Windows 10 devices provide us with the opportunity to escape the world for short periods of time using the many gaming titles in the Windows Store. If you are a parent, this feature easily transfers to your kids when they need a little help passing the time.
Whether it is surviving a long road trip, lengthy waits at a restaurant or any other situation where it can be tough for a kid to sit on their hands, the Windows Store has a fantastic lineup of titles for our younger gamers. Many of which offer a nice blend of mindless entertainment with an educational lesson.
Here are our best kids games from the Windows 10 Store.
Disney Find and Seek
Disney offers a host of fun and challenging Windows 10 games. They range from match-three style games to hidden picture games. Disney's Find 'n Seek falls into the latter genre of games and is well suited for our younger gamers.
The storyline behind this Windows 10 game is that a group of Tricker Stickers have run amok in the Disney Enchanted Library. To restore order, you have to solve hundreds of hidden object puzzles, capture the Stickers and return them to the Book of Little Tricksters.
Gameplay involves finding a grouping of hidden objects that are embedded in a scene filled with Disney characters including Donald Duck, Buzz Lightyear and more. Games are timed to add a level of difficulty and there are hints available to point you in the right direction.
Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, Disney Find 'n Seek is a free game that includes the Donald's Day Out book of puzzles. Additional puzzle books are available through in-app purchases. These books include puzzle themes from Disney movies such as Frozen, Tangled and Toy Story. The chapters run $2.99 each or can be bundled for $9.99.
Picture puzzles are surprisingly challenging and may require a little parental help for the younger gamers with the hint options providing easy to use guidance as well. Graphics are bright, colorful and full of detail. Disney Find 'n Seek is a fun game for a wide range of age groups. Don't be shocked if you find yourself asking your kids for a turn at the game.
Download Disney Find 'n Seek from the Windows Store
Tim the Fox
Tim the Fox is a colorful Windows 10 game designed for children from 2-4 years of age and offers an interactive teaching approach for memory, logic and counting skills. The Windows 10 title tosses in a few life lessons as well.
The game has four mini-games that include:
- Dress the Fox: A free play game where you child can use their imagination to dress Time the Fox in a variety of styles.
- Feed the Fox: Here you choose edible and non-edible objects for Tim the Fox to try. Choices include sweet and unsweetened foods, fruits and vegetables. Based on Tim's reactions to the food, children learn what is edible and what isn't.
- Puzzle: Build objects from simple elements that are scattered about the screen. A truck, house and bouquet of flowers are amongst the objects needing built.
- Harvest: Gather and count crops such as pears, carrots and blackberries.
Graphics are bright and colorful and the touch interface is simple for young children to master. Tim the Fox is a free game with access to the Dress the Fox game. Unlocking all four games requires a $1.99 in-app purchase. Overall, Tim the Fox is an entertaining way to let your kids explore their imagination and practice core learning skills.
Download Tim the Fox from the Windows Store
Toca Boo
Toca Boca is an award winning game studio and offers a wide range of fantastic children's games in the Windows Store such as Toca Kitchen. The Toca series of games are structured towards our younger gamers (pre-school or elementary school ages) and offers a fun, interactive learning experience.
Toca Boo provides children an opportunity to tap into their creativity and have a little fun with Halloween themed characters. You play the role of Bonnie who spends her time spooking people. Toca Boo has Bonnie dressed up as a friendly ghost who floats around a huge house, exploring the surroundings and finding a place to hide so she can spook the residents.
Toca Boo is a free game, available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile. Recommended for ages 4 and older, Toca Boo is a fun game of exploration and while it has a Halloween theme, this Windows 10 game is good year around.
Download Toca Boo from the Windows Store
Kids Preschool Learning Games
Kids Preschool Learning Games is a collection of seventeen simple games that each have an educational twist. Designed for children ranging in age from 3 to 6, the games contain colorful graphics and easy to use touch controls.
Games include the likes of Match the Shadow where you tap/drag objects to the corresponding silhouettes, Cow Mania where you have to tap a designated letter on a cow being carried off by a UFO and Count 123 where you tap and count a series of objects. A points system is in place that rewards children for completing a game stage. Points earned can be used to buy achievement stickers.
The skills these games hope to enhance include basic math, numbers recognition, hand-eye coordination, classification, memory, matching, visual perception and more. There are parental controls in place to prevent young hands from making in-app purchases and each game has a help button in the lower right corner of the game display that reveals "how to play" instructions.
Kids Preschool Learning Games is a free game, available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile. It offers an easy way for your children to practice basic skills in an entertaining fashion.
Download Kids Preschool Learning Games from the Windows Store
If you have tried any of these games, let us know what you think of things in the comments below. As with any of our roundups, it is a challenging task to narrow down all the quality offerings in the Windows Store. If we have missed your favorite Windows 10 kids game, feel free to toss your recommendation out in the comments as well.