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The GeekMoms and GeekDads descended on PAX Prime over Labor Day weekend to play games and share some of their favorite picks in books, games, stories, and more at the Raising the Next Generation of Geeks panel on Sunday. Here is just a short list of our recommendations from the panel for family-friendly games, ways to encourage an interest in programming for your children, books for the little princesses out there, and more.
Games for Family Game Night
Panelist Rael Dornfest mentioned some of his favorite games for a family game night. His list includes Agricola, Forbidden Island, Tsuro, Get Bit, We Didn't Playtest This at All, and FlowerFall. (I had a chance to play FlowerFall with GeekMom Ariane and can't wait to get myself a copy.)
Prompted by an audience question, GeekDad Jonathan Liu mentioned a color recognition game for very young kids called Gulo Gulo; while the game is difficult to find, Jonathan appreciates how the game encourages young players to make a choice rather than simply moving a plastic piece around a game board.
Jonathan also recommends Zoxso as a strategy game for older children and their parents.
Programming for Children
Ariane Coffin talked about one of the hottest topics on the panel, getting children excited to learn about programming. She spoke at length about Kodu, a visual programming tool created by Microsoft. Ariane will continue to explore this topic in her Bit by Bit series here on GeekMom.
When asked by an attendee about how to encourage a kid who isn't a fan of math to get into the programming mindset, panelists agreed that LEGO Mindstorms was another fun way to get them hooked on basic programming.
Some of Our Favorite Books
While we were sharing some of our favorite children's books, another con-goer in the audience mentioned Nursery Rhyme Comics, which both GeekDads and GeekMoms professed their love for. I mentioned some of my favorite books for princess-loving little girls that feature role models beyond the damsel-in-distress, including Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor, Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis, and Wonder Woman: The Story of the Amazon Princess by Ralph Cosentino.
All of us at the panel enjoyed chatting with the attendees, and we thank everyone who took the time out of their weekend at PAX Prime to listen to us geek out a little bit about our parenting passions. Stay tuned for more articles on GeekMom and GeekDad about some of the topics we discussed!
