to appeal to just about anyone. If you don’t know who or what Iron Man is, watching the movies will help you talk with your child about the game and be a little less lost if you’re watching them play LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2.
As to what Marvel Super Heroes 2 can teach, it is much the same that the movies do: teamwork, doing the right thing, and always having a sense of humor in the face of dark times. In addition to that bit of philosophy, the game will increase your child’s hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and selective filtering (a skill that can grow into expert multi-tasking in the work environment).
Roblox
Official Rating: Everyone
Roblox, currently quite popular on mobile, is a collection of games made through Roblox Studio, a game design program available on Mac and PC. Most of these games have extremely simple concepts and very short game sessions, perfect for children. Though the official rating on Google Play is Everyone 10+, due to the nature of some Roblox-made games.
There are filters available for parents, like the removal of in-game chat and personal messaging. The filter also applies to some of the more problematic games that involve gun violence and a variety of subtle undertones parents might not be comfortable with. To better navigate Roblox and decide whether it is right for your child, take a look at the Roblox Parent’s Guide to Robux, Chat Filter, & More link below.
RiME
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
The majority of RiME is quiet and serene, but towards the end, the themes get dark and a little tragic. However, the entire story is told silently through images, puzzles, and actions. As such, you can allow children under the official rating to play most of the game.
RiME is a good place for your gamer-in-training to build their dexterity and understand advanced symbolic recognition (ie. press A to jump). With very little happening on the screen or complex puzzles to solve, RiME is perfect to teach your child the very basics of gaming.
It will help immensely if you play the game yourself before inviting your child, as then you will know in advance which parts might not be appropriate for your child. In that vein, RiME is a game centered around exploration and admiring the beautiful vistas as you climb an ancient and mysterious tower. It is a relatively short game, but definitely worth it in the end.
Rocket League
Official Rating: Everyone
Soccer with jet-powered cars! What could possibly be more fun? This is a game with no age limit and one of the best competitive multiplayer modes. Rocket League can be played on all current systems and even features cross-play between the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC.
In addition, Rocket League includes couch co-op modes for any parent who wants to test their skills against their gamer-in-training. In fact, if your child gets really good at Rocket League, they could make a career out of it. Rocket League has been a part of eSports ever since its launch and competitions are being held year-round.
Rocket League is a game that will teach your child teamwork, and not a little competition. Keep in mind that online interactions are not rated and if your child is too young, you might want to play Rocket League offline or in couch co-op modes only.
It’s one of the best xbox one games for 10 year olds especially, who are more apt to enjoy action-packed games.
Minecraft
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Though you might be looking at Minecraft and think there couldn’t possibly be a rating for these pixels, there is some fantasy violence involved. As you might recall, there are enemies in Minecraft and you do have to get rid of them somehow, usually with a pickaxe. These enemies are not particularly scary or frightening in any way, they are just black pixelated blobs.
Minecraft has been proven to be such a great teaching tool from K-12, that Microsoft has begun a program called Minecraft Education Edition. In this version of Minecraft, provided to any educator who asks for it (Microsoft will even offer the technology required), your child can learn collaboration, communication, critical thinking, systems thinking, and even learn to code.
As a parent, it is easy to get involved. Play with them on occasion, create your own character, and maybe even a house inside the game. You can even help them research outside of the game and teach them how to sort fact from fiction on the internet.
There’s no denying that Minecraft is one of the best Xbox games for kids, and even still in 2018, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another game that’s better.
Rayman Legends
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Rayman Legends is a bright and colorful platformer that will test the skills of both parent and child. You can play together to teach great lessons in teamwork and collaboration or watch your child grow and learn each new level as they come.
Needless to say, Rayman Legends is a game that requires a high dexterity score and as such, the rating can apply to ability as well. Depending on what stage your child is at, Rayman Legends could be a great way to increase that dex score and teach your child how to deal with frustrating moments in games. That is not to say Rayman Legends is a difficult game like Cuphead, but if you have not been playing Mario since the 80s, this platformer can get tough.
Ori and the Blind Forest
Official Rating: Everyone
If you think your child can get through the first heartbreaking moments of Ori and the Blind Forest, then they can probably handle the owl and timed sections. With a variety of difficulty settings available, your child can likely finish the game on their own, depending on their abilities and what they think of the game. As such, keep in mind that if you remember being terrified of the Wall Masters in Ocarina of Time, your child might think the same of the owl.
Depending on your child and how both of you approach Ori and the Blind Forest, the game can teach compassion. If your child is able to follow along with the story, it will be something they could remember for the rest of their lives. Just as we had to save the princess in our gaming past, they will learn the power of forgiveness and compassion.
Unravel
Official Rating: Everyone
This is another game with a deep meaning behind it, but the meaning is distinctly less obvious than Ori and the Blind Forest. As such, Unravel could be played by any child looking for an easy introduction to platforming and puzzles.
Like RiME, Unravel is a game that does not push you towards certain goals. Your child can take their time learning the controls and how button pushes and analog stick movements translate on-screen.
Unravel is also a great opportunity to use the Co-Pilot Mode I mentioned in the introduction. You can put your child in charge of jump, swing, or push. You probably won’t play better as a team, but Co-Pilot is a way to get parents and children involved in the same game. Again, with Unravel’s slow pace and easy puzzles, your gamer-in-training is sure to be ready for more advanced platformers in no time.
Candleman
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Candleman is a game based on simple platforming concepts. There is nothing difficult about this game, you and your child will be able to finish Candleman with ease. What makes this game fun, and certainly an educational experience in game development and a hyper-focus on spatial awareness is how Candleman handles light. Normally, you don’t really think about lighting in a game beyond the night and day cycle, but Candleman is here to make you second guess what you’ve taken for granted.
This is a game that can teach your child how to look for important details quickly and with near perfect accuracy. As an extension of putting the square peg in the square hole and memory card games, Candleman makes the player pay attention to small details and to remember them as accurately as possible.
Skylanders: Imaginators
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Looking for Smash Bros. but don’t have a Nintendo console? Look no further than the Skylanders: Imaginators. This game is perfect for kids, bringing toys to life in-game and the ability to create an entirely new character from scratch; the character customization in this game is surprisingly exceptional.
Skylanders is a game that can bring friends together in multiplayer and couch co-op, as well as in physical toys. That said, it is important to point out that Skylanders is rife with microtransactions and the toy products are literally everywhere in the toy section. Once you get your children into this and they like it, there is no going back. However, if you’re an experienced gamer you know that a passion for video games always has a price tag.
Portal Knights
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Once your child grows out of Minecraft, it’s time to introduce them to Portal Knights. This is a game where you can skill build the perfect castle or fortress with items collected from the many worlds you visit, with the addition of exciting combat. Portal Knights, much like Zelda, has many enemies and arena boss battles that will keep kids of all ages coming back for more.
Like Minecraft, the Portal Knights can be played online for random (or intentional) encounters with other players. Though not as accessible for education, Portal Knights is a game with more complex interactions required of all team players. Building, of course, is going to promote creativity and that spatial awareness video games are so good at teaching. In addition, dying has no consequence. You simply respawn at the entrance to whatever area you were in.
Yooka-Laylee
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Though your child will likely have no idea what Banjo-Kazooie is and the legend it created in gamer’s minds, they will definitely enjoy the similar levels and colorful characters. Yooka-Laylee, much like its predecessor, is a 3D platformer where you play a lizard-like creature and your partner is a bat.
Since the bat helps you fly and reach certain platforms safely, this is another opportunity to use Co-Pilot Mode. Again, you can’t expect to do better with your child helping you play, but it will involve your child and show them just why you’re so passionate about this game.
Yooka-Laylee, like all other games on this list, will teach your child greater dexterity, faster reaction time, and spatial awareness. Dexterity comes from handling the controller properly in order to move the characters on the screen.
Reaction time is practiced over and over with timed levels and obstacles within the game, like moving blocks. Spatial awareness is important to find all the collectibles within Yooka-Laylee and better understand how to get from point A to point B.
A Hat In Time
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
If your child thought Yooka-Laylee really wasn’t all the great, then A Hat In Time is everything Yooka-Laylee isn’t. A Hat In Time has great controls and a smooth camera, the two keys to a fun platformer.
There isn’t much of an in-depth story in this game, but your child will have way more fun with the variety of levels and gameplay mechanics featured in A Hat In Time. Don’t forget to hang with your child as they play a level or two, as A Hat In Time is entertaining for both parties.
A Hat In Time can be played by children under the official rating, but again, that is under the parent’s discretion. It is a fun, colorful game with a light sense of humor and easy platforming to make your child feel like an expert.
Fe
Official Rating: Everyone
Though you may have heard reviews that regard Fe as a lackluster, it is a perfect game for kids. For any gamer-in-training out there, Fe can teach the basics through beautiful visuals and a powerful soundtrack.
This is another game to utilize that Co-Pilot Mode if you want to play with your child. You can put them in charge of the platforming bits, or the singing parts. Both of you will have to work together to solve puzzles, creating teaching moments that will have you beaming with pride.
Fe is somewhat linear so your child will not get lost as easily as they might in games for older kids like Minecraft or Portal Knights. Fe is also a slow game, there is no need to rush from one level to the next. As such, there are no in-game consequences to your child not going in the right direction at the right time.
One Eyed Kutkh
Official Rating: Everyone
One Eyed Kutkh is definitely a game geared towards smaller children. There are no lose-situations or negative consequences to doing something “wrong,” the game is a simple point-and-click game with hardly any platforming or puzzles involved.
One Eyed Kutkh is about understanding what is on the screen and how it will help the player progress. Spatial awareness and dexterity are skills your child will gain playing this game. The gameplay will teach both slowly and gently, even more so than RiME or Unravel.
Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island
Official Rating: Everyone
Inspired by Mega Man and Ratchet and Clank, Skylar & Plux is a 3D platformer made with all the love and dedication a game deserves. Clearly geared towards younger gamers, this game is above One Eyed Kutkh and RiME in difficulty, but with fun and humor thrown in to keep kids engaged.
There are consequences to failing in Skylar & Plux, as the player has finite lives and once used, there will be a game over screen. This is something to keep in mind if you are offering this game to children that may not respond positively to failure in a game yet.
Skylar & Plux, like all platformers, teaches spatial awareness and dexterity. Both are essential skills to any sport or activity your child will be involved in. If continued to adult life, these skills can translate to better driving.
Sonic Mania
Official Rating: Everyone
I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog on the SEGA Game Gear, so I can personally attest to the visual acuity and spatial awareness I had to learn at top Sonic speed. Sonic Mania is a game made by Sonic fans for Sonic fans. But that doesn’t mean your child can’t enjoy the old-school graphics, the gameplay and levels have been updated to welcome the new generation of gamers.
If you and your child can handle it, Sonic Mania also has a competitive multiplayer mode. This is a split screen multiplayer with only up to 2 players. The objective is to beat your opponent to the end of a chosen level. There might be some yelling and lost coins, but it will all be worth it in the end.
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
Oceanhorn is so heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, it might start to feel a little too familiar. Luckily, there is no Ocean Temple that you need to return to. That said, Oceanhorn is even more child-friendly than Wind Waker, with simple combat, enemies, and brightly lit dungeons.
Combat, like Zelda, involves mostly a bow and arrow and a sword. Enemies are, again, similar creatures ranging from bugs to goblins. The main bosses are more unique, though involve nearly identical tactics to take them down. Dungeons are often depicted as beautiful temples and very rarely claustrophobic.
Oceanhorn’s puzzles are usually simple, with the occasional annoyance lying in the game’s inability to properly communicate to the player what to do. However, that is where the parent can come in and help out if need be. Just like Zelda, Oceanhorn teaches spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, and selective filtering.
de Blob 2
Official Rating: Everyone 10+
The gameplay is easy, even with a timer on each level; plenty easy for kids to tackle and still have fun. The objective of de Blob 2 is to paint the world, sometimes in the right order with the right color. If you forget, there will be lots of prompts to remind you what you need to do. It might make exploring a little less fun, but the prompts are good to keep kids on track who want to be on track.
De Blob 2 is a game that can teach children their colors and how to mix primary colors to get purple, green, and brown. The color mixing makes for a very bright crayon-box inspired game, but that is just fine. Along the upbeat music, your kids will never want to put de Blob 2 down. There’s even a couch co-op mode if parents want to jump in and compete against their children.
Slime Rancher
Official Rating: Everyone
Slime Rancher is cute, fun, and a little addicting. Collecting these adorable slimes is great fun and pushes players to explore new areas. The difficulty curve is slow and easy enough for kids to grasp. If you were looking for something less complicated than Minecraft but with the same ease of play, Slime Rancher is the one you need.
In Slime Rancher, all you’re really doing is managing resources (a skill your kids will need to learn for just about anything, from school to job) and collecting as many slimes as possible. There’s nothing to it. If you turn on Casual Mode, there are not even enemies to fear and splash with water.
Grow Up
Official Rating: Everyone
Grow Up comes from a very simple but charming concept of collecting resources to fix you crash-landed ship, and slowly climbing your way up to the stars. Various special abilities will make this goal easier and more fun, like replicating plants precisely where you need them.
Grow Up will teach your child the basics of gaming, like the diversity of on-screen movement and how to use them to reach certain goals. Grow Up is the next step after a game like One Eyed Kutkh, where there are more controls and things to do that are a little more self-directed.
Super Lucky’s Tale
Official Rating: Everyone
Super Lucky’s Tale is yet another 3D platformer, much like Skylar and Plux. It is aimed at children in a concise, easy, and cheerful manner. The controls are easy to pick up, even if your child is just starting out with platformers. There are consequences for dying, as you only get three hearts and about ten lives, but the checkpoints are smartly placed to keep repetition to a minimum.
The game is very bright and colorful with cute characters that are never really mean, even the villains. In fact, puns are abound to keep the energy fun and kids laughing. Super Lucky’s Tale isn’t just going to be fun, however, as it will teach your child fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and more importantly, spatial filtering. This game keeps the player on their toes with timed hazards and moving platformers, perfect for the budding gamer.
Abzû
Official Rating: Everyone
This game can be played by children as small as 3, depending on how patient they are. That said, don’t expect them to go anywhere fast, much less in a straight line. They will run into a wall and stay there, but I promise they are still learning; Abzû is a great game for teaching the association between controller buttons and what is happening on the screen.
Luckily, there is not much sense of plot in Abzû, nor does it urge the player to move beyond an area. As such, it doesn’t matter at all if your child spends ten minutes trying to figure out how to get out of a corner.
Or, if the swimming controls prove to complicated, feel free to use the meditation mode to teach your child about different fish in the sea. All of Abzû’s fish have real-life counterparts. In fact, as you progress, the fish get older and older until you hit very early life on Earth. What better time to show your children how dinosaurs move in the ocean?
Seasons After Fall
Official Rating: Everyone
Before Ori and the Blind Forest broke our hearts, Seasons After Fall showed us how abstract art could make a smooth and fluid video game. Seasons After Fall is a simple platformer that will give the player new powers to use as they play.
Each of these powers are to do with the actual seasons: winter, fall, summer, and spring. As the player’s character gains power over the seasons, new areas are unlocked. There is some backtracking involved, which might be tedious to the adult player, but for kids it’s perfect. It will teach children to adapt to a familiar setting and look for tools they couldn’t use before.
In addition, Seasons After Fall can be a great starting point to teach your child about the seasons and how they affect our everyday lives. For example, as the main character slips on ice and shivers in the cold, so do we when winter comes.
Depending on how old your child is, you can also help them understand the story of the game, which focuses entirely on the cycle of life and death in nature. The seasons, of course, tie into this theme as plants and other creatures are generally most active at different times of the year for a variety of reasons.
Defunct
Official Rating: Everyone
Defunct is a fast-paced racing game aimed directly at young kids. There are some timed trials for an extra challenge, but for the most part, the player is finding their own tracks at their own pace. There is no need to pick up speed if the player doesn’t want to. As you play, you can pick up items that will change the color of your robot and give you various tricks.
The game’s controls can glitch to a frustrating degree, but when everything is working smoothly, getting up to exceptional speeds is very fun. This is not a high-quality racing game like Forza, but that is what makes it great for kids. They can take their time learning the controls and explore the beautiful environments of defunct without being pressured into doing anything fancy.
Defunct is a simplistic game, perfect for teaching the basics and providing a little racing fun. When played from beginning to end, the game is no more than an hour to two hours long.
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