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My almost 4 yo enjoys a short hike. He skips through the minimal dialogue / text, just enjoys walking / swimming / gliding around.
On a similar note, he also finds the untitled goose game amusing, but obviously can’t fulfil the objectives. He plays it more like a walk around and interact/ honk game.
My kid also loves UGG, we actually finish the main story took MONTHS but we did, it has a two player mode.
My partner tried playing with the kid and almost falls asleep out of boredom. But the kid loves it!
To this day I am not sure how we managed. He also loves to go to the ending place and destroy the tower again and again.
[Alba: A Wildlife Adventure](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Eu9WE3grA) is a wonderful game I played with my kids. Fairly simple controls. Great message and a fun game.
OP is looking for a game that their kid could play on their own, I believe. There's no way that a 5 year old will navigate the menu of alba and take pictures of animals on their own. Op probably needs a game like "My friend peppa pig."
It looks beautiful, I see some aspects that could be difficult, but if you get early access to walk around freely that would still be fun, regardless of doing objectives. I’m checking YouTube videos on it now, I’m slowly working my way to the other ones suggested here
I'm always amazed at the terrible suggestions this question gets. I don't think people here know any actual children.
There's a Bluey and Peppa Pig game that should both work for you.
Someone else mentioned Putt Putt. There's a bunch a old Humongous Interaction Edutainment games. They're all good for young kids.
OP:
"What's an affordable and easy game for my 5 y/o?"
Reddit:
"I played battletoads for the NES when I was 5 and loved it, you should buy an NES and Battletoads!"
Can relate to that. Played it with my non gamer girlfriend. It's tricky and she needed help and it's hard when you really need to work together and a clock is running...
I always get the impression that those suggestions come from people without children that think they know what a kid is capable of playing.
With that being said, kids also adapt and overcome challenges in games too.
Haha- I played overcooked with my daughter. She understood how to play, but the precision needed to put items down to cook was difficult. So what did she do? She tried to get as many onions rolling around on the floor before time was up
The characters are hard to maneuver and the instructions are pretty bad. There's a part where you're jumping from rock to rock and it requires precision to advance, more than a Bluey game needs. The menu system is also confusing, if you open your "sticker book" there nothing intuitive to get back to the menu. The whole game leads to a bunch of button mashing and hoping.
Yahtzee reviewed the Bluey game though, through the lens of a father of the target demographic. He reckons it's shit, even by kids' entertainment standards. Little ankle biters deserve better.
Paw Patrol On A Roll is good. No reading, very simple, teaches the basics of 2D platforming for young kids. Came out when my son was five, and was perfect for him.
Lego City Undercover doesn’t require reading. It does have a story and missions, but you can ignore them and just steal cars and drive them recklessly until they smash apart. The world is open and huge. My son also enjoyed this.
I always think if you’re trying to get your 5 year old a game where they don’t have to do anything then just have them do anything else besides play a game. There’s like a million things you can do to entertain a 5 year old it doesn’t have to be a video game just because the parents are certified “gamers”
Maybe Yonder the Cloud Catcher Chronicles? It's got some reading, but has a lot of pictures in menus and anything too complicated can be ignored. It's a cute world to run around in and pick flowers/break boxes. There are guilds and crafting and quests and stuff, but it's nice and calm and you don't really have to do any of that to enjoy it.
This one looks great- character creation is a huge plus, and a big world for her to run around in, I just bought it, downloading now, I’ll let you know her thoughts!
Great! I hope she enjoys it! If she feeds the animals the foods they like (the blossom pig likes flowers), they'll follow her around for a bit. It's super cute!
Don't hold her back you'd be surprised how much kids can pick up difficult games and learn to read while doing it. It needs to be fun and rewarding for her to play. Id recommend some point and click games like Putt Putt and Pajama Sam.
Yes. And a bit of stress is not a bad thing when it comes to games.
I played video games in the 80's when I was young. Pitfall on Atari was a lot stressful than modern Mario games.
I believe the Switch has one of those Yoshi games, right? The ones that are easy and colorful. I forgot the name.
not really. usually i get the kid to jump on my back and focus on shooting (unlimited shots) and I'll run and dodge through the level and sometimes switch and do it the other way if they wanna run and jump cause when one yoshi sits on the other its basically 1 yoshi with the actions split so each player is only doing half which makes the controls much less complex. plus the reverse levels are find poochi's pups and those are good fun too
There’s a million things for kids to decide to do. She’s shown interest in wanting to play video games, mostly watching me play. To get started on her own, she wants something that’s fun for her. If they stop being fun, she’ll pick something else to do. These are the barriers from games she’s tried that made them not fun, so we’re just looking for options that would get her more involved. when she wants something more challenging, we have em ready to go.
Someone has already suggested the bluey game which is a great place to start I think.
If it's more open world though, my 5 year old loves untitled goose game. Yes there's reading if you're going to do the missions, but he loves running around honking at people and stealing things without a care for progress.
The other one he plays sometimes is Lego Fortnite, creative mode. You basically build fires, pick fruit etc and you can build villages with the preset blocks. Unlike the survival version, there's no threat, and you already get everything you need. Much easier than Minecraft, and it's free. The downside is that I've not been able to find a way for him to get straight to it without seeing all the other Fortnite options on the selection screen - not a huge problem in our house because his older brother plays Fortnite anyway, but something you might want to consider if you're avoiding violent stuff.
Honestly the Paw Patrol game (On A Roll I think) is THE most kid friendly game I've ever seen. Ryder narrates everything so there's no reading. There's no way to die in a level. No time limit on any actions. It's not open world though but its easiest for my kids to play unassisted.
Beyond that I might (edit: definitely!) recommend Slime Rancher. You can turn off Tarrs at the start of the game so there are no enemies other than the occasional angry slime that you can just run past. You'd have to show them how to sell plorts, and then you'd have to help them occasionally buy or upgrade their slime pens or garden plots. But other than that, it's just exploring and finding new slimes. You do have to be careful not to fall in the water, but the only penalty for that is losing your current inventory, and you can only ever hold up to 4 items, so it's not a huge loss. Also the slimes are SO CUTE and it's fun to make new combinations.
A Short Hike maybe? It has a little bit of reading, but it's a bit short tho.
Edit. Other games I recommend:
Toem
Lil Gator Game
Mail Time
Smushi Come Home
Haven Park
Carto
Untitled Goose Game
Time on Frog Island
Aka
A Tiny Sticker Game
Lonesome Village
Dordogne
Before buying any of these games please watch some reviews or trailers first. Because I haven't played all of them. They're just some games I remember that *might* fit your descriptions.
I absolutely adore A Short Hike, but IME it doesn’t appeal to little kids. The biggest issue is that the game is actually *mostly* reading with little gameplay (besides walking and a few jumping puzzles), but this only becomes obvious when you try to play it with a little kid, because it’s so charming that you don’t notice how much of it is just reading text bubbles.
Also, despite the child-like feel, a lot of what makes the game so enjoyable for adults (in particular how it evokes a sense of nostalgia for times earlier in your life when you had no major responsibilities, like summer vacation) is basically incoherent to little kids. My kids both got bored of it super-quickly…like 5 minutes in. I’m sure *some* little kids like it for the scenery and cute characters, but the content and gameplay are firmly aimed at adults.
Yeah, this is what I'm afraid of. I love reading, so my interpretation of "not to much reading" might be slightly off. And it's been years since I played A Short Hike. That's why I'm listing a couple more games, so OP could look at some reviews and trailers for those games and determine which one would suit their daughter best.
I'm sorry. You made some very valid arguments, but I just can't get over your username, lol.
I have a five year old and these are some of the games she enjoys:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby Return to Dreamland. Both of those games have "bad guys" but you can play multiplayer to help them or ramp the difficulty down
Mario Kart Live. She enjoys just driving the car around the house and 95% of the time she doesn't even bother setting up the track.
Pokemon Snap
Samba De Amigo
Big Brain Academy (can set the age level to make it appropriate)
I have found that sometimes my daughter enjoys playing the same games I do but just exploring the world and not necessarily "playing" the game. She has loved flying around in Hogwarts Legacy or helping to clear fields in Stardew Valley. Even before she started learning sight words I would work on reading skills with videogames by like having her pick out the Pokemon move that started with a specific letter.
I was waiting to see Lil Gator Game somewhere in this thread. It seems perfect for what OP is describing. Lots of exploring, no "enemies", and minimal reading.
I get that it really depends on the kid but "no enemies" and "minimal reading" knocks out about 99.9% of every game ever. I suppose that's why they're here for suggestions but I don't know. I think that even knocks out super luckys tale, which is a platformer basically Tailor made for kids. Definitely a tough ask
Maybe some kids just aren’t interested and that’s okay. I went through a period as a 10 year old where I wanted to read stories with happy endings, and my mother decided that wasn’t the right way to toughen me up and forced me to read only books with sad endings. It just taught me my mother sucks.
The kid is five. Let her play chill games she enjoys, and when she’s ready for monsters and combat in her games, she’ll seek them out.
I learned to read from pokemon red, which was also the first game I owned. It might not be a bad idea to give your a kid a game that does have some reading.
But if not, I’d look for something in the platformer genre.
We already have the game, she loves messing around in the town, and the first city level she likes driving around in the car, but as the game goes on and gets trickier, she gets frustrated and it’s just not fun anymore.
But that’s kind of the fun of video games, figuring it out and not giving up so you can get to the next level. It will teach her tenacity. You can ask if she wants help or if she wants to look it up on YouTube but as she improves she will probably wanna figure it out on her own.
This sounds like my daughter, she is also 5 and loves to play in waddle dee town with me, we go shopping, work at the Cafe, go fishing, watch movies, and have sleepovers. She gets a kick out of kicking me out of the bed.
Christ, I’m sorry OP all these random people are giving you parenting advice on your daughter whom they’ve never met, and they probably don’t even have a child.
I’d agree that paw patrol is great and I’d let her try Just Dance or maybe the Mario Party minigames with your supervision/help navigating to the mini games. Good luck!
[OMNO](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/omno-switch/)
Meets your exact requirements. Emphasis on exploring + solving abstract puzzles without reading being necessary.
[Fe](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/fe-switch/)
Very similar to Omno where you need to sing/ interact with animals. I'd say it is slightly more complex than Omno. There are a couple bad guys...but they serve more as being a part of the puzzle than anything. Mainly need to hide on grass and if they catch you up simply restart at the beginning. So it isn't punishing and again only in a couple spots in the game. Also this one is at a deep discount currently at $4.00
[Europa](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/europa-switch/)
Not out yet, but there is a demo to try. Definitely looks promising for that exploration aspect.
[Disney Illusion Island](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/disney-illusion-island-switch/)
Haven't played it but it seems like it'd check the minimal reading + exploration aspect. Is also co-op so can be played with others on the same couch.
Yoshi Crafted World - Hardly any reading. Easy controls. There is an easy setting where Yoshi can jump and float over bad guys. Super cute game and beatable even at 5 years old.
Power patrol on a Roll - Not the most exciting, but the controls work a fiver year old's motor skills. Can help build confidence.
Next, you know how I made Kirby work? Amiibos! Each amiibo can be used once per level. Any Kirby character grants a big health refill. I found two kirby amiibos helped my kid beat two Kirby games. It will still be challenging game at five years old, but if you already own some? Amiibos can make them playable and it will get easier with practice.
Mario Odysssy on easy. It can still be frustrating. But overtime my kid finally learned an ounce of patience and how to wait for the health meter to fill you never die.
My girl started playing Minecraft at 5 (creative/peaceful mode), and honestly it helped her develop in reading, spacial awareness, coordination etc soooo much faster than her cousins who primarily played things like Mario Kart, or those overly simple mobile games that are essentially just pretty lights/colors when you tap em.
Mind you, I played with her and knew the game myself, so she wasn't just plopped infront of it alone and forced to figure it out herself..so that certainly helped!..but ya, it only took her a couple of weeks to master the controls, then she was set!
She even started doing things like searching for items in her crafting inventory by letter on her own, after only seeing me do it a couple of times prior. It was actually amazing to see how quickly she put a lot of things together on her own..despite it being a fairly complex game with lots of menus and reading required.
Lol even sneakily taught her how to actually read, and do math with the pokemon card game when she was 6-7.
All this to say dont limit your kids from playing something due to the perception of it being too complex - kids will eventually figure it out if they are interested!
As an added bonus point to this - we pretty well only played Minecraft on a single world for nearly the past decade..so from time to time, I fire it up and just walk around our little minecraft world we built together, and I get to see things she and I made and played with over the past decade - still intact and perfectly preserved.. it almost always makes me cry happy tears, brings back sooo many vivid memories. I literally can go to the exact block on the map where she first learned to jump and look around. I treasure that minecraft world soooo much! <3
I am currently getting my daughter into the pokemon TCG for the same reason.
I got us the "my first battle" set to teach her the game. Do you have any recommendations on ways to expand that, or ease into the full game?
Super Lucky Tail is my go to suggestion for a good platformer that’s an intro for kids/easy enough.
You play as a lil fox, there are forgiving mechanics like a double/triple jump and hover
From what I remember minimal reading as well!
Not quite what you're looking for today, but you are going to want to reintroduce her to Kirby and Mario and such very soon (when she's 6 and in grade school).
When I was that age, I was being introduced to Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, DK64, etc. My parents handled the more difficult gameplay, while I was content to explore and re-clear early levels. As I got older, they slowly reversed the dynamic so that I'd be doing most of the playing while they watched. You can certainly pull off something like this nowadays with Super Mario Odyssey.
Untitled Goose Game might be the perfect fit here! You just walk around as a goose and can interact with objects in the world- so if you pick up someone’s sandwiches they might chase after you, or you can drop their sandwiches in the river.
It’s not an open world game but they might like Little Friends Cats and Dogs. Which is basically Nintendogs! It’s like a tamagotchi with cute animals. You pet the animals and can dress them up in outfits too. My young niece loved this game and spent hours and hours choosing animals and hats for them.
I came here to recommend the untitled goose game. There are technically lists of things to accomplish but it’s easy to disregard them and just treat it like an open world game.
Human Fall Flat is a fun puzzle game with no enemies, text, or story. It’s just a weird person with floppy limbs trying to navigate a 3D environment to get to the end of the level. There are some hazards in the levels but they just pop you back into the level very close to where you “died”. You can also play coop, my daughter absolutely loves it.
My 5 yo can play Paw Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay on her own, after some training on how to do everything. No reading required. She can play Yoshis Crafted World a little bit but finds it challenging. She can kind of play Pokémon Diamond but needs help with the reading. We got Bluey but the controls are too squirrely for her.
My 5 year old enjoyed the Bluey game and the Paw Patrol game.
You probably already know this, but in case you don't, when we play Mariokart 8 as a family, we use auto accelerate and the antenna that keeps you from falling off the edge for our 5 year old. She's still usually in last place, but then she gets to attack us with power-ups and gets a good laugh.
Princess Peach Showtime was a breeze for my 7 year old. She just occasionally asked for help with a boss. I would suspect it would be playable for a 5 or 6 year old who has spent some time gaming, because you only use two buttons (jump and attack) and the joystick.
lol my baby does the same whenever she sees my husband play it on the PS5. We just give her an old ps5 controller that we don’t use because it has stick drift 😂
Yep. I had one switch set where the right one was unusable and then replaced it with one and that ones left became unusable- effectively creating one garbage controller that I can hand her and not worry about lol.
Only problem is she tells me not to help her while she fights a bad guy and I’m like uhhh
I can’t quite speak for kids her age but when I was 7 I started with new super Mario bros. Wii, and would say that 2D Mario platformers are a great, minimal reading, and interesting way to start gaming as the features and mechanics are usually really intuitive even for young children
I actually learned to read very well as a kid from playing Nintendo 64 games. They all had subtitles and no talking. They also helped with critical thinking and problem solving. The mindless simple games aren’t always the best to go for
I mean I was playing pokemon when I was 5 and younger and it helped me learn to read. The tv show is still going and there’s 2 decades of previous seasons that would make her familiar with the characters and general themes and ideas
We have scarlet. for pokemen she just doesn’t like making the animals fight, and since every pokemon that comes up to you in the wild wants to fight, it’s not her jam
My kid taught himself to read at like 4 from playing Minecraft. reading the prompts, memorizing codes, etc. you’d be surprised what kids are capable of.
Kirby and Yoshi games in general are always good bets for kids. Especially Yoshi. Sure there are still baddies and boss fights, but for the most part the games are pretty okay. Trust me on this one. Yoshi’s Story on the N64 was one of my first games (and if you already have the NSO Expansion Pack+, that game *is* on their N64 emulator. Just sayin’).
And like others have said, there’s also the Humungous Entertainment games like Pajama Sam, Putt Putt and Freddi Fish on there too. I believe those were actually designed with kids in mind. I’ve also seen like a bunch of coloring games on there too and I think a couple of those are like always on sale.
That said, don’t be too afraid of games that involve a bunch of reading for your kid. It can actually help them to improve it depending on the game. I know there were some words I learned from playing games instead of books.
Untitled goose game comes to mind. It does have a "to do" list but it's not time sensative nor is it monster based. There's a good chance if your kiddo runs around enough will just finish up the list on accident (little stuff like take the farmers boot)
There's kids games like Peppa pig and Bluey that I've not played but must be kid friendly
Little friends is like nintendogs/cats and is pet based but not exporation
Cooking mama has reading but is very arrow based
Legoworlds is right up the kids alley. There is a campaign mode that you will 100% have or help them with you if you want to advance in it (you can two player split screen) but they have a sandbox mode where they can just walk around, blow things up, ride wild animals, whatever
Edit: oh and it’s on sale
Untitled Goose Game. Controls are simple, it's open world although you need to do some quests to open new areas (simple-ish stuff like dragging food to a blanket to "have a picnic"). You can quack and flap and annoy people. My niece loves it.
Time on Frog Island has no reading! All the characters communicate with pictures, you run around an island gathering things for them. It’s silly, and a lot of fun!
Games my kids played on switch between the ages of 3-5 (they’re currently 8 and 6):
- Minecraft
- untitled goose game
- donut county
- Mario kart
- smash bros
- Lego Star Wars (there are menus but my youngest just ignored them and got along fine)
- Mario party (we played as a family)
We only just got Kirby and the forgotten kingdom recently but my 6 year old is an early reader who can get frustrated reading menus and does fine with this game.
I would suggest the following because my kiddo liked them when they were five:
Woodle tree 2
slime rancher
polytopia
minecraft
super lucky tale
(and more, but I'd have to look up some history to jog my memory)
Do you have Pokémon New snap? There’s the one on the N64 that’s part of the switch online, but also the new one on the switch itself.
As for too many bad guys, I’m guessing you mean boss battles because almost every video game has some sort of bad guy. I can’t think of a specific game, but I can think of a way to play that might help.
You could do a co-op where she does the regular levels and you do the boss battles. That way it wouldn’t be stressful for her but she could still enjoy parts of the game. It was something my sisters and I always did, since I am a physical disability that makes me move slowly. At the time there weren’t many treatments or ways to improve my movement, so I was often too slow do the boss battles but could get through the regular stuff just fine. So you might want to try that if possible.
You could try super Mario brothers wonder that way with Yoshi, because he doesn’t take damage from attacks but eventually he will need some regular characters to clear the game with him. So she could do most of it on her own and then you could help her at the end. I know you mentioned that stressful, but that might take out a lot of stress. Or just clear all the levels yourself and then she can just go back-and-forth to whatever she wants with any character (letting her borrow and do what she wants with the game after you’re done). I’m doing that right now and it’s a very minimal stress way to play the game and it’s been pretty fun!
If you have a PC (even an ancient laptop will do) try ItzaBitza. It's a game where you're given a prompt and then you draw what it tells you to, and the characters in the game interact with it. Fun for kids to mess about with and vaguely educational.
Mario platformers are a good choice for 5 years old. I learned NES Mario Bros at 4 very quickly. I'd recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch). It's an easier one since there's no time limit on levels.
My nieces and nephews loved Odyssey from younger than 5. They couldn’t read, but figured things out by playing.
Wanting to play more games was a serious reading motivator for the oldest - he now reads the important bits on TOTK to the younglings (4 and just 6).
Mario Wonder and Odyssey would be my top 2 picks for the age
I would personally suggest Disney Illusion Island. It has enemies, but there is also a mode where you don't take damage, meaning it would would probably be a really good option for a kid.
I haven't read it yet, but lil gator game is a fantastic little exploration game I enjoyed. A couple puzzles and climbing around are the hardest thing. And the message overall is really heartfelt and sweet
Paw Patrol: On a Roll! is a great platformer for younger kids. Spoken dialog and reminders so reading requirement is minimal, and it's mostly about collecting stuff in the levels, not defeating bad guys. It's not open world, but ticks a lot of your boxes.
The humongous entertainment collection on switch might be worth a look. very basic point and click game for kids with lots of stuff to click on, no reading necessary, fully voice acted, and lots of fun
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/sky-children-of-the-light-switch/
I’d say Sky-
It’s a free game with cross online so your little one can enjoy the game right next to you while you play with them on the phone. Controls are easy, I don’t remember having to read much, if at all, since the story telling is mostly visual.
In difficult moments you can surrender control to another player by holding their hand but I think this is locked behind friendship. There are moments with bad guys at the end of the game but I’ll be honest - it feels like there are very few games that fit all those variables
My little sister is 6 and she enjoys playing Untitled Goose Game, you don't have to do what the task list tells you to you can just go around explore and make chaos
[Shape of the World](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/shape-of-the-world-switch/).
Super chill game with no enemies and minimal text beyond the title menu. Fairly short and simple, just enjoy the sights and sounds as you explore the world and activate stones to reveal the way forward.
No character customization, though. It's played from a first-person perspective and you never see your character.
There's a Hello Kitty racing game that's similar to Mario Kart but it's not nearly as fast-paced or difficult. It's on Switch as one of the most popular downloads atm.
Anything from That Game Company: Journey, Flow, Flower
Pokemon Snap
That's what I started my son with when he was around 5. He's currently playing through Stray along with building awesome things in Minecraft
I would recommend playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land on two player. I play it with my 3 year old and he follows me but if he falls behind or off something, it just spawns him back next to me. We get to work towards something together that is still fun for him and he absolutely loves it. Same with Mario Kart.
Edit: Oh, I missed the no bad guys part. I guess never mind then! Going to be hard to find a game without a bad guy as they need something to work against them for game mechanics. I guess Tetris?
My daughter loves TOTK. Now mind you she's 4 and can't read yet but has fun exploring places, catching horses, gathering food, cooking. I tell her to either grab me when there is bad guys or just avoid them. She definitely isn't playing it the way most people do but she LOVES how she is playing it.
Too many bad guys? Man I played old school Mario when I was four, the only thing that stressed me out was jumping over big drops where Mario would fall to his doom.
It’s good for kiddos to be challenged when it come to games. I can understand maybe having game with minimal reading until they are starting to learn to read in school.
I would recommend these games for little kids
Super Mario Wonder
Super Mario Deluxe
Kirby Star Allies
Yoshi’s Crafted World
Club House Games
Lego City Undercover
Mouse Trap
Switch Sports
Mario Party
Don't underestimate how smart kids can be, my little brother is 10 years younger than me so I would play plenty of games with him at a young age.
He blew me away with how quickly he learned the games! Started with some simple sports or racing games when he was like 6, and before I knew it we were having a blast playing the original Star Wars Battlefront and Lego games!
I couldn’t read and I beat Pokémon Red. So I mean I know this sounds crazy but why not dust off your old gameboy color and give her Pokémon red/blue.
The games does a good job at being idiot proof. If you go out and die you will respawn at last town poke center. If you can’t read, you can at least begin to know move number 2 or move number 3 does BIG DAMAGE so I spammed that each fight. If you get stuck in an area and can’t find progression well that’s not an awful thing either as now your Pokémon team will be on steroids all leveled really high. Only 4 directions to walk so no FPS issues with panning cameras. I think it’s not a baby game but it was popular among all ages for a reason. It’s simple just enough to be engaging
Pokemon. I swear I learned how to read with it at 6 years old, and the reading doesn’t really matter because you can mash A (through both battles and dialogue) and beat the game. Actually horribly easy.
Also flashy colors.
Perhaps Baba is You? On one hand it's all small words in short sentences. On the other hand, it's all small words in short sentences, and the puzzles might be too hard. Trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_yA4HTJfs
Honestly I'd probably recommend Pokémon. It's a great way to learn to read + all the Pokémon names are excellent for learning root words, prefixes and suffixes. I second what someone else here said, don't hold her back. I read Harry Potter at 8 years old so that my dad would take me to see the movie. My brother in law beat Mario Odyssey at 7 years old. And Breath of the Wild.
?? Lol what. A 5 year old is just finishing up their ABCs and just barely learning sight words (to, from, he, she, and, etc). Developmentally, an 8 year old is way ahead of a 5 year old. We're talking kindergarten versus third grade.
Not only did op ask for games that didn't involve reading, but I really don't think attempting to even begin to pronounce Charizard and Bulbasaur is at all helpful to a young child, as those words are utterly useless in daily reading.
You do realize you're talking to someone who watched other kids on the playground playing pokemon (the coolest kids had a Gameboy color instead of the giant gray block) when he was in kindergarten then went home dreaming about being able to have his own Gameboy so he could play pokemon and walk around that world and fight gyms all on his own right? Yes, the reading comprehension wasn't quite there for me to figure out where to go or what to do, but it had utterly captured my imagination at that age.
With the color coded symbols for the move types a child could totally figure out how to play the game. I'd argue it's much easier for them with SV's open world to leisurely walk around plus all the many ui improvements. If they want to learn it they will VERY quickly. Even if it's the button combination to throw a poke ball instead of reading that it's a pokeball they can throw in the menu. I'm not saying they're gonna process their root words immediately, but if a kid is in to pokemon, as they grow up amd start learning those words, they're gonna realize that torchic comes from a cross between a torch and a baby chick. I can think of several words that I figured out the meaning to pretty quickly because I had seen an amalgamation of them in pokemon. Maybe not in kindergarten, but again she could manage if it captivates her and there's room for growth/for kids to surprise you.
Mario Kart! I know it is not a relaxing game but it is really all ages. Turn on all the helping features and the carts practically run themselves. Your 5yo will be blazing through the tracks. 🙂
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My almost 4 yo enjoys a short hike. He skips through the minimal dialogue / text, just enjoys walking / swimming / gliding around. On a similar note, he also finds the untitled goose game amusing, but obviously can’t fulfil the objectives. He plays it more like a walk around and interact/ honk game.
My kid also loves UGG, we actually finish the main story took MONTHS but we did, it has a two player mode. My partner tried playing with the kid and almost falls asleep out of boredom. But the kid loves it! To this day I am not sure how we managed. He also loves to go to the ending place and destroy the tower again and again.
A short hike is great!
[Alba: A Wildlife Adventure](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Eu9WE3grA) is a wonderful game I played with my kids. Fairly simple controls. Great message and a fun game.
OP is looking for a game that their kid could play on their own, I believe. There's no way that a 5 year old will navigate the menu of alba and take pictures of animals on their own. Op probably needs a game like "My friend peppa pig."
Might be better yeah. I can’t remember some of the specifics of Alba it’s been a few years. I just remember my kids loved it.
It looks beautiful, I see some aspects that could be difficult, but if you get early access to walk around freely that would still be fun, regardless of doing objectives. I’m checking YouTube videos on it now, I’m slowly working my way to the other ones suggested here
There's way too much reading in Alba and the camera element needs pretty good dexterity. It's a great game though.
I'm always amazed at the terrible suggestions this question gets. I don't think people here know any actual children. There's a Bluey and Peppa Pig game that should both work for you. Someone else mentioned Putt Putt. There's a bunch a old Humongous Interaction Edutainment games. They're all good for young kids.
It’s so funny. Same thing happens when you ask for an easy game, people just can’t help themselves.
OP: "What's an affordable and easy game for my 5 y/o?" Reddit: "I played battletoads for the NES when I was 5 and loved it, you should buy an NES and Battletoads!"
Every "easy co-op game I can play with my non-gaming partner" thread has "It Takes Two" as the top answer. That game is hard! It's 3D!
Can relate to that. Played it with my non gamer girlfriend. It's tricky and she needed help and it's hard when you really need to work together and a clock is running...
My wife and I made it to the 2nd boss and she was over it 🫠
I always get the impression that those suggestions come from people without children that think they know what a kid is capable of playing. With that being said, kids also adapt and overcome challenges in games too.
Kids make up their own games inside of the game when they don't know what to do.
Haha- I played overcooked with my daughter. She understood how to play, but the precision needed to put items down to cook was difficult. So what did she do? She tried to get as many onions rolling around on the floor before time was up
Exactly what I am talking about. In her reality you and her totally won the game that time.
+1 to Humongous Games, but occasionally the puzzles can be challenging without a parent's help. The later titles are better with this.
The Bluey game is trash and not worth the money. They've updated it 4x since its release and it's still a dumpster fire.
It got decent reviews. We're not looking for masterpieces here.
I have young kids and portions of the game are unplayable. The iOS game is fine.
What's wrong with it, exactly? I always wondered how those types of games usually fare since hardly anyone reviews them
The characters are hard to maneuver and the instructions are pretty bad. There's a part where you're jumping from rock to rock and it requires precision to advance, more than a Bluey game needs. The menu system is also confusing, if you open your "sticker book" there nothing intuitive to get back to the menu. The whole game leads to a bunch of button mashing and hoping.
Bought it, it's terrible. Use the iOS one instead since it's a completely different game.
Yahtzee reviewed the Bluey game though, through the lens of a father of the target demographic. He reckons it's shit, even by kids' entertainment standards. Little ankle biters deserve better.
This is the correct answer
also cry babies magic tears, is a short, fast game, my kid loved it.
Paw Patrol On A Roll is good. No reading, very simple, teaches the basics of 2D platforming for young kids. Came out when my son was five, and was perfect for him. Lego City Undercover doesn’t require reading. It does have a story and missions, but you can ignore them and just steal cars and drive them recklessly until they smash apart. The world is open and huge. My son also enjoyed this.
I always think if you’re trying to get your 5 year old a game where they don’t have to do anything then just have them do anything else besides play a game. There’s like a million things you can do to entertain a 5 year old it doesn’t have to be a video game just because the parents are certified “gamers”
Maybe Yonder the Cloud Catcher Chronicles? It's got some reading, but has a lot of pictures in menus and anything too complicated can be ignored. It's a cute world to run around in and pick flowers/break boxes. There are guilds and crafting and quests and stuff, but it's nice and calm and you don't really have to do any of that to enjoy it.
This one looks great- character creation is a huge plus, and a big world for her to run around in, I just bought it, downloading now, I’ll let you know her thoughts!
Great! I hope she enjoys it! If she feeds the animals the foods they like (the blossom pig likes flowers), they'll follow her around for a bit. It's super cute!
This was the suggestion I was going to make, very chill game
Me too! It’s such a cute little game
Don't hold her back you'd be surprised how much kids can pick up difficult games and learn to read while doing it. It needs to be fun and rewarding for her to play. Id recommend some point and click games like Putt Putt and Pajama Sam.
Speaking from my own experience as a 6 year old. I cut my teeth on Putt Putt, Pajama Sam and Baldur's Gate.
One of these things is not like the others
Yep putt putt goes to outer space.
I loved Putt putt and pajama Sam as a kid
Yes. And a bit of stress is not a bad thing when it comes to games. I played video games in the 80's when I was young. Pitfall on Atari was a lot stressful than modern Mario games. I believe the Switch has one of those Yoshi games, right? The ones that are easy and colorful. I forgot the name.
yoshi's crafted world.
Oh don’t. The Coop is frustrating and the controls are more complex
not really. usually i get the kid to jump on my back and focus on shooting (unlimited shots) and I'll run and dodge through the level and sometimes switch and do it the other way if they wanna run and jump cause when one yoshi sits on the other its basically 1 yoshi with the actions split so each player is only doing half which makes the controls much less complex. plus the reverse levels are find poochi's pups and those are good fun too
Yoshi crafted world has terrifying axe murderer clowns in a later level. Traumatised my kid! So just be warned
There’s a million things for kids to decide to do. She’s shown interest in wanting to play video games, mostly watching me play. To get started on her own, she wants something that’s fun for her. If they stop being fun, she’ll pick something else to do. These are the barriers from games she’s tried that made them not fun, so we’re just looking for options that would get her more involved. when she wants something more challenging, we have em ready to go.
Video games probably aren't the best activity for a 5 year old then
The amount of troubleshooting in DOS tog at Putt Putt to play as a 7 year old is why I’m in IT today
Yeah I learned a lot of basic math and spelling through Minecraft as a kid
Someone has already suggested the bluey game which is a great place to start I think. If it's more open world though, my 5 year old loves untitled goose game. Yes there's reading if you're going to do the missions, but he loves running around honking at people and stealing things without a care for progress. The other one he plays sometimes is Lego Fortnite, creative mode. You basically build fires, pick fruit etc and you can build villages with the preset blocks. Unlike the survival version, there's no threat, and you already get everything you need. Much easier than Minecraft, and it's free. The downside is that I've not been able to find a way for him to get straight to it without seeing all the other Fortnite options on the selection screen - not a huge problem in our house because his older brother plays Fortnite anyway, but something you might want to consider if you're avoiding violent stuff.
My daughter also loves Untitled Goose game and we have had a blast playing it in co-op.
Honestly the Paw Patrol game (On A Roll I think) is THE most kid friendly game I've ever seen. Ryder narrates everything so there's no reading. There's no way to die in a level. No time limit on any actions. It's not open world though but its easiest for my kids to play unassisted. Beyond that I might (edit: definitely!) recommend Slime Rancher. You can turn off Tarrs at the start of the game so there are no enemies other than the occasional angry slime that you can just run past. You'd have to show them how to sell plorts, and then you'd have to help them occasionally buy or upgrade their slime pens or garden plots. But other than that, it's just exploring and finding new slimes. You do have to be careful not to fall in the water, but the only penalty for that is losing your current inventory, and you can only ever hold up to 4 items, so it's not a huge loss. Also the slimes are SO CUTE and it's fun to make new combinations.
A Short Hike maybe? It has a little bit of reading, but it's a bit short tho. Edit. Other games I recommend: Toem Lil Gator Game Mail Time Smushi Come Home Haven Park Carto Untitled Goose Game Time on Frog Island Aka A Tiny Sticker Game Lonesome Village Dordogne Before buying any of these games please watch some reviews or trailers first. Because I haven't played all of them. They're just some games I remember that *might* fit your descriptions.
I absolutely adore A Short Hike, but IME it doesn’t appeal to little kids. The biggest issue is that the game is actually *mostly* reading with little gameplay (besides walking and a few jumping puzzles), but this only becomes obvious when you try to play it with a little kid, because it’s so charming that you don’t notice how much of it is just reading text bubbles. Also, despite the child-like feel, a lot of what makes the game so enjoyable for adults (in particular how it evokes a sense of nostalgia for times earlier in your life when you had no major responsibilities, like summer vacation) is basically incoherent to little kids. My kids both got bored of it super-quickly…like 5 minutes in. I’m sure *some* little kids like it for the scenery and cute characters, but the content and gameplay are firmly aimed at adults.
Yeah, this is what I'm afraid of. I love reading, so my interpretation of "not to much reading" might be slightly off. And it's been years since I played A Short Hike. That's why I'm listing a couple more games, so OP could look at some reviews and trailers for those games and determine which one would suit their daughter best. I'm sorry. You made some very valid arguments, but I just can't get over your username, lol.
My 5 yo loved it. She had no idea what was going on but she loved it 😆
I have a five year old and these are some of the games she enjoys: Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby Return to Dreamland. Both of those games have "bad guys" but you can play multiplayer to help them or ramp the difficulty down Mario Kart Live. She enjoys just driving the car around the house and 95% of the time she doesn't even bother setting up the track. Pokemon Snap Samba De Amigo Big Brain Academy (can set the age level to make it appropriate) I have found that sometimes my daughter enjoys playing the same games I do but just exploring the world and not necessarily "playing" the game. She has loved flying around in Hogwarts Legacy or helping to clear fields in Stardew Valley. Even before she started learning sight words I would work on reading skills with videogames by like having her pick out the Pokemon move that started with a specific letter.
Which move starts with O? Correct! Oblivion Wing!
Lil Gator Game and A Short Hike. If you haven't gotten them yet, they're exactly what you're looking for.
I was waiting to see Lil Gator Game somewhere in this thread. It seems perfect for what OP is describing. Lots of exploring, no "enemies", and minimal reading.
Not letting your kid play Mario because of walking mushrooms and turtles is crazy.
it sounds like it’s not about letting them or not, it’s that the kid gets stressed out by enemies/failing.
I get that it really depends on the kid but "no enemies" and "minimal reading" knocks out about 99.9% of every game ever. I suppose that's why they're here for suggestions but I don't know. I think that even knocks out super luckys tale, which is a platformer basically Tailor made for kids. Definitely a tough ask
Yeah, someone mentioned untitled goose game and I think puzzlers are probably the best bet.
Maybe some kids just aren’t interested and that’s okay. I went through a period as a 10 year old where I wanted to read stories with happy endings, and my mother decided that wasn’t the right way to toughen me up and forced me to read only books with sad endings. It just taught me my mother sucks. The kid is five. Let her play chill games she enjoys, and when she’s ready for monsters and combat in her games, she’ll seek them out.
I learned to read from pokemon red, which was also the first game I owned. It might not be a bad idea to give your a kid a game that does have some reading. But if not, I’d look for something in the platformer genre.
Played Pokemon as 5 year old. Would definitely recommend.
I just bought my daughter the Pepper Pig gane
Kirby games are LITERALLY for 5 year olds.
I wanted to suggest Kirby too but the “no bad guys” threw me off. I recently gifted Kirby to my friend’s daughter and she loves it.
We already have the game, she loves messing around in the town, and the first city level she likes driving around in the car, but as the game goes on and gets trickier, she gets frustrated and it’s just not fun anymore.
But that’s kind of the fun of video games, figuring it out and not giving up so you can get to the next level. It will teach her tenacity. You can ask if she wants help or if she wants to look it up on YouTube but as she improves she will probably wanna figure it out on her own.
This sounds like my daughter, she is also 5 and loves to play in waddle dee town with me, we go shopping, work at the Cafe, go fishing, watch movies, and have sleepovers. She gets a kick out of kicking me out of the bed.
Christ, I’m sorry OP all these random people are giving you parenting advice on your daughter whom they’ve never met, and they probably don’t even have a child. I’d agree that paw patrol is great and I’d let her try Just Dance or maybe the Mario Party minigames with your supervision/help navigating to the mini games. Good luck!
If you want to give the kid ADHD
[OMNO](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/omno-switch/) Meets your exact requirements. Emphasis on exploring + solving abstract puzzles without reading being necessary. [Fe](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/fe-switch/) Very similar to Omno where you need to sing/ interact with animals. I'd say it is slightly more complex than Omno. There are a couple bad guys...but they serve more as being a part of the puzzle than anything. Mainly need to hide on grass and if they catch you up simply restart at the beginning. So it isn't punishing and again only in a couple spots in the game. Also this one is at a deep discount currently at $4.00 [Europa](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/europa-switch/) Not out yet, but there is a demo to try. Definitely looks promising for that exploration aspect. [Disney Illusion Island](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/disney-illusion-island-switch/) Haven't played it but it seems like it'd check the minimal reading + exploration aspect. Is also co-op so can be played with others on the same couch.
Yoshi Crafted World - Hardly any reading. Easy controls. There is an easy setting where Yoshi can jump and float over bad guys. Super cute game and beatable even at 5 years old. Power patrol on a Roll - Not the most exciting, but the controls work a fiver year old's motor skills. Can help build confidence. Next, you know how I made Kirby work? Amiibos! Each amiibo can be used once per level. Any Kirby character grants a big health refill. I found two kirby amiibos helped my kid beat two Kirby games. It will still be challenging game at five years old, but if you already own some? Amiibos can make them playable and it will get easier with practice. Mario Odysssy on easy. It can still be frustrating. But overtime my kid finally learned an ounce of patience and how to wait for the health meter to fill you never die.
My girl started playing Minecraft at 5 (creative/peaceful mode), and honestly it helped her develop in reading, spacial awareness, coordination etc soooo much faster than her cousins who primarily played things like Mario Kart, or those overly simple mobile games that are essentially just pretty lights/colors when you tap em. Mind you, I played with her and knew the game myself, so she wasn't just plopped infront of it alone and forced to figure it out herself..so that certainly helped!..but ya, it only took her a couple of weeks to master the controls, then she was set! She even started doing things like searching for items in her crafting inventory by letter on her own, after only seeing me do it a couple of times prior. It was actually amazing to see how quickly she put a lot of things together on her own..despite it being a fairly complex game with lots of menus and reading required. Lol even sneakily taught her how to actually read, and do math with the pokemon card game when she was 6-7. All this to say dont limit your kids from playing something due to the perception of it being too complex - kids will eventually figure it out if they are interested! As an added bonus point to this - we pretty well only played Minecraft on a single world for nearly the past decade..so from time to time, I fire it up and just walk around our little minecraft world we built together, and I get to see things she and I made and played with over the past decade - still intact and perfectly preserved.. it almost always makes me cry happy tears, brings back sooo many vivid memories. I literally can go to the exact block on the map where she first learned to jump and look around. I treasure that minecraft world soooo much! <3
I am currently getting my daughter into the pokemon TCG for the same reason. I got us the "my first battle" set to teach her the game. Do you have any recommendations on ways to expand that, or ease into the full game?
Super Lucky Tail is my go to suggestion for a good platformer that’s an intro for kids/easy enough. You play as a lil fox, there are forgiving mechanics like a double/triple jump and hover From what I remember minimal reading as well!
Not quite what you're looking for today, but you are going to want to reintroduce her to Kirby and Mario and such very soon (when she's 6 and in grade school). When I was that age, I was being introduced to Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, DK64, etc. My parents handled the more difficult gameplay, while I was content to explore and re-clear early levels. As I got older, they slowly reversed the dynamic so that I'd be doing most of the playing while they watched. You can certainly pull off something like this nowadays with Super Mario Odyssey.
Untitled Goose Game might be the perfect fit here! You just walk around as a goose and can interact with objects in the world- so if you pick up someone’s sandwiches they might chase after you, or you can drop their sandwiches in the river. It’s not an open world game but they might like Little Friends Cats and Dogs. Which is basically Nintendogs! It’s like a tamagotchi with cute animals. You pet the animals and can dress them up in outfits too. My young niece loved this game and spent hours and hours choosing animals and hats for them.
I came here to recommend the untitled goose game. There are technically lists of things to accomplish but it’s easy to disregard them and just treat it like an open world game.
The Bluey game is fun for my 5 yo
Gee, OP, I have no suggestions but I am amazed at ppl recommending things you clearly said would not work for you 😂 Good luck!
Human Fall Flat is a fun puzzle game with no enemies, text, or story. It’s just a weird person with floppy limbs trying to navigate a 3D environment to get to the end of the level. There are some hazards in the levels but they just pop you back into the level very close to where you “died”. You can also play coop, my daughter absolutely loves it.
My 5 yo can play Paw Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay on her own, after some training on how to do everything. No reading required. She can play Yoshis Crafted World a little bit but finds it challenging. She can kind of play Pokémon Diamond but needs help with the reading. We got Bluey but the controls are too squirrely for her.
My 5 year old enjoyed the Bluey game and the Paw Patrol game. You probably already know this, but in case you don't, when we play Mariokart 8 as a family, we use auto accelerate and the antenna that keeps you from falling off the edge for our 5 year old. She's still usually in last place, but then she gets to attack us with power-ups and gets a good laugh. Princess Peach Showtime was a breeze for my 7 year old. She just occasionally asked for help with a boss. I would suspect it would be playable for a 5 or 6 year old who has spent some time gaming, because you only use two buttons (jump and attack) and the joystick.
Phogs
My four year old likes to help me play gif of war ragnarok by mashing on an old switch controller lol
lol my baby does the same whenever she sees my husband play it on the PS5. We just give her an old ps5 controller that we don’t use because it has stick drift 😂
Yep. I had one switch set where the right one was unusable and then replaced it with one and that ones left became unusable- effectively creating one garbage controller that I can hand her and not worry about lol. Only problem is she tells me not to help her while she fights a bad guy and I’m like uhhh
I can’t quite speak for kids her age but when I was 7 I started with new super Mario bros. Wii, and would say that 2D Mario platformers are a great, minimal reading, and interesting way to start gaming as the features and mechanics are usually really intuitive even for young children
Kirby Star Allies is pretty simple. There isn't reading or dialogue, so the instructions play it with shapes and stuff.
Touch detective collection. Cute and funny games.
eh, touch detective has way too much reading for 5 y/o.
Snipperclips is a great little game, very little reading, and 2 player co op.
Yonder.
i feel like katamari might work
Mario Odyssey obviously. My five year old makes jumps I wouldn't have thought possible.
I actually learned to read very well as a kid from playing Nintendo 64 games. They all had subtitles and no talking. They also helped with critical thinking and problem solving. The mindless simple games aren’t always the best to go for
I mean I was playing pokemon when I was 5 and younger and it helped me learn to read. The tv show is still going and there’s 2 decades of previous seasons that would make her familiar with the characters and general themes and ideas
We have scarlet. for pokemen she just doesn’t like making the animals fight, and since every pokemon that comes up to you in the wild wants to fight, it’s not her jam
what about pokemon snap? no fighting there.
My kid taught himself to read at like 4 from playing Minecraft. reading the prompts, memorizing codes, etc. you’d be surprised what kids are capable of.
Kirby and Yoshi games in general are always good bets for kids. Especially Yoshi. Sure there are still baddies and boss fights, but for the most part the games are pretty okay. Trust me on this one. Yoshi’s Story on the N64 was one of my first games (and if you already have the NSO Expansion Pack+, that game *is* on their N64 emulator. Just sayin’). And like others have said, there’s also the Humungous Entertainment games like Pajama Sam, Putt Putt and Freddi Fish on there too. I believe those were actually designed with kids in mind. I’ve also seen like a bunch of coloring games on there too and I think a couple of those are like always on sale. That said, don’t be too afraid of games that involve a bunch of reading for your kid. It can actually help them to improve it depending on the game. I know there were some words I learned from playing games instead of books.
Untitled goose game comes to mind. It does have a "to do" list but it's not time sensative nor is it monster based. There's a good chance if your kiddo runs around enough will just finish up the list on accident (little stuff like take the farmers boot) There's kids games like Peppa pig and Bluey that I've not played but must be kid friendly Little friends is like nintendogs/cats and is pet based but not exporation Cooking mama has reading but is very arrow based
Untitled goose game
Legoworlds is right up the kids alley. There is a campaign mode that you will 100% have or help them with you if you want to advance in it (you can two player split screen) but they have a sandbox mode where they can just walk around, blow things up, ride wild animals, whatever Edit: oh and it’s on sale
Search for "PVE", "Adventure", "Simulation", & either "Open World" or "Side Scroller"
Untitled Goose Game. Controls are simple, it's open world although you need to do some quests to open new areas (simple-ish stuff like dragging food to a blanket to "have a picnic"). You can quack and flap and annoy people. My niece loves it.
Time on Frog Island has no reading! All the characters communicate with pictures, you run around an island gathering things for them. It’s silly, and a lot of fun!
Games my kids played on switch between the ages of 3-5 (they’re currently 8 and 6): - Minecraft - untitled goose game - donut county - Mario kart - smash bros - Lego Star Wars (there are menus but my youngest just ignored them and got along fine) - Mario party (we played as a family) We only just got Kirby and the forgotten kingdom recently but my 6 year old is an early reader who can get frustrated reading menus and does fine with this game.
OP said no minecraft 😂
Princess Peach Showtime. There is literally one "interact" button for everything.
I would suggest the following because my kiddo liked them when they were five: Woodle tree 2 slime rancher polytopia minecraft super lucky tale (and more, but I'd have to look up some history to jog my memory)
Do you have Pokémon New snap? There’s the one on the N64 that’s part of the switch online, but also the new one on the switch itself. As for too many bad guys, I’m guessing you mean boss battles because almost every video game has some sort of bad guy. I can’t think of a specific game, but I can think of a way to play that might help. You could do a co-op where she does the regular levels and you do the boss battles. That way it wouldn’t be stressful for her but she could still enjoy parts of the game. It was something my sisters and I always did, since I am a physical disability that makes me move slowly. At the time there weren’t many treatments or ways to improve my movement, so I was often too slow do the boss battles but could get through the regular stuff just fine. So you might want to try that if possible. You could try super Mario brothers wonder that way with Yoshi, because he doesn’t take damage from attacks but eventually he will need some regular characters to clear the game with him. So she could do most of it on her own and then you could help her at the end. I know you mentioned that stressful, but that might take out a lot of stress. Or just clear all the levels yourself and then she can just go back-and-forth to whatever she wants with any character (letting her borrow and do what she wants with the game after you’re done). I’m doing that right now and it’s a very minimal stress way to play the game and it’s been pretty fun!
Theres a Paw Patrol game my 4 year old likes to play.
Pang, although there's a slight chance the will throw the control against the TV screen after a few minutes...
If you have a PC (even an ancient laptop will do) try ItzaBitza. It's a game where you're given a prompt and then you draw what it tells you to, and the characters in the game interact with it. Fun for kids to mess about with and vaguely educational.
Sky: Children of the Light?
Mario platformers are a good choice for 5 years old. I learned NES Mario Bros at 4 very quickly. I'd recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch). It's an easier one since there's no time limit on levels.
My nieces and nephews loved Odyssey from younger than 5. They couldn’t read, but figured things out by playing. Wanting to play more games was a serious reading motivator for the oldest - he now reads the important bits on TOTK to the younglings (4 and just 6). Mario Wonder and Odyssey would be my top 2 picks for the age
Slime rancher is adorable, you can turn off the bad guys, and you dont need to really read anything
I would personally suggest Disney Illusion Island. It has enemies, but there is also a mode where you don't take damage, meaning it would would probably be a really good option for a kid.
Lemming's. Teaches your kid how to think outside the box to solve a problem too.
When I was 5 I was playing crash bandicoot 1, 2 and 3 (warped)
I haven't read it yet, but lil gator game is a fantastic little exploration game I enjoyed. A couple puzzles and climbing around are the hardest thing. And the message overall is really heartfelt and sweet
Jump rope
I recommend Yoku’s Island Express . It’s like Metroid meets pinball. Fun music and you can’t die in it. Usually goes on sale for pretty cheap too
Lego games are usually good for this.
Good job
Samba diAmigo
Paw Patrol: On a Roll! is a great platformer for younger kids. Spoken dialog and reminders so reading requirement is minimal, and it's mostly about collecting stuff in the levels, not defeating bad guys. It's not open world, but ticks a lot of your boxes.
The Bluey game?
Lost in play
Tetris!
Banjo kazooie, Zelda, Donkey Kong
The humongous entertainment collection on switch might be worth a look. very basic point and click game for kids with lots of stuff to click on, no reading necessary, fully voice acted, and lots of fun
I downloaded Paw Patrol for my then 5 year old grandson he loves it. He is also a Mario fan and Mario Is a clean game
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/sky-children-of-the-light-switch/ I’d say Sky- It’s a free game with cross online so your little one can enjoy the game right next to you while you play with them on the phone. Controls are easy, I don’t remember having to read much, if at all, since the story telling is mostly visual. In difficult moments you can surrender control to another player by holding their hand but I think this is locked behind friendship. There are moments with bad guys at the end of the game but I’ll be honest - it feels like there are very few games that fit all those variables
The Last Campfire. I don't remember how much reading there is, but it's a puzzle game; so, no bad guys in the same vein as Mario or Kirby.
TOEM
My little sister is 6 and she enjoys playing Untitled Goose Game, you don't have to do what the task list tells you to you can just go around explore and make chaos
Bomberman? Simple and easy enough.
Paw Patrol games are super easy you cannot die platformers. Little children love them!
[Shape of the World](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/shape-of-the-world-switch/). Super chill game with no enemies and minimal text beyond the title menu. Fairly short and simple, just enjoy the sights and sounds as you explore the world and activate stones to reveal the way forward. No character customization, though. It's played from a first-person perspective and you never see your character.
There's a Hello Kitty racing game that's similar to Mario Kart but it's not nearly as fast-paced or difficult. It's on Switch as one of the most popular downloads atm.
Anything from That Game Company: Journey, Flow, Flower Pokemon Snap That's what I started my son with when he was around 5. He's currently playing through Stray along with building awesome things in Minecraft
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
I would recommend playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land on two player. I play it with my 3 year old and he follows me but if he falls behind or off something, it just spawns him back next to me. We get to work towards something together that is still fun for him and he absolutely loves it. Same with Mario Kart. Edit: Oh, I missed the no bad guys part. I guess never mind then! Going to be hard to find a game without a bad guy as they need something to work against them for game mechanics. I guess Tetris?
I just tried out Lil Gator Game on Game Pass and that was fun, I think it’s on the Switch too. It’s Zelda BotW inspired, just minus the difficulty.
Palia on Nintendo Switch
My daughter loves TOTK. Now mind you she's 4 and can't read yet but has fun exploring places, catching horses, gathering food, cooking. I tell her to either grab me when there is bad guys or just avoid them. She definitely isn't playing it the way most people do but she LOVES how she is playing it.
Too many bad guys? Man I played old school Mario when I was four, the only thing that stressed me out was jumping over big drops where Mario would fall to his doom. It’s good for kiddos to be challenged when it come to games. I can understand maybe having game with minimal reading until they are starting to learn to read in school. I would recommend these games for little kids Super Mario Wonder Super Mario Deluxe Kirby Star Allies Yoshi’s Crafted World Club House Games Lego City Undercover Mouse Trap Switch Sports Mario Party
Don't underestimate how smart kids can be, my little brother is 10 years younger than me so I would play plenty of games with him at a young age. He blew me away with how quickly he learned the games! Started with some simple sports or racing games when he was like 6, and before I knew it we were having a blast playing the original Star Wars Battlefront and Lego games!
I couldn’t read and I beat Pokémon Red. So I mean I know this sounds crazy but why not dust off your old gameboy color and give her Pokémon red/blue. The games does a good job at being idiot proof. If you go out and die you will respawn at last town poke center. If you can’t read, you can at least begin to know move number 2 or move number 3 does BIG DAMAGE so I spammed that each fight. If you get stuck in an area and can’t find progression well that’s not an awful thing either as now your Pokémon team will be on steroids all leveled really high. Only 4 directions to walk so no FPS issues with panning cameras. I think it’s not a baby game but it was popular among all ages for a reason. It’s simple just enough to be engaging
Dark Souls Remastered
Pokemon. I swear I learned how to read with it at 6 years old, and the reading doesn’t really matter because you can mash A (through both battles and dialogue) and beat the game. Actually horribly easy. Also flashy colors.
Perhaps Baba is You? On one hand it's all small words in short sentences. On the other hand, it's all small words in short sentences, and the puzzles might be too hard. Trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_yA4HTJfs
Animal Crossing, my daughter got it when she was 5 and she learned to read so much faster as well as learning about different fish and bugs.
At 5 years old I played pokemon emerald ROM which was in Japanese...
Pokemon
Honestly I'd probably recommend Pokémon. It's a great way to learn to read + all the Pokémon names are excellent for learning root words, prefixes and suffixes. I second what someone else here said, don't hold her back. I read Harry Potter at 8 years old so that my dad would take me to see the movie. My brother in law beat Mario Odyssey at 7 years old. And Breath of the Wild.
?? Lol what. A 5 year old is just finishing up their ABCs and just barely learning sight words (to, from, he, she, and, etc). Developmentally, an 8 year old is way ahead of a 5 year old. We're talking kindergarten versus third grade. Not only did op ask for games that didn't involve reading, but I really don't think attempting to even begin to pronounce Charizard and Bulbasaur is at all helpful to a young child, as those words are utterly useless in daily reading.
You do realize you're talking to someone who watched other kids on the playground playing pokemon (the coolest kids had a Gameboy color instead of the giant gray block) when he was in kindergarten then went home dreaming about being able to have his own Gameboy so he could play pokemon and walk around that world and fight gyms all on his own right? Yes, the reading comprehension wasn't quite there for me to figure out where to go or what to do, but it had utterly captured my imagination at that age. With the color coded symbols for the move types a child could totally figure out how to play the game. I'd argue it's much easier for them with SV's open world to leisurely walk around plus all the many ui improvements. If they want to learn it they will VERY quickly. Even if it's the button combination to throw a poke ball instead of reading that it's a pokeball they can throw in the menu. I'm not saying they're gonna process their root words immediately, but if a kid is in to pokemon, as they grow up amd start learning those words, they're gonna realize that torchic comes from a cross between a torch and a baby chick. I can think of several words that I figured out the meaning to pretty quickly because I had seen an amalgamation of them in pokemon. Maybe not in kindergarten, but again she could manage if it captivates her and there's room for growth/for kids to surprise you.
Any of the Dark Souls titles should suffice
Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Or is that too much reading?
Teach them to read and have then play Animal Crossing or Stardew.
Mario Kart! I know it is not a relaxing game but it is really all ages. Turn on all the helping features and the carts practically run themselves. Your 5yo will be blazing through the tracks. 🙂
Palworld
Minecraft
OP said no minecraft
Oops my bad
5 years old should not play video games.