Supporting creative play does not make me a mother who is completely against modern gadgets and electronic games. I believe all good things in moderation is often the answer, depriving children of something completely would only nurture their curiosity and want for something that in fact is not such big deal. I am very selective about video game consoles and I have only allowed them after the age of seven. I don’t think there is a right age for video games, I guess it depends on the children and for us seven seemed right to introduce the iPod Touch, which was a sort of compromise between an educational tool that also supports games and a Nintendo. Recently we agreed to XBOX 360 with Kinect to enter our house with the understanding its use would be limited to no more than an hour session and not on a daily basis. After an initial period of fascination with it all interest was lost and requests for playing games have become few and far between especially those operated by hand controls. I guess when you have an active sporty child playing football by pressing some buttons just doesn’t cut it. The real thing is so much better. The kinect games, which require the players to actually physically move around to play, have been more popular from the start and haven’t lost their appeal yet.

Recently I have received a promotional copy of Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster to try on the XBOX 360 KINECT, which was launched mid October. Initially I thought my son was a little grown up for this game, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The minute we put it on he was immediately taken by the story and the interaction required to make the story move forward chapter by chapter was entertaining enough to keep an older kid interested yet easy enough for preschoolers to enjoy it too. Elmo and Cookie monster go through a journey where they encounter friendly monster and they have to do all sorts of activities including flying, singing and playing musical instruments to move on. Every stage can be saved so you don’t have to play the all story all in one go as it goes on for a while. If you like Sesame Street then you will like this game that can be enjoyed by the whole family.