My nephew picked up a controller for the first time at age 5 and immediately drove Mario Kart directly off Rainbow Road. Twice. In the same race. He was thrilled.
That’s the thing nobody tells you about gaming with kids: they don’t measure success the same way adults do. Falling off Rainbow Road is as funny as winning. Getting eaten by a creeper is hilarious. Accidentally blowing up your teammate in Human Fall Flat is the whole point.
The hard part isn’t finding games kids enjoy. It’s matching the right game to the right age. A game that’s too complex becomes frustrating. A game that’s too simple gets dropped in 10 minutes. Get it right, though, and you’ve got something genuinely special, shared sessions that are better than TV, better than parallel screen time, better than most things you’ll do together on a Tuesday night.
The ESA’s 2025 report found that 82% of gaming parents play with their children at least weekly. If you’re in that group or trying to be, here’s what actually works at each age.
Ages 4-6: The Joy of Chaos
Kids this age don’t know what winning means. They know what’s funny, what’s colorful, and whether they’re doing a thing or just watching you do a thing. The job at this stage is to keep them in the game, literally and figuratively.
What to look for
Invincibility options. The single best feature for this age group. Super Mario Bros. Wonder has Nabbit and Yoshi, who cannot die. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has the same. These characters let a 5-year-old participate in a level without you spending the session reviving them every 30 seconds.
Auto-steering / simplified controls. Mario Kart with Smart Steering on means the car doesn’t fall off ledges. One fewer thing to manage. One more thing they can do themselves.
No punishment loops. Games where dying respawns you immediately with no penalty. Every LEGO game does this well. The worst that happens in LEGO Star Wars is you drop some studs and immediately respawn.
Short session suitability. Attention spans are 15 to 20 minutes at this age. One Mario Kart race (3 minutes) or one LEGO level (10-15 minutes) is a complete experience.
Recommended games for ages 4-6
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe / Mario Kart World, The starting point for most families. Smart Steering, auto-accelerate, 50cc speed, and your kid is driving without frustration. They won’t win. They’ll love it anyway.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pick Yoshi or Nabbit for your child. You handle the actual platforming. They enjoy being in the level with you.
LEGO games (any), LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, LEGO City Undercover, LEGO Jurassic World. All follow the same formula: immediate respawn, big colorful world, characters they already love. The controls are simple enough that a 4-year-old can bash enemies and collect studs without needing to understand what they’re doing.
Minecraft (Creative Mode), Put it in Creative Mode, hand them a controller, and watch them build a house out of gold blocks next to a dirt wall. This is pure exploration play. Zero wrong answers. Kids this age will spend 30 minutes placing the same block over and over and be completely engaged.
Ages 7-9: Ready to Actually Learn
Something clicks around age 7. They start understanding that they can get better. They start caring about winning, at least some of the time. And they can handle games with actual mechanics, learning curves, strategies, objectives.
This is the age where gaming with your kid stops being supervision and starts being competition.
What to look for
Clear feedback loops. When they do something right, the game should make it obvious. Good audio cues, visual rewards, clear win/loss conditions. No ambiguity about what’s working.
Gradual difficulty scaling. Games that ease you into harder challenges rather than spiking the difficulty unexpectedly.
Meaningful participation. At this age they notice if they’re doing less than you. Games where both players are equally needed, not one expert and one button-masher along for the ride.
Recommended games for ages 7-9
Overcooked: All You Can Eat, With the Assist Mode settings turned on, this is manageable for a 7-year-old and actively teaches communication and coordination. The levels escalate slowly enough to build skill without discouraging. The chaos is funny rather than frustrating at this difficulty level.
Rayman Legends, The perfect age for this one. The controls are intuitive, the game rewards getting better, and the music levels are the kind of thing kids will want to replay just to experience again. Drop-in/drop-out means you can start without making it a whole production.
Castle Crashers, Age 7+ can handle the simple combat system and will deeply enjoy leveling up their knight. The humor lands with this age group. The game does get harder but Normal mode is manageable in co-op.
Stardew Valley (Fishing and Farming), A 7 or 8-year-old can fully participate in Stardew Valley. They might not be running the farm strategy, but fishing and foraging and talking to villagers are completely accessible. Good for a parent who wants a relaxed co-op experience with a kid who’s old enough to follow what’s happening.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure, PlayStation exclusive but worth noting for PS5 families. Very accessible platformer, 4-player local, and the aesthetic appeals strongly to this age group.
Ages 10-12: They’re Going to Start Beating You
Fair warning: somewhere around age 10, something shifts. The reaction time advantage kids have over adults starts showing up in games that reward it. You will lose a Mario Kart race to your 11-year-old and it will not feel like you intended for that to happen.
This is good, actually. This age group can handle games with real mechanics, real difficulty, and real narrative. Gaming with them becomes genuinely collaborative.
What to look for
Narrative depth. They’re old enough to follow a story and get invested in characters. Co-op games with actual plots hit differently at this age.
Skill expression. Games where getting better makes you measurably better, not just incrementally faster. They’ll put the time in to improve.
Challenge that’s fair. No more invincibility modes needed. Just games that are hard in ways that feel earned.
Recommended games for ages 10-12
It Takes Two, At 10 or 11, a kid can fully participate in everything It Takes Two asks of players. The story is about a couple getting divorced, which is heavy, but handled in ways appropriate for kids this age. This one can be genuinely special to play with a parent, the relationship themes land differently when you’re playing with the actual parent.
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Six players, beat-em-up, they already know the Turtles. This age group gets the nostalgia (the show has had multiple reboots), handles the mechanics easily, and will want to immediately do it again on higher difficulties.
Trine 5, The puzzle elements here become genuinely interesting for a sharp 10-12-year-old. The three-character system means they can own a playstyle (the knight, the wizard, the rogue) and develop real skill with it.
Portal 2 (Co-Op), Portal 2’s cooperative campaign was designed for exactly this age group. The puzzles require genuine spatial reasoning and communication. A 10-year-old working through a portal puzzle with a parent is one of the better shared experiences gaming offers.
Minecraft (Survival Mode), Switch from Creative to Survival with a kid this age. Build a house together. Go mining. Fight skeletons. Survive the first night. Minecraft Survival is a genuinely great shared adventure that scales with how much time you put into it.
Ages 13-14: Gaming With Them on Their Terms
Here’s the real talk about this age group: they might be better than you. They probably have gaming preferences you don’t share. And the key to gaming together at 13-14 isn’t finding a game you love and dragging them into it, it’s finding something that’s genuinely interesting to both of you.
The games below lean toward genres that bridge the “parent game” and “teen game” gap.
It Takes Two / Split Fiction, Still works
The Hazelight games are rated T (Teen) and have enough depth and humor that a 13-year-old isn’t going to feel like they’re playing a kids’ game. Split Fiction in particular is aimed at older teens and adults.
Streets of Rage 4, For teens who like action
The more demanding beat-em-up. A 14-year-old who’s into games will appreciate the depth here: the combo system, the different characters’ movesets, the challenge modes. Playing through the campaign together in one or two sessions is a satisfying experience.
Stardew Valley, Still relevant, different motivation
A 13-year-old playing Stardew Valley with a parent is often there because they know the game, not because you introduced it. That’s fine. Let them lead. You’re playing in their world now.
Games to try on their terms
If they’re into competitive multiplayer, Rocket League (free-to-play, great 2v2 couch play). If they’re into horror, Phasmophobia is teen-appropriate and works as a shared experience if you’re brave enough. If they’ve beaten you to a game and want to replay it, let them guide you through it. That’s still gaming together.
The General Rules That Apply at Every Age
Lower the difficulty. This is the number one thing parents don’t do enough. You don’t need to play on Normal. You don’t need to prove anything. A relaxed difficulty setting means more time enjoying the game and less time on frustrating sections.
Let them drive. Literally sometimes (Mario Kart), but also figuratively. Let them pick the character, the level, what to do next. Investment in the session comes from having ownership over it.
Fail together. The best gaming moments with kids are usually the disasters. The wipeout on Rainbow Road. The kitchen fire in Overcooked. The time someone hit everyone with a blue shell at the finish line. Let those moments be funny.
Don’t “help” them too much. Nothing kills the joy faster than a parent who just takes over the hard sections. Ask if they want help before providing it.
Stop when you need to stop. One more race that neither of you really wants is worse than stopping at a natural high point.
What’s the game that landed best with your kid? Drop it in the comments, always looking for new recommendations for this age group.
About the Author: Fred is one half of Two Average Gamers, a community-focused gaming site dedicated to helping regular folks enjoy gaming without the toxicity. He has lost approximately 40% of his Mario Kart races to kids under 12 and refuses to discuss the specific win rate further.
More from the Co-Op Guide
This article is part of our Ultimate Couch Co-Op Guide, the complete guide to playing together in 2026.
- Best Co-Op Games on Switch 2
- The Age-by-Age Guide to Gaming With Your Kids
- Board Games vs. Video Games for Game Night
- 8 Party Games That Make Every Gathering Better
- Best Online Co-Op Games for Long-Distance Friends
Also from TAG: The Busy Gamer’s Survival Guide | Which Handheld Should You Buy in 2026?
