Guest Post – Matthew Tanner

Hey all! We have a guest post today. Please welcome Matthew Tanner of Appgamesguide.com!

7 Awesome Game Apps to Increase Children’s’ Focus and Creativity

“The growing prevalence of video games in our technology-driven society over the past several decades has, for many, provoked a question: “Are video games beneficial or detrimental to our children’s growth?” Recent studies have suggested that these games may indeed provide certain benefits to children.

Various studies have suggested a myriad of positive effects from video games on players:

• Increased spatial cognition
• Increased creativity
• Improved focus
• Improved learning skills
• Reduced symptoms of dyslexia
• Reduced symptoms of ADHD

While perhaps not a suggestion that video games will replace traditional medicine anytime soon, this evidence may influence some parents to seek out more video games for their children’s mental and creative growth.

Allowing children to play is important, whether that’s at a playground, in the living room, or on an iPhone or Android.

Upgrading learning skills

A 2014 study by the University of Rochester suggests that people who play action video games may learn more quickly than people who do not play action video games; this includes learning outside of video games. This evidence may suggest that players develop learning skills while playing video games.

According to the study, non-action games may not have the same effect on learning ability as action games.

A separate study by a research team in Italy suggests that playing action video games may also reduce symptoms related to dyslexia in some children. According to Andrea Facoetti, “Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment.”

A Creative Boost

Video games are a form of play. Children who engage in this form of play are more creative, a 2011 study by Michigan State University suggests. The study of about 500 middle schoolers showed that children who played video games performed more creatively at tasks such as drawing and writing.

Children involved in the study that used cell phones and computers to do tasks other than video games did not show this same boost in creativity.

The study also showed that boys preferred violent action-filled games to girls, who preferred games with social interaction (either human or artificial). The type of game preferred did not show any variance in the level of creativity shown by the children.

 

7 Game Apps for Your Child

Whatever it is that your child likes to play, he’ll always find a game that will allow him to express his creativity, solve problems, and perhaps grow a little.

This concise list of mobile game apps will provide your child with a first step (or a next step) to get playing.

 

Minecraft Pocket Edition

Anyone can understand the appeal of building blocks; you can build whatever you can imagine, and it gives a physical presence to your games of pretend. Your block can be a brick on a house, or it can be a dog or a cat. Minecraft took this appeal and packaged it in a digital form. Minecraft is social and creative, allowing players to build their own blocky creations (either with materials provided for them, or by gathering materials from a randomly-generated world) and share them with friends.

 

Roblox

Roblox is described as a “virtual world” for players to exist and interact in. Players can create and customize their own character, customize their own house, and play mini-games with their friends.

 

Super Mario Run

Nintendo’s iconic Super Mario is featured in an action game where the character is in perpetual motion and the player must tap their phone with the correct timing to collect power-ups and stomp on top of enemies. Super Mario Run is simple and easy to learn, but the challenge lies in getting the highest score.

 

Timberman

Timberman is a fast-paced action game where the player must rapidly tap their phone to chop a tree as quickly as possible while avoiding the branches on either side of the tree. Similarly to Super Mario Run, this is a game that’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master.

 

World of Goo

World of Goo World of Goo is a puzzle game where the player must create bridges by tapping the screen to place balls of goo that act as parts of a structure. The game provides the player with some interesting physics-based challenges.

 

Nancy Drew: Codes and Clues

Nancy Drew: Codes and Clues Nancy Drew: Codes and Clues is another puzzle game. It teaches players coding skills and pattern recognition by challenging players to guide a robot puppy past obstacles using sequences of commands, and to find hidden objects within the environment of the game. Players do not need prior programming knowledge to play the game. Her Interactive, the game’s developer, also writes a blog about their games for young women.

 

Pokemon Shuffle Mobile

Pokemon Shuffle Mobile is a matching puzzle game where players must match 3 icons of the same character on a puzzle board in order to deal damage to an opponent. Players can plan their moves strategically so that they can line up more than 3 icons at once, making it easier to win the stage and collect a new character whose icon they can choose to match in a future stage.

 

Set Aside Time to Play

Playing games is an important form of self-expression for children, whatever kind of games they happen to be. When making video games a part of your child’s play, keep an open dialogue about the media they are consuming.

Whatever kind of mobile device you use, it is a gateway to imagination and endless worlds of fantasy.”

–Matthew Tanner

 

Author Bio

Matthew Tanner is a professional game tester. He has always loved video-games and he decided to make a living out of reviewing and testing them. Matthew found his passion in the local arcades trying to beat and maintain the high score on Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

Save