by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: January 22, 2012   Last Updated: January 24, 2012

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure—It’s Activision’s newest children’s video game; and its innovation is capturing the imagination and stimulating the development of the next generation of gamers. Your son or daughter may be among the game’s newest and youngest Portal Masters. But unlike many video games, the technology and storyline of Skylanders can be used as a valuable teaching tool to help encourage positive social interaction and stimulate your child’s cognitive development. 

The Skylanders Adventure unfolds in a universe high above the clouds where a battle is being waged to remove the evil Portal Master, Kaos from power and restore the lands of Skyland to their rightful rulers. Children begin to learn, early in the game, the importance of power being used for good, and not evil. The Skylanders are action figures that, when placed on the Portal of Power, come to life and interact, perform feats of bravery, and “level up” as they gain in supernatural strengths and magical abilities.

Opponents of children’s video games are quick to express concerns about the over-stimulation, social reclusion and lack of physical exercise that can result from too much “screen” time. The old adage, “too much of any good thing is a bad thing,” can certainly be argued when a child becomes obsessed with something that threatens a balanced approach to his development.  But played in moderation, Skylanders can stimulate a young mind (or an old one) to think sequentially, act interdependently and learn to understand cause and effect. The best part is that your child doesn’t even realize that he is “leveling up” his own skill-set as he masters different elements of personal development.

Cooperation

Two children (or those who are children at heart) can play Skylanders at a time.  Throughout the game, it isn’t possible for one to leave the other since they are connected by a force that makes cooperative play a necessity.  They must decide together what paths to take, when to engage in battle and whether they stop along the way to dialog with characters that offer clues and move the storyline along. This may mean disagreement and require help from mom and dad to learn the art of negotiation and compromise; but the end result is the development of a spirit of cooperation.

“Back-to-Back” Strategy

Each action figure has individual strength and the opportunity

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