Comments on: Games with Random Flash Action?

Question: Games with Random Flash Action?

anastasiav — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:02:47 -0800

I'm looking for flash "games" suitable in content for a preschool child (ie: no gore, violence, etc.) where you click the mouse or press a key and something happens, but where you're basically just creating random action. For example, clicking the mouse on the screen might cause a "firework" to deploy or a bubble to be created or burst. Any suggestions?

By: number9dream

number9dream — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:09:20 -0800

I don't have specific suggestions, but you might try searching MeFi for the Friday Flash stuff, I'm sure there are tons of games there that would be suitable.

I recall one in particular that was really entertaining, where there were lots of balls bouncing around on the screen, and you would click to create one explosion, which would cause all the balls in a certain radius to explode, causing nearby balls to explode, etc. The goal was to blow up a certain number of balls, which would increase every level. Sorry, don't have time to search for it right now.

By: jamaro

jamaro — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:09:29 -0800

Virtual Bubblewrap continues to amuse me well out of my preschool years.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:13:50 -0800

My three year old daughter and I love to play games at Orisinal. Most of them are non-violent. Plus, they're all really, really beautiful.

By: pinkbuttonanus

pinkbuttonanus — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:15:24 -0800

A year or so back, Lifehacker mentioned a couple of downloadable (sorry, not Flash) games that do pretty much what you're after:

BabySplat (Windows)

AlphaBaby (Mac)

By: lockestockbarrel

lockestockbarrel — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:22:38 -0800

I've always gotten a kick out of this website -- the boobah zone

By: jquinby

jquinby — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:23:14 -0800

Seconding BabySplat. You, uh, might want to get a second keyboard if your kids are still at the drooling age.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:29:37 -0800

Although more gamey games and activities, and some heavy commercialism to steer carefully around to minimize ad exposure, here are the sites my 3 year old likes:

Fisher Price online learning
Disney
Bob the Builder
Mister Roger's Neighborhood
Thomas the Tank Engine

By: leahwrenn

leahwrenn — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:32:30 -0800

Seconding AlphaBaby. My two-year old is really into it, and I think she will continue to be amused.

The game number9dream was referring to was probably Boomshine. Good music, too.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:33:54 -0800

Oh and I believe number9dream was searching for Boomshine, mentioned here and here. Pretty looking and sounding.

By: coevals

coevals — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:49:06 -0800

Boowa and Kwala at Uptoten.com is full of clickable games, all very silly and fun for preschool kids. And Zefrank's Frog is also very fun if you have a mic connected to your computer and you don't mind the yelling and giggling that will ensue.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:51:38 -0800

Some of the Wiicade games might work. They may not be truly random, but little ones won't know if they are winning or losing.

Also, Shuffle (recently on the Blue) could work. They have to point to a ball, then click and drag, but that should be within their ability. Here is the root site.

By: pseudostrabismus

pseudostrabismus — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:04:27 -0800

There are non-violent, non-commercial games designed for preschool kids at this site. (They are a little more complex than what you asked for- not random- but as they are designed for the right age range, and with educational objectives in mind, I thought I'd suggest them anyway.)

By: MonkeyToes

MonkeyToes — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:50:02 -0800

A similar question was asked here a while back. Check out the links (some of which may have expired by now) and enjoy.

By: motdiem2

motdiem2 — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:00:13 -0800

poissonrouge is nicely done : I've seen kids of various ages enjoy it

By: k8t

k8t — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:02:59 -0800

Boobah

By: unrepentanthippie

unrepentanthippie — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:14:10 -0800

Boomshine.
The kid cannot lose; they just play until they win.

By: shothotbot

shothotbot — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:19:04 -0800

My four year old and I enjoy linerider. I think she should like pixel whimsy, but I dont have a mouse on my laptop and she doesnt get the touch screen. Pixel whimsy does just what you ask, pressing a key "makes something happen" on the screen. For example, 't' makes a fractal tree grow.

By: user92371

user92371 — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:53:13 -0800

The mixulator, man.

By: slightlybewildered

slightlybewildered — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:23:34 -0800

Kneebouncers does exactly as you describe.

By: hurdy gurdy girl

hurdy gurdy girl — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:31:48 -0800

Sounds like it's similar to pixel whimsy, but Zefrank also has a game where you type lowercase letters on the keyboard and things happen: for example, typing the letter k makes a starburst appear.

By: pootler

pootler — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:32:21 -0800

I vote for Fisher Price and Poisson Rouge too - my kid has loved them since he was tiny.

He's also long been addicted to the alphabet pages on starfall.com, some of which are point and click, and others are games.

By: evarmint

evarmint — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:55:09 -0800

Hi, I'm the author of Pixel Whimsey, and I wrote it for my own kids so they would have exactly what you are asking for here. I also wrote it so that it would be interesting for me too, so you can play it with your child and both of you will have fun.