Animal Crossing is one of the first online games that I have LOVED to play. It's peaceful, cute, and sandbox style -- that means you don't need to follow a certain sequence when you play the game.

You can spend your time fishing, catching bugs, visiting the museum, or chatting with your (animal) villagers. Or, you can spend your time tending to your vegetable and flower gardens, visit other islands, or go clothes shopping! 

This is an easy-going game, and is a helpful intro to the world of "gather supplies, craft tools, and survive" games.

I play on Nintendo Switch, although Animal Crossing has a mobile game and previous versions for Wii, Game Cube, etc.

If you already have a Switch, the Animal Crossing game is usually around $60. 

Minecraft is a great game. I admit, I was hesitant to let my kids play since I didn't know much about it. But my husband convinced me to give it a shot. And now it's such a fun experience for me with my kids. And their friends too!

Minecraft has a number of ways to play - you choose Survival (you need to gather all of your resources) vs. Creative (where you have unlimited resources). You also choose between Peaceful (where even the "villians" like Creepers can't hurt you) or Easy/Normal/Hard (where you can get hurt).

Sometimes my kids like to start in Creative and then switch to Survival. Meanwhile I can stay in Creative. That's one of the things I love about Minecraft, you can still play together but with different settings. 

We play on personal computers, but we're able to play with friends who use Minecraft on Amazon Fire Tablets and/or Nintendo Switches.

You'll need a Minecraft license/game for each computer, so it can get pricey.

Lego Fortnite is a newer game, and as much as I enjoy Minecraft, I like this one better. Here's why -- Minecraft is beautiful, but sometimes I feel like I have motion sickness while playing. Something about the shapes, and how my character moves. I don't have that problem with Lego Fortnite.

It's similar to Minecraft where you are gathering supplies, crafting tools, mining resources, building villages, etc. There are also things that can hurt you: wolves, spiders, brutes, skeletons, etc. But, there are settings to prevent your character from ever dying. So although the 'villains' can hurt you, you can't completely die. Honestly, this took some getting used to, as my kids were (understandably!) upset when a wolf would chase and bite them.

All characters and materials are "made" of Lego, so it's all very cute! 

Lego Fortnite takes the cuteness of Animal Crossing and combines it with Minecraft. We play this on personal computers. 

Best part of Lego Fortnite? It's free!