Every kid I know has a Nintendo DS, so when I read this article, I thought this would help me pick my own when I get my bean her own Nintendo.

10 of the best games for keeping your mind and body active

by Christopher Healy

There’s a decent chance your child owns a Nintendo DS—one of those sleek, lightweight handheld gaming units that flips open like a clam shell to reveal two separate screens, one of which is a touchscreen operated by stylus. The DS (the acronym stands for “dual screen”) is already the biggest-selling game console in the world, but Nintendo won’t be satisfied until you have your own—or at least start borrowing your kid’s. Many DS games are now being marketed squarely at moms. Why else would Babies ‘R’ Us have a whole wall of DS games and accessories? (Hint: It’s not for the infants.) So we surveyed a slew of the mom-centric titles to see whether or not they belong in your diaper bag.

Brain Age & Brain Age 2

(Nintendo, $20 each)

Basic Concept: Brain Age presents you with mind-challenging mini games (everything from following sheet music to reading the time from spinning clocks) that are designed to keep your brain active and help prevent the mental deterioration that seems to come with aging.
What’s in It for Mom? Hours of SpongeBob and Wiggles music can make your brain yearn for a real workout. And despite sounding like homework, most of these games are kind of fun.
Will Kids Want to Play? Those who can’t handle multiplication and division simply won’t be able to. But there is a fun factor that could attract older kids.

Personal Trainer: Cooking

(Nintendo, $20 each)

Basic Concept: Less a game than an interactive cookbook, this software offers up a slew of international recipes, helps you create shopping lists for each, and then leads you—step by step, audibly—through the preparation process. At any point when an instruction might raise questions of its own (“Dice an onion? How exactly do I do that?”), you can ask for more information and get the step broken down into even smaller steps.
What’s in It for Mom? A little encouragement when it comes to trying out dishes you may not have attempted otherwise. It’s also a “game” with a truly tangible outcome—if you win, you get good food!
Will Kids Want to Play? They may very well want to help you in the kitchen, but these are not recipes for kids to take on by themselves.

CrossworDS

(Nintendo, $20 each)

Basic Concept: Crossword puzzles—the classic grown-up leisure activity—and lots of them. Plus word searches and anagram puzzles. Play at varied difficulty levels, with or without hints.
What’s in It for Mom? A brainy pastime in a much more easily handled package than a folded newspaper.
Will Kids Want to Play? Perhaps, if yours are already crossword buffs.

Sudoku Gridmaster

(Nintendo, $20 each)

Basic Concept: If you don’t know what sudoku is by now, parenthood has seriously stifled your pop-culture intake. Filling in the empty boxes on a grid of numbers has become a worldwide sensation in the past few years, and here you get more sudoku puzzles than you could probably ever find time to do.
What’s in It for Mom? Like CrossworDS, it offers a compact compendium of intellect-boosting diversions. Only you don’t have to know a lot of trivia.
Will Kids Want to Play? If they do, encourage it—sudoku is a great way to work those logic muscles.

Zenses: Ocean & Zenses: Rainforest

(Game Factory, $30 each)

Basic Concept: Relaxing puzzle games to help you unwind. And how, exactly, is a puzzle relaxing? These are the kinds—flipping, swapping, and matching various items—that put you into an almost trancelike state through repetitive action. Plus, you can adjust the “intensity” level from a high of seven all the way down to zero for real no-pressure play.
What’s in It for Mom? Soothing backdrops and ambient sounds—like rushing surf and trickling streams—take you away from it all.
Will Kids Want to Play? These games may play at a slower pace than most children are used to, but once kids realize they can pump the intensity up to seven, they’ll be on board.

My Weight Loss Coach

(Ubisoft, $30)

Basic Concept: Develop a healthier lifestyle by turning it into a game. You’ll carry a pedometer to monitor your walking and accept a variety of daily challenges—either physical (do 15 push-ups right now; walk up and down 30 steps) or food-related (hide your salt shaker for a day; eat something new). Your little cartoon trainer will also ask for reports on your diet and exercise to let you know if you’re staying on track with your health goals.
What’s in It for Mom? A motivational tool to help procrastinators stay on top of a regular workout regimen (and actually make the process at least a little bit).
Will Kids Want to Play? Unlikely.

Personal Trainer: Walking

(Nintendo, $50)

Basic Concept: Another “healthy lifestyle” game, this one focuses entirely on the benefits of walking. You’ll carry a pedometer with no readout window—meaning the only way to know if you’re hitting your daily step goals is to plug into the DS and check with your animated emcee, at which point you’ll also get tips and kudos.
What’s in It for Mom? A pretty easy reminder about the simplest thing a busy parent can do to get some exercise.
Will Kids Want to Play? There may be a fascination with the pedometer, as well as with seeing the DS translate your steps into onscreen images. Luckily, the package comes with two pedometers, so if Junior wants to try it out, he won’t mess up Mom’s data.

Wordfish

(Ubisoft, $30)

Basic Concept: Pump up your vocabulary with a series of word games. Match words to their definitions, fill in missing letters, make anagrams from the pasta in alphabet soup, etc. (Oh, and look up the definitions of any words you miss.)
What’s in It for Mom? Technically, this one is aimed at students, but it can make for a fun time-killer for lexiphilic moms, or a nifty vocab builder for any adult who finds herself slipping too often into baby talk.
Will Kids Want to Play? Certain kids may find it their cup of tea—and it would be a mighty fine way to spend their allotted video-game time.

My Spanish Coach

(Ubisoft, $30)

Basic Concept: Forget those Rosetta Stone tapes: Learn a new language through games, like word searches, memory matching, and whack-a-mole. The software doesn’t let you move on to the next lesson until it feels you’ve mastered the vocabulary from the previous one. You can also record yourself speaking the Spanish words to compare your pronunciation to that of the computer instructor.
What’s in It for Mom? You can spend a few minutes a day with the game and become genuinely familiar with a foreign vocabulary. It’s not going to beat taking language classes, but who has time for that?
Will Kids Want to Play? Maybe, if they’re already taking Spanish in school.

Quick Yoga Training

(Ubisoft, $20)

Basic Concept: A yoga instructor in your pocket. Tell your DS what parts of your body you want to focus on and how much time you have, and you’ll be presented with an appropriate routine (which you can then edit, in case you see an exercise you can’t handle or simply don’t like). During the workout, you’ll follow along with a motion-captured instructor—and an audiovisual breath meter to keep your inhales and exhales in time.
What’s in It for Mom? You’ve only got five minutes to sneak in some exercise and you don’t want to resort to ab crunches again? Voilá!
Will Kids Want to Play? Even if they want to, they shouldn’t—the software’s many disclaimers specifically state that it’s not intended for children.

Flash Focus

(Nintendo, $30)

Basic Concept: A series of eye-strength exercises—some of which perform like hi-tech vision tests (which way is the C pointing?) and some of which are based on sports games (quickly identify your teammates on a basketball court)—are used to determine your “eye age.” Those same exercises are also supposed to keep your aging peepers in good shape.
What’s in It for Mom? With all the time you’ve been spending staring at that little DS screen, isn’t the benefit obvious?
Will Kids Want to Play? The sports games? Sure. The others? Not so much.

(via: Cookie)