Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

This long holiday weekend I put a little time in with Animal Crossing, the only Wii title I play alongside my kids. While I play in an eco-friendly way saving creatures for the museum first and avoiding trampling flowers while taking a bit of time to earn bells here and there to slowly pay down my massive debt to Nook, my kids see things differently.

My middle child is enthralled with the mercifully breakable axe. Nook’s shop stands two stories tall now amidst a wasteland of grass and stumps straight to the river’s edge. He doesn’t go at it non-stop, mind you, he will take a few days off, perhaps saving up for a new axe, and then put his back into it when I least expect it, splintering trees regardless of whether they are growing the town’s native pears or not.

Early on when I expressed shock at what he was doing and begged him to stop, he refused in what was then for him an uncharacteristic show of independence. “I don’t like trees, I HATE trees.” he said. My green heart sank. He continued, “Because I have tree pollen allergies.” He’s right. The spring and fall are terrible for my son for just this reason, and Animal Crossing, of all games, has afforded him his very first video-game-fueled power fantasy.

If you played it, how did you play Animal Crossing, and what did you play this long weekend?