How Should Parents Play the Switch Handheld Console with Their Children ？

If you want to play games with your kids and bond with them, this article will provide helpful guidance.

Many parents want to play a game with their children at home, especially parents born in the 1990s and 1995s. However, there are numerous concerns and questions about how and what games to play with children, making it impossible to address them one by one. So Kevin. Kenny, editor-in-chief of PickOnes, will summarize the concerns of parents and respond today.

We have made this super detailed guide for new players, which will explain the game selection and personal travel precautions that you care about in one go.

Let me be clear, this article is a “Step-by-step guide for absolute beginners” for parents who want to play Switch with their kids. Individual players can ignore it because the way families and individuals play and think is very different.

Over the past few days, PickOnes has compiled hundreds of questions about how to play games with children, and this article will break them down into four parts.

（1）What is Switch?

If you don’t play games, you might be hearing about the Switch for the first time. Simply, the Switch is a game console made by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo. The most special thing about the Switch is that it has a variety of gameplay, which is suitable for family members to play together, and is very flexible.

（2）three play modes

A. Handheld Mode. As the name suggests, it can be played anytime and anywhere. It is a large-sized phone that can be held in the hand.

B. Tabletop Mode. Remove the switches on both sides of the Switch, and each person has a handle, facing the small screen, so that two people can play together.

C. TV Mode. This is the primary recommendation when playing games with children. By connecting the Switch console to a TV stand and linking it to the screen, you get a large, clear display while staying away from the gaming area, which is more eye-friendly. This TV-based approach also prevents kids from snuggling up to their devices under the covers for late-night gaming sessions.

(3) How to connect the TV?

New moms have been asking how to connect their consoles and what TV specs they need.

When buying a Switch, you’ll get a standard Switch dock that connects to your TV via an HDMI cable. Just plug the Switch into the dock and select the right signal source on your TV.

If you have a projector at home, as long as it has an HDMI port, it can be played.

(4) Why is Swich suitable for playing with children?

A. There are many treasure games.

The classic games like < Animal Crossing: New Horizons>, <Mario Kart 9>, <Super Mario Party>, and <The Legend of Zelda> are only available on Switch.

These games have cute graphics and fun gameplay, many of which support multiplayer cooperation, which is especially suitable for parent-child interaction.

B. Motion-sensing games are fun.

Pull out the controller to play motion-sensing games, allowing the whole family to jump and dance together. No need to go outdoors – you can get your workout done at home.

Of course, these games require extra payment beyond buying the console itself. Here, I recommend cassette-cassette games.

Once you’ve played through the cassette tapes, you can sell them and buy new ones to try different titles. Switch cassettes are currently being sold on the market for a little over $2 or $3 less than new ones. You can make some money if the price of cassettes goes up.

C. Pause at any time.

Switch games allow you to pause anytime, eliminating the frustration of having to restart from the beginning. For example, open-world games like *The Legend of Zelda* don’t have the pressure of needing to form teams or coordinate with teammates.

When you need to use the restroom or pause to do other things during gameplay, you can pause at any moment without worrying about leaving your friends behind.

Simply put, the Switch is like a parent-child interactive game chest with a variety of gameplay and healthy and fun content.

Instead of letting children play on their phones, the Switch can be connected to a large-screen TV to protect their eyesight and get the whole family moving.

2. Switch Purchase Guide.

(1) How to Choose a Switch?

Reading this, are you already in the mood to buy a Switch? But a quick search on the Internet shows that there are many different versions of Switch. See the following table:

Switch Models	OLED	Battery life	Lite	Switch 2
Price	$369.00	$ 349.00	$ 199.00	$499.00
Screen Size	OLED screen: 7 inches	LCD screen: 6.2 inch	LCD screen: 5.5 inches	LCD screen: 7.9 inches
Weight	420g	398g	275g	534g
Game Mode	3  Types	3  Types	Only support handheld mode	3  Types
Handle Vibrates	Yes	Yes	NO	Yes
Battery life	4.5-9h	4.5-9h	3-7h	2-6.5h
Support	Adjustable Pivot	Fixed, not adjustable	NO	Adjustable Pivot

For the version, we recommend buying the Japanese long-endurance version.

The Lite version is the cheapest, but we don’t recommend buying it because the Lite version can’t be connected to the TV and can only be used as a handheld device.

As mentioned earlier, playing on a large TV with children is more eye-friendly. The OLED version has the best screen, but it’s mainly to improve the console and desktop experience.

Since we recommend the TV-connected version, it doesn’t make much sense to spend an extra $100 or so to upgrade the screen, which isn’t cost-effective.

But if you can’t get a long-endurance version, you can buy an OLED version.

(2) What is the Price?

The Switch 2, the latest model released in June, is still a little expensive and doesn’t have many exclusive games to play with, so it’s worth waiting a little longer.

Where to buy more reliably?

PickOnes recommends that you buy through the self-run channels of the big Commerce Platforms.

Switch 1 is an old game console, and it’s hard to tell apart a refurbished or used one. Although the official channels are slightly more expensive, the after-sales service is more guaranteed, so you can buy and use it with peace of mind.

The purpose of buying a Switch is to play games with children, and I don’t want to bother myself too much. As for cracked games, we don’t understand and have hardly been exposed to them.

For parent-child games, we mainly choose a few high-quality games, and there is no need for so many cracked games.

(3) What accessories to buy?

In addition to the host, what accessories are necessary?

A. Storage Bag.

Essential for protecting my console and cassette tapes. My storage bag has 10 dedicated cassette slots, so I only buy new games when these 10 slots are filled. If I want to get new games, I first sell my existing ones before purchasing new ones.

b. SD card.

The storage space of the game console is relatively small, so if you want to save more game data, you need to buy a larger SD card to expand it.

C. Optional extra controllers.

If you have two or more children at home, you can support four people playing together with an extra Switch controller. As mentioned above, if you plan to play about 10 games and buy the necessary accessories, as I do, the total cost will be around $700-800.

3. Recommended parent-child games.

(1) What to play with the baby? In what order?

Once the equipment is purchased, it’s time to start choosing games.

I know many friends were drawn to *The Legend of Zelda* by its stunning landscapes, but I wouldn’t recommend starting with this game for children. It requires both good hand-eye coordination and basic understanding skills. A safer choice would be *Mario Kart 8* – that thrilling car-chasing experience is perfect for kids to get their feet moving and enjoy the fun from the start.

Then you can play Animal Friends, which will make children particularly interested in catching butterflies, digging fossils, and fishing.

Then there are Star Kirby: New Star Alliance and Yoshi’s Handmade World, which are cute and fun to play with and easy to use, so children can play with them slowly.

When the children are familiar with these games, they can try to play Zelda.

If your child is young, play parent-child games according to the above steps, starting with the child’s familiar game controller operation, step by step, to explore the world of animation, and to explore a deeper game.

It is particularly important that adults accompany and guide children when they play games, rather than letting them play by themselves.

4. Experience of playing games with children (most important)

Why bring kids to play? What are the advantages of console games over mobile/web games?

When is it not recommended to bring kids to play? Editor’s psychological remarks.

You’ve bought the console and you’ve chosen the games. Is that all?

No! The most important thing when playing games with children is parental guidance and rules. This is also what we most want to discuss with you.

First of all, why do you insist on playing with your children?

In our current era, it’s impossible for children to completely isolate themselves from games. Instead of being overly guarded, we should actively guide them. Games are not a monster to be feared. Playing quality games, like completing a level, is like watching an immersive movie.

We hope that children’s first impression of games comes from their fathers’ companionship and their enjoyment of games in a safe and controllable environment.

In this way, when children play games by themselves in the future, they are more likely to remain rational and enjoy games rather than become addicted to them.

So, if you want to play games with your children, it’s recommended to start before they turn 10. Before the age of 10, children are completely trusting of their parents and are easier to guide.

Compared with mobile games and online games, the benefits of playing console games are as follows:

1. No need to keep topping up.

Console games are typically sold as one-time purchases, with their core design prioritizing entertainment value rather than creating addictive loops like mobile or online games that force continuous spending.

Exposure to quality games from an early age helps cultivate children’s discernment in gaming, making them less susceptible to being lured by low-quality online content in the future.

2. A sense of control.

Single-player games can be paused at any time, and there is no pressure from teammates, making it easier for parents to control the game time.

Moreover, Switch has an anti-addiction mode, where parents can set the time and automatically remind their children to stop playing when the time is up.

3. Simple game environment.

Through the cassette games carefully selected by parents, children are not exposed to the complex social communication and bad information of online games and mobile games.

But in the following cases, we do not recommend that children play.

1. Parents don’t have time or want to play with their children.

Console games are entertainment. Just like watching cartoons, it is almost impossible to expect children to be self-disciplined without companionship and guidance in the early stages, which will easily lead to children’s inability to stop playing.

So at the beginning, we must not be lazy, but play with our children to establish a good habit of playing.

2. If the child is already in junior high school or above and has never been exposed to games before, it is not recommended to play them.

Children of this age have a strong sense of independence, and the risk of sudden exposure to games and addiction to games will be very high, so it will be difficult to guide them again.

A lot of people are motivated to buy because of online clips and recommendations from players in the comments section, but I would say, please throw away some unrealistic fantasies.

Playing games won’t automatically make our children smarter, improve their grades, or learn self-discipline.

Games are meant to be parent-child activities and a way to relax and have fun. The core value of games lies in the process of companionship and creating shared happy memories, rather than simply throwing things at children and then ignoring them completely.

In closing, we want to emphasize that while the Switch we recommend in this article is an older model and the games may become outdated, childhood memories endure.

When your child looks back on this summer day someday in the future, they won’t be thinking about screen resolutions or console performance, but rather the whistling winds they heard while crossing the Hyrule continent with Link.

As one PickOnes user put it, “Years later, at a crossroads in life, your son will remember this: You can see the world ahead. Then he will take the step.” That’s all for today. Share ordinary life and record good moments.

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