Yeah, that's basically what I was thinking, just that it wasn't quite as eloquently put when I was thinking it ;)

But she does quite well with physical puzzles already, and while I'd like to keep/maintain that, yeah, I was also wanting to have her experience spatial relationships in an electronic medium. Most of the apps she uses are touch-screen, which is a nice interface, but also only 1-3 piece puzzles which only holds her interest for a few minutes since they're pretty easy for her at this point.

Parenting question: Do all kids drag their feet and become lifeless lumps when transitioning to doing something like getting dressed, taking their bath, getting out the door to go somewhere? Of course it's not always the case, but it feels like at least 50% of the time recently my kids just have no motivation to do basic things like these and it takes an enormous amount of effort on my part to get them moving. I have a feeling this is probably pretty universal, so I'm wondering what techniques you all use to inspire your kids to stop procrastinating.

One thing that works well for me, but which takes a lot of effort on my part each time, is to stop and think carefully about what might be de-motivating them. Like if they don't want to take their bath, it's not usually because they don't like the bath but because of some other factor that they don't realize or can't verbalize. I can't always get to the root of it though or talk them through it, so sometimes it just devolves into rewards (bribery) or good ole totalitarianism.

I've thought about implementing a sticker chart and doing the whole structured reward thing for positive behavior. Does anyone have experience with that kind of thing?

Some suggestions :)

LILLY LOOKING THROUGH

OCTODAD: DADLIEST CATCH

CEVILLE

CHRONOLOGY

Thanks for the suggestions! Have you tried any of these titles with kids before? Just curious about first-hand experiences and how well (or badly) they went.

I'm a firm believer in totalitarianism :), there is simply no other option available to the child. I tried stickers before, but that only lasted a couple of weeks before he stopped caring about it anymore.

I played a bit of Lilly Looking Through and Sweet Lily Dreams with my 6 year old, and she generally liked them, although they didn't work perfectly on my tablet. I didn't get far into them though. It's also worth mentioning that my daughter goes to a Dungeons & Dragons class and enjoys it, which is why Sweet Lily Dreams appealed to her.

Both my kids enjoyed playing Enchanted Cave on my Android tablet.

At times. My (almost) 5 year old is notorious for becoming a lifeless lump in the evening that I need to carry to bed, but when he gets there he suddenly remembers that he wants to play on the tablet and easily gets up and goes to fetch it. The older one often bumps into things when she's tired and then "she's hurt" and I need to carry her or help her walk to the bathroom, but if she suddenly wants to look in the mirror or whatever, she'd walk there normally.

I think that's normal stuff. It's like I come to work and first thing I go to the GOG forum. It's not that I don't like my work, it's just that it's more fun being on the GOG forum. Similarly, I don't think that the kids have anything they particularly hate about getting dressed or taking a bath, it's just that these are chores, they aren't the interesting part of the day (playing, drawing, TV, ...). A lot of people procrastinate when it comes to chores. The normal way to make it be less of a chore is to make it into a habit. Once you do it without thinking it's not as bad. But this takes time.

You are welcome :)

I didn't played them really, so I can't tell you how is the gameplay. I just think they can be funny for them. ^_^

Ah yes, that's a good one -- I used to use this a lot in the past but somehow it fell out of my bag o' tricks these days. I'll have to start using that one again.

I noticed the other night that sometimes my kids just haven't actually heard what I'm telling them. It's not that they are purposefully ignoring me in some instances (though in others they are), but sometimes they are just so engaged in horsing around or whatever that they are oblivious to everything else around them -- and that might even include my 5 reminders to them that they need to get ready for bed. So taking a break in the action of whatever they are doing, looking them square in the eye and letting them know that something is coming up they need to prepare for in 5 minutes might be a great way to get them ready for it.

I just came across this game which is currently on sale for $1:

Teddy Floppy Ear -- Mountain Adventure
http://store.steampowered.com/app/340300/

It looks kind of like a potential point & click successor to the Putt-Putt series? Apparently the Teddy Floppy Ear series is based on a popular Polish cartoon. Any experience with this one? The publisher also has a couple other games that look pretty kid-friendly available:

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Forever%20Entertainment%20S.%20A..

In particular, Millie looks pretty neat and is less than $1 right now.

In the Humble Bundle Spring sale, there's also this potentially kid-friendly title currently on sale for around $1 which includes DRM-Free, Android, and Steam keys: Puddle

Octodad: Dadliest Catch currently on sale at Humble $3.74 (75% off), DRM-Free + Steam key.

I've had my eye on this one for a while, looks pretty hilarious and a ton of fun to play co-op with kids.

Getting kids passionate about gaming is easy, prying their face off the screen is hard.

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if I may be unleashing an untamable beast, but my thought is that helping them to learn how to game responsibly while young will benefit them down the road when I won't always be there but the temptations persist.

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. My 7-year-old (and his school friends) play this game themselves. My wife loves it too. (Haven't played it myself though, not my type of game).

Red Ball 4. My 7-year-old also just discovered this game and is enjoying it a lot. He finds some levels a bit hard and asks me for advice, but he completes all the levels himself (Not my type of game again, so I just give quick verbal advice and don't touch it :D!)

ETA: Neither are on GOG, my version of Garden Warfare is PS4 but it's also available on Origin, and Red Ball 4 is a free tablet game with an ad to watch when you run out of lives (looks like you can also play RB4 free on your browser too).

My kids got so into Plants vs. Zombies. Wife too! It's a really well-designed game, it straddles that line between simplicity and complexity so perfectly and the character designs are just so endearing. It's also got a great mix of action and strategy, in which both dexterity as well as planning are essential to victory. The difficulty bar is also quite low, yet the way the game presents itself makes one feel accomplished after beating a level. There were some issues with addictiveness that came up while they were playing through it, but I found this to be a good opportunity to set firm boundaries and to let them experience and work through issues like that together.

I also had some reservations about my young kids playing a game in which depictions of decapitations and limb amputations are treated so casually, but given the artistic direction it's much more like a Looney Toons kind of violence then it is a Walking Dead kind of violence. As I type this, I'm reminded that I probably should engage them in processing and thinking about these depictions -- while they are pretty benign, I think that is sort of the crux of the problem... I don't want them to be desensitized to it and I think it's important they internalize and think about what they are seeing as opposed to just letting it become "oh, standard, dude's head fell off".