Games with Random Flash Action?

December 31, 2007 2:02 PM

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?
posted by anastasiav to Computers & Internet (21 answers total)

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.
posted by number9dream at 2:09 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by ColdChef at 2:13 PM on December 31, 2007 [2 favorites]

Best answer: 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)
posted by pinkbuttonanus at 2:15 PM on December 31, 2007

I've always gotten a kick out of this website -- the boobah zone
posted by lockestockbarrel at 2:22 PM on December 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding BabySplat. You, uh, might want to get a second keyboard if your kids are still at the drooling age.
posted by jquinby at 2:23 PM on December 31, 2007

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
posted by nanojath at 2:29 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by leahwrenn at 2:32 PM on December 31, 2007

Oh and I believe number9dream was searching for Boomshine, mentioned here and here. Pretty looking and sounding.
posted by nanojath at 2:33 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by coevals at 2:49 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by The Deej at 2:51 PM on December 31, 2007

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.)
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:04 PM on December 31, 2007

A similar question was asked here a while back. Check out the links (some of which may have expired by now) and enjoy.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:50 PM on December 31, 2007

poissonrouge is nicely done : I've seen kids of various ages enjoy it
posted by motdiem2 at 4:00 PM on December 31, 2007

Boobah
posted by k8t at 4:02 PM on December 31, 2007

Boomshine.
The kid cannot lose; they just play until they win.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 4:14 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by shothotbot at 4:19 PM on December 31, 2007

The mixulator, man.
posted by user92371 at 7:53 PM on December 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Kneebouncers does exactly as you describe.
posted by slightlybewildered at 8:23 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:31 PM on December 31, 2007

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.
posted by pootler at 12:32 PM on January 1, 2008

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.
posted by evarmint at 7:55 PM on January 30, 2008 [1 favorite]