Is Spore Right for My Kids?

We recently purchased the new PC game Spore. After hearing about it online and looking at the promos my family was anticipating the release of this new game. One of our concerns however was how good the game would be for our children.

I have two sons ages 6 and 3 who are very computer literate for their age. Both of them enjoy several games that the internet has to offer. Some of these games are from familiar sites and others are PC games and online games that we have purchased or pay for monthly.

After getting Spore home and installing it on our home PC and laptop computers, my husband and I both started to play. We chose different options to experiment a little bit. Mostly this was to test out the usability for our children.

After only a few hours of playing Spore we had both worked up into the creature levels. I had chosen to be a vegetarian and my husband chose carnivore. The difference in the two was pretty obvious and surprising. I think the maker's did a wonderful job of having marked differences in these lifestyles.

It didn't take us too long to feel comfortable with letting our children try Spore out for themselves. We sat down with them and showed them the basics of what to do as they progressed through the levels. During this time my husband and I were also continuing to progress through the game.

We were trying to stay a little bit ahead of the children so that we would have a good amount of knowledge as they proceeded through their different stages in the game. This approach really seemed to work to our benefit with the kids.

One of our boys decided to make a carnivore and the other an herbivore. The herbivore soon became an omnivore as my three year old just ate anything that he could. This however, worked out well for him as he went into the creature stage of the game.

I must say for my 3 year old Spore has been a really good tool for him with learning more about his hand eye coordination on the computer. He is still after a few weeks of playing Spore in his creature stage. He really enjoys walking around and making his little guy dance and pose. He also gets a kick out of when the creatures "make hearts" with each other and lay eggs.

Of course he doesn't really understand the progression of Spore yet, but loves to change his creature into whatever he wants. I think the creativity in Spore is awesome for his little sponge like mind. The different ways he gets to experiment with the creature really lets his imagination blossom. He gets to see his dreamlike character come to life on the screen and walk around.

As for my 6 year old, he has really done phenomenally with Spore. I have been amazed at how even though Spore is something that was made for adults it is really easy for the kids to enjoy also.

After a few weeks of playing Spore he has made it all the way into the space level. To my surprise not one of the levels has bored him in the least. He is more understanding of the controls and workings of the game than his younger brother but, enjoys it the same if not more.

I would recommend Spore for kids hands down. If you have a little one who is just starting out on the computer it is a great way for them to get used to just moving an object around the screen. It is also easy enough as the parent to monitor them with the game.

Being that Spore is not really an online game for everyone to talk to each other will put you at ease when it comes to their safety. At the same time you do log into the Spore server so that other people's creatures become part of your world. This was interesting to me because then my children got a chance to look at other people's ideas as well as their own.

My children have actually had more opportunities to Spore than I have but, I don't feel like I have missed a thing. It has turned into a great tool for them with learning a little bit more about computer controls. But, the best part is watching their little minds create animals and cars and planes that they may never be able to draw on their own. The pure enjoyment they have found in that alone is worth the money we paid for the game itself