20 Alexa games to keep your kids busy – CNET

While the Alexa speakers spread around your house are great for keeping you on task, controlling your smart home and ordering pizza when you don’t have time to cook dinner, they’re also great at keeping your kiddos busy. The Alexa skills catalog is full of helpful third-party software, including skills for kids and plenty of games to keep children entertained. And it’s not all just mindless fun — there are plenty of educational games to boot.

Below are 20 Alexa games you should try with your kids.

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Lemonade Stand

Lemonade Stand is a voice-only take on one of the first computer games by the same name. Alexa will tell you the (in-game) weather forecast for the day. The player then manages the lemonade stand by using their money to buy cups of lemonade and advertisements for their lemonade stand.

Panda Rescue

In Panda Rescue, you are a carer and your job is to take care of an orphaned baby panda. Answer questions and make the correct decisions as a parent until the panda grows to become an adult and is released back into the wild.

Hungry Birds

Hungry Birds will teach your children the fundamentals of coding or programming by exercising their logical thinking and problem-solving skills. The object of the game is to help the bird reach its nest by following a path filled with worms and corn. If you make the wrong move, the fox will catch the bird.

Freeze Dancers

Of course, not all games have to be educational. Freeze Dancers is a take on the classic Freeze Dance game. Alexa will play music and tell you to dance in wacky ways. When the music stops, you must freeze and hold that position until the music continues. If you fall, you’re out (or do 10 jumping jacks and rejoin when the next song plays). Play until no one is left standing.

The SpongeBob Challenge

The SpongeBob Challenge is a memory game where the Krusty Krab crew must take orders from customers and you must remember their orders, no matter how weird or complicated.

Silly Things

With Silly Things, Alexa will tell you something funny to act out. For instance, if you say, “Alexa, ask Silly Things to tell me to do something silly,” it might tell you to act like you just ate a sour lemon or act like the floor is lava.

Outer Space Alice

Outer Space Alice follows the story of a teenage astronaut, Alice, who is in the International Space Station (ISS). When asked, she will tell you the actual current position of the ISS and an interesting fact about that location.

Kids Court

Kids Court may not be an actual game for kids, but it might be entertaining for you. If there is an argument, you can tell your children to take it to Kids Court where Judge Lexy will give you a verdict. You can also go to www.playkidscourt.com to file for an appeal, suggest new verdicts or play the judge in other people’s trials.

Magical Adventure

Magical Adventure will tell kid’s stories with your children’s names as characters. Each story is roughly five minutes in length and each gender gets a new story approximately every week. You can also submit your own stories by emailing them to the developer, found on the skill’s landing page.

Math Dungeon

In Math Dungeon, you must navigate a dungeon where you will encounter different creatures. Answer their increasingly difficult word problems to progress through the dungeon. If you make it to the end, you will meet the wizard for a final challenge.

Hide and Seek

With the Hide and Seek skill, Alexa will play the classic game with you. Obviously, Alexa can’t hide, so you’ll be in charge of all the hiding and Alexa will try to guess where you are.

Akinator

Akinator is the classic 20 questions game. You choose an object, be it a person, place, animal or inanimate item, and answer yes or no to a series of questions. The genie will try to guess what you’re thinking of.

Mighty Trivia

Mighty Trivia is just one of many trivia games in the Alexa skills catalog. This one is geared towards a younger audience with three different difficulty levels. Alexa will pretend to be an object, person, place or animal and you must guess what she is based on questions and hints. It’s effectively the opposite of Akinator.

Animal Game

If Akinator seems a little too broad or open for your kid, you can try the Animal Game, which is the same game but limited to animals. Choose any animal (that you have a basic knowledge of) and answer a series of questions while Alexa tries to guess which one you’re thinking of.

Memory Game For Kids

Memory Game For Kids will provide you with a list of words and follow it up with a question, such as “What word was before dog?” Do your best to memorize the list and answer correctly to proceed.

Wizard of Oz

Wizard of Oz is an interactive adaptation of the story we all know and love. Along the journey, you will be met with puzzles and problems that you must solve to find your way back home.

Would You Rather For Family

A PG take on a classic party game, Would You Rather For Family will propose silly situations and you must choose between them.

True, False or Trick!

True, False or Trick! Will tell you a fact about nature, science, animals, history and other topics. You must choose whether the fact is true, false or a trick. There is another version of this game by a different developer that isn’t geared towards kids, so make sure you’re playing the right one with your kids.

Kid Power

Kid Power from UNICEF is a great way to get your kids active and teach them about the world while also helping others in need. The skill will tell your kids to perform different activities, like running or jumping, quiz them on countries around the world and take them on an interactive adventure. When they use the skill, they will earn Kid Power points, which transfers “into food packets that UNICEF delivery to malnourished kids around the world.”

The Queen’s Mathematician

The Queen’s Mathematician is another adventure where the queen has been kidnapped by elves. You must use your math skills to unlock the charms and rescue her. And they can play again and again, since the game has thousands of possible endings.