Top 5 Playstation 3 Games to Play with Your Kids

There are a ton of Playstation 3 games out there that are perfectly suitable for kids. From Cars and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to Megamind and the Penguins of Madagascar, there is plenty of child-friendly fare that you can feel confident your young ones will enjoy.

But what do you do when you want to spend time with your kids and indulge your gaming habit at the same time? Most parents would rather drown in a sea of dirty diapers than spend any amount of time forced to play the type of crappy licensed game developers are currently shoveling out and marketing to our children.

Don't lose hope, though. Your gaming career isn't over. In fact, there are a handful of great PS3 games that not only suitable for children, but actually fun for adults to play alongside them.

We're not talking controller-swapping here, each of these games has full cooperative play, meaning you and your munchkins can play simultaneously.

Modnation Racers

Ever since Mario Kart came out for the SNES, other companies have been attempting to capture the same magic and market it to the masses. Modnation Racers is one of the latest attempts to emulate the formula on a Sony console, and it's actually pretty fun for kids and adults alike.

Modnation features many of the staples of the kart racing genre: cutesy characters, powerups, and quirky tracks. It also features a wealth of creation options never-before seen in the genre. Using an intuitive and fairly simple editor, players can create their own karts, racers, and even tracks.

Younger kids will love the racing gameplay and older ones will appreciate the freedom to customize every aspect of the game to their heart's content.

LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2

Speaking of customization options, have you played LittleBigPlanet? This platformer hearkens back to the heyday of Mario with its jumping, climbing, and obstacle-avoiding levels. The developer-created levels that come with the game are good enough to justify the purchase price, but the real value of the series comes in the level editor.

Not only can players create their own complete custom levels, they can also post them online for the world to try out. That means you get a near-limitless supply of new levels for the cost of a single game.

The best part? You can try out all of these levels in full cooperative play, right alongside your young ones.

Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman/Harry Potter/Pirates of the Caribbean

It's true that most games based on a movie license turn out to be less than spectacular, but the Lego series is one happy exception to that rule. These games allow you and your children to play through the plots of your favorite series with a unique Lego twist.

Full cooperative play and light consequences for failure ensure that these games are fun for the whole family. It doesn't matter if your four-year old isn't great at jumping puzzles, these games allow them to miss that jump without any negative repercussion, giving them the chance to build skills at their own pace.

Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension

Any parent who hass sat down and enjoyed a few episodes of Disney's hit Phineas and Ferb understands that while the show is marketed toward children, its humor is also aimed squarely at adults.

Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension is the latest video game version of the franchise and, like the show, there's much here for both kids and their parents to enjoy. Players utilize an arsenal of P&F's signature gadgets to take down enemies across a series of interesting and unique dimensions.

All your favorite characters from the show are here, and the gameplay is light combat with some platforming elements, similar to the Lego games.

Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

The latest entry in the Ratchet and Clank series isn't due out until October 18th, but it's already shaping up to be one of the best parent/kid cooperative games on the Playstation 3.

Featuring full four-player co-op and the series' unique weapons and platforming gameplay, All 4 One is sure to be a huge hit with the whole family.