Nintendo DS system...............

cindys732003

cindys732003

Sweet Shoppe Designer
Do your kids have one? How old are they? Is an almost 6 year told too young for one? Is there learning type games you can get for them?
TIA!!
 
Amelia got one when she turned 4, she still has it (she'll be 6 in January) and it's held up well. She plays Mario games LOL! They have ALL kinds of games, seriously go into Toys R Us LOL. You can get most anything! Benjamin got one at age 5 and loves his (he's 8). They were great investments for us!
 
We have 3 (well, one is broken, lol). My kids are 4 and 6 and we've had them for a little over a year. There's lots of games that 5-6 year olds can play...many are a bit too difficult for 3-4 year olds, though.

The one thing we REALLY have to be careful of is that our 6 year old doesn't understand how to treat it. He bit the screen on the first one we got because he got mad at it and broke it (we'd only had it a month). We ended up getting new ones because we wanted them for our trip to California to keep the kids entertained during the long travel time...and they've treated them pretty good, with the occasional drop or toss. Mason just tried giving his a bath and totally submerged it in water and it still works, thankfully, lol.
 
the best $100 babysitter you will ever find

seriously it's been a great investment for us. Not so many fights in the car anymore lol and they have EVERY game imaginable...
 
All 3 of mine have them Cindy and they're 3.5, 5 and 8 - they all LOVE them and they've been a really good investment for us. There are great games for kids - the best I've seen on any system.

Andy LOVES mario kart DS and Super Monkey Ball
Katie and Emily both love the cake mania and cooking mama games and Viva Pinata is also a surprise hit around here.

If you want any more game req's let me know! I'd highly recommend the system tho (I even have one because there are some AWESOME puzzle games like crossworDS and Professor Layton and the Curious Villiage) - it's a lot of fun and nice and sturdy for little hands!

R
 
Oh yeah, and if you get one...make sure to find something good to keep all the games in. My kids are forever losing the games - there are these little cases that you flip open and they hold I think 6 games...they were no good for our kids because some of the games would fly out when they'd open it. We have hard cases for the DS's now and you can fit 6 games in pockets in the front but they can't get them IN those, lol...so our games are randomly scattered everywhere all the time. I think I have some in my purse, there are some in the van, there are a bunch on their play table in the living room...
 
CIndy - we just got one for Connor - he just turned 9. Aiden, the 5.5 yo isn't great at it, but I think it's the game more than anything (we bought one game to go with it). Give him a game geared towards the younger crowd, and he'd do just fine. 6 is perfect.

Check your local Gamestop for a deal on DS Lite's - we got ours used with a charger and a game for less than the price of a new one alone. The machines play DS games plus game boy advanced games..and you can get them as little as $10 at Gamestop.

Connor loves it.

I agree with Bree - invest in a keeper system (as little as $10 for small ones). Also, they have nerf covers for the machines. They're like sleeves that fit over to help when little hands don't treat them so nicely and bang the system around.
 
I have one and my son has one. He is 15. I dont think he ever really plays his. We sometimes play ours together (because you can link them together and play off one cartridge) I am debating right now on whether I want to sell mine since I never play it. I have like 12 games and they all bore me once I beat them
 
be sure to get a ds 'lite'. yes, your 6 year old is perfect to have one, just make sure you get a screen cover and a case for it, cause they can get scratched up easily. you'll need to buy about 20 back-up stylis's too. totally, a lot of games for her. mine have had theirs for 2 years now. mason started when he was 4. they all adore theirs.
 
cindys732003 said:
Darcy....is there a difference between a DS and DS lite?
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the ds is lame. the screen isn't bright and it's big and bulky. the ds lite is streamlined, brighter screen, more sleek.

also, don't know if you care, but the ds's graphics are amazing for a handheld device. comparable to the nintendo 64! pretty amazing!
 
They don't make DS's anymore, just the DS Lite...but if you're buying used then you've gotta make sure what you're getting. The Lite is not as heavy, basically like how iPod has their "second generation" products...they fixed up what wasn't perfect the first time around.
 
My 12 yr old has only had hers for a year - at the price they are here I couldnt justify it any earlier - $200 was a little too much for me to place in the hands of a 4yr old.
My 9 yr old is the only one in her class without one and she is quite OK about that - in fact its not on her xmas wish list.
We ban them on certain holidays cos some kids become anti social for excessive periods without them. One dad removed it from his 6yr old after 12 hours and the kid was totally lost for something to do the entire next day.
Just remember - all things in moderation I guess!
 
We got the girls DSs for Christmas last year... they were 5 1/2 & 7 1/2. They can both play them just fine but we found it frustrating for the younger because a lot of the games they have require reading to play them. She's fine now, but just be ready to help a lot if your little one isn't reading yet. lol
 
I didn't read all the replies, so forgive me if I'm repeating something.

My son (almost 7) has had a DS for a couple of years now. He has the DS Lite which really is the better system.

One thing I would recommend for a kid as young as yours, is to get the NERF DS armor. Its soooooooo cool! Cameron has a black one and its protected his DS from more bumps and bangs that I can count. We bought ours at wal-mart but I've seen them at GameStop, Target, ToysRUs, etc. Its a definite must-have when you get a DS for a young kid.
 
Kassi's 7 and she's been asking for one for two years now. I didn't think she was ready to actually take care of one until now so we are hoping to get her one this year for Christmas.
 
We have them too. Actually Chelsea is getting a new one this Christmas. They have a lot of great games out for all ages. It is great for long car rides.
 
Anthony will be 7 next month & he is getting on for Christmas. My mom actually bought it - not me. I think I will get him the Nerf Armour though - that is a good idea.
 
we waited to get one for gareth till he turned 8.... i don't know, for us, it just was a TON of money to spend on something fragile-ish for a kid, so we decided 8 was a good age. Instead, we got them Used Gameboy Advances when they were younger, owen and gareth both have one and we'll get reece one probably this year for his birthday. Used they are under 50 dollars, and the games are cheaper too - and then if something happens to it, we aren't loosing such a huge investment.
 
My girls (6 and almost 4) both have them. My youngest got hers last Christmas when they did the bundles and it is pearly pink with pawprints on it. :) They both love them and I agree, they've saved us tons of fights and whining on car trips. I say go for it! :thumbup:
 
my kids have had them since they were 4.5 and 6.5. They both love them. A protective case is a good idea. My kids take care of theirs, but my DS did drop his once and it broke (we made him pay 1/2 the cost to get it fixed). The bigger concern is that you really need to check to make sure that you don't leave them when you go out someplace! The unit and especially the games are easy to lose.
 
gabe will be 7 in march and is getting one for x-mas. he plays cass now and loves it. sick of the fights so we are getting it for x-mas instead of his b-day..LOL!
 
Shawna Clingerman said:
we waited to get one for gareth till he turned 8.... i don't know, for us, it just was a TON of money to spend on something fragile-ish for a kid, so we decided 8 was a good age. Instead, we got them Used Gameboy Advances when they were younger, owen and gareth both have one and we'll get reece one probably this year for his birthday. Used they are under 50 dollars, and the games are cheaper too - and then if something happens to it, we aren't loosing such a huge investment.
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Minus the Gameboy Advance part, this is what we did with JP. He's had his DS for just about a year now and it's in great shape. Devin's been asking for one, but since we made JP wait until 8, Devin has to wait too. (He just turned 6 last Tuesday. He bought a Didj for himself with birthday fundage.)
 
We are getting all 3 of our oldest ones their own for Christmas (10,6 and just turned 4). For my 4 year old I ordered this game from amazon



But we have owned one for at least 2 years and he can play Cooking Mama, Big Brain and several of the Mario games!!!

I don't know if this has been posted but my DH told me that he saw where they are coming out with a new DS that has a camera in it and a slot for a SD card.....not sure if he said "exactly" when it was coming out but you might want to check into that or even if you don't want one of those it might mean the "older version" can be found CHEAPER!!!
 
Elizabeth, that Crayola game is really fun...be ready to have to show your 4-year-old what to do. I had to beat most of the game to unlock coloring pages and crayons, then Natalie caught on and figured it out, lol. Mind you she was still 3 at the time and didn't know her numbers. She still plays it regularly. The Dora/Diego games are also good for that age. I bought Strawberry Shortcake thinking it would be easy, but it's definitely not, lol.
 
ditzyscrap said:
Elizabeth, that game is really fun...be ready to have to show your 4-year-old what to do. I had to beat most of the game to unlock coloring pages and crayons, then Natalie caught on and figured it out, lol. Mind you she was still 3 at the time and didn't know her numbers. She still plays it regularly. The Dora/Diego games are also good for that age. I bought Strawberry Shortcake thinking it would be easy, but it's definitely not, lol.
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Awesome thanks Bree!!! I almost picked up the Diego game too!!! He's getting a GC from grandma to buy more games maybe I'll encourage him to pick that one up!!! :thumbup:

BTW I picked that game up on Tuesday through Amazon and only paid $17.99 for it....it's now up to almost $27 bucks :thumbdown: greedy buggers!!!
 
My 6 y/0 has had a Gameboy Advance for the last 2 years while my 10 y/0 has had a DS. The Gameboy sucks :thumbdown: compared to the DS, both in graphics quality and library of games available. My 6 y/o is most definitely getting a DS this year and then the two girls can play together, many of the games allow multiple DS users to play along with one another.

You definitely need to check out a Game Stop store! We L O V E GameStop. :wub: You can choose to buy a used DS if you don't want a new one. I'd suggest looking into getting the Nerf Armor (protective casing) if you have a kid who will be tough with the console. Otherwise, you can find a bunch of different covers and carriers to customize your DS.

One of the best things about Game Stop is that you can buy used games that work just as good as the new ones! And you can trade your used games in at anytime for store credit toward getting even more new or used games. My girls love going to game stop every month to trade in the games they are done or bored with for new ones.

There are most definitley learning and puzzle games in addition to the basic arcade and charecter based story games. YOU can get a couple games for yourself as well, like BrainAge to test your memory skills.
 
Cindy, you're in Canada, right? I don't know if we have GameStops up here...but around here there are a TON of EBGames which sounds like the same thing. That's where we go to get everything. :)
 
ditzyscrap said:
Cindy, you're in Canada, right? I don't know if we have GameStops up here...but around here there are a TON of EBGames which sounds like the same thing. That's where we go to get everything. :)
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Yep, tons of EB Games here too.....that's great to know!

Thank you so much for all of your help everybody! I know DH was concerned that this was just going to be for games and has no educational value....I will have to go take a closer look at the games you can get for it. But I will probably go ahead and get one....she's really good at taking care of her toys, so I don't think that will be an issue.....now ask me again when my DS is this age and I will probably have to think twice....he's a total destructor!!!! :D

Thanks everyone!
 
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