What are sandbox games for the computer? I am a clueless mom getting eyerolls from my jr high son!

Sandbox games for the computer are a great name.  Think about your child as a preschooler in a sandbox with a couple of toy trucks, shovels, buckets and some plastic horses and dinosaurs.  He had the tools to work with, but what he did with them was up to his imagination.

As a young child, he probably ploughed the trucks through the sand or used the shovel to bury the horses.  But as he grew older, he made up some games … the horses were out in the pasture and some dinosaurs came to eat them and the horses ran away and the trucks chased the dinosaurs.  He had the same tools, but he made up a story or a “game”.  And the next day when he was in the sandbox with the same tools, he made up a different story with other action.

Sandbox computer games operate similarly.  The software has a number of tools that the player can animate and control.  The action and the “plot” (if there is any) are designed by the person playing the game. 

Sometimes the games have action built in, but the players can change the action or make decisions about what is going to happen next…(remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books?)  Other games are totally open-ended, and the player builds the action and the story line.  The game has no proscribed beginning, middle or end; the player invents as he/she goes along.  Sandbox games demand a lot of creativity and higher order thinking.  If your son is playing sandbox games on the computer, I suggest you join the fun!  (Google “sandbox games” to learn more.)

COMPUTER EXPLORERS is offering its first sandbox course this summer, a 3-D video game design course.  Click here to find a location near you!