If there’s one gaming console that seems to be at the top of tons of holiday gift lists, it’s the Nintendo Switch! This is not surprising because it’s a great first gaming console for young kids or those just getting into gaming. It was designed to be played in a variety of ways — either solo or multiplayer, as a portable device or hooked up to your TV, with games where you’re sitting down or moving around, and more. The Switch comes with tons of games that get kids excited — even parents, too!
But if you’re not quite sure where to start in the world of Nintendo Switches, consider this your user-friendly quick start guide! We’ll cover the basics of how the console works, how to access games, which type of Switch you should get, what parental controls are available, and what are the best Nintendo Switch games for kids.
Nintendo Switch: The Basics
How to play and access games
There are three ways to play games on a Switch. You can purchase physical cartridges and insert them into the device — this is the old-school way. Secondly, you can access Nintendo’s eShop and purchase games to download and play. Note — you’ll need a Nintendo membership to do this and plans vary from $19.99-$34.99 per year. Lastly, there are some free-to-play games that you can access through the eShop.
It’s also important to note that since the Switch can access the internet, kids can do more than just play specific games. They can use a web browser to surf sites, access social media, and more. This is where those parental controls become important, which we’ll discuss in a moment.
Switch vs Lite vs OLED
Technically, there are three types of Switches — the Nintendo Switch, the Switch Lite, and OLED. The main difference between these three is that the Nintendo Switch and OLED can connect to your TV and add additional controllers. The Lite cannot do this — it’s just portable and you can’t add more controllers. The original Switch and the OLED are almost exactly the same, except that the OLED is a little nicer (and more expensive) and can hold more memory.
Two takeaways here are: if you anticipate your child using their Switch to play with multiple people and you want it to be played on your TV, then you likely do not want the Lite version. And if you anticipate your child playing a lot of different games, then you may want to opt for the OLED for additional storage.
Parental Controls on the Switch
Parents should know that Nintendo Switch has some pretty robust parental controls. No controls are perfect, but parents are given lots of options to give their kids a decently safer experience on their Switch.
On the device itself, you can restrict web access, disable the ability to communicate with strangers, and set a PIN to protect your parental settings.
For an added layer of custom controls, you can download the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app. This app offers granular screen time controls, content restriction settings, and the ability to monitor your child’s usage. Check out our Nintendo Switch tech guide for step-by-step instructions on setting up parental controls.
Nintendo Switch Games for Kids
Now for the fun part! What games can you get with the Switch? We combed through hundreds of posts from our Facebook group, Parenting in a Tech World, which has over 550k members discussing all things parenting and tech every day! Undoubtedly, questions about Nintendo Switch come up frequently and these are the ones we see suggested by real parents all the time.
Here are our top 15 recommendations of the best Nintendo Switch games for kids:
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart
- Mario Party
- Animal Crossing
- Splatoon
- Minecraft
- Overcooked
- Unravel 2
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Just Dance
- Ring Fit
- Big Brain Academy
- Oregon Trail
- Mario Maker
- Luigi’s Mansion
Managing Your Gaming Devices With Bark
Whether it’s a Nintendo Switch, your family laptop, the smart TV in the living room, or each of your kid’s school tablets, it can be a lot to juggle parental controls for each separate device. This is why we offer the Bark Home, which allows you to set screen time and web filtering rules for all of your internet-connected devices, right from your phone. The Bark Home works at the router level, which allows you to manage internet access as seamlessly as possible. Try the Bark Home, or any of our parental control products, for your family today!
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Bark helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.
