Top 10 Things My Four-Year-Old Has Learned from Nintendo Wii
Posted by Cottontimer on 27 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Stephen
Marv brought home a Nintendo Wii for us last week. Stephen and I have played Wii Sports and Mario Party for about 30-45 minutes every day. It’s a great way for us to have some fun together at home (we have more than just video games to enjoy, of course!) especially since the weather in London has been so rainy this summer. Fortunately, it’s sunny today so we’re definitely headed out!
Here are the top 10 things Stephen has learned from playing Wii video games:
- How to take turns
- How to be patient
- How to be a good winner, and NOT a sore loser
- How to follow directions
- How to control his body – both gross and fine motor movements
- How to add up the scores
- How to strategize
- How to make decisions quickly
- How to translate an idea into something concrete. Check out the LEGO model he made of Mario Party!
From Stephen’s Toy… - When to call it quits!
OK, so he’s going to be five years old in less than two weeks but he’s still technically four!
What have you learned from video games?
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Video games can be good … in the correct quantity.
Ain’t that the truth for everything!
Niels totally needs to learn #3 and I really want a Wii. REALLY. Maybe that will be my excuse.
Stephen likes to heckle the other players. I’m not sure whether to let it go or not since I think guys do that to each other on the playing field. Damn annoying, though.
Your son made that Mario model at four years old?!?!?! Wonderful!
Hey, remember that video you posted over at b5media of that little kid who was crazy good at the tennis game? Insane!
I’ve been too busy playing myself to make a video of Stephen but I will definitely do it soon!
I have learned it’s totally worth it to have more than one computer, so you don’t HAVE to share.
I think we’ve got an old playstation and an even older super nintendo laying around somewhere, but they don’t get much use. Most of the games we play here are computer-based.
We recently upped the ratio of computers to people in our place. It’s now 4:3.
I actually think PC-based games are easier for little ones to play. Arrow keys and such are easier to manipulate. Some of the Wii games require a two piece controller, one held in each hand, and it gets a little complicated. Although at Stephen’s age, they’re not really playing to win, they’re just playing to do stuff.
Actually if you look at tests, video games are very big on motor skills. I actually heard a cool test the Army did. If you dont know they made their own 1st person shooter video game called Americas Army. They took a big group of soldiers and split them into two. Both trained equally they let one group play for a couple of hours each day. End result was almost all the soldiers playing the game had a serious increase in reaction times to making them more receptive. I thought it was pretty amazing when I heard this. Pretty cool no?
Very cool! I read a similar study recently that found surgeons who played more video games also did better on laparoscopic surgery!
Good job on putting together this list. My 4 year old has also taken to the Wii. Other than Wii sports and Mario Party 8, what Wii titles are age appropriate? I am thinking about picking up Boogie when is released tomorrow.
Thanks, Scott! My husband recommends Wii Play, Big Brain Academy, Cooking Mama, and Cars. At this age, they’ll still need us to play with them but those are fun and safe.
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