Visualizing Kids’ Interaction Data for Creative Games in Power BI

[johnbarson5]

Hi everyone, I’m working on a small analytics project for a kid-friendly creative mobile game similar to Toca boca world mod apk . I want to use Power BI to create dashboards that show: which game features kids interact with most time spent in different areas of the game activity trends over the week top 5 favorite items or locations I’m looking for advice on: Best chart types for showing the top features or items Visual techniques to make dashboards colorful, fun, and easy for parents/teachers to understand Ways to handle tied values in rankings while still showing unique colors I’ve also shared some examples and insights on my website for reference: https://tocabocamodapks.net/ Any suggestions or examples of dashboards for child-focused apps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance .

[Ritaf1983 · Accepted solution]

Hi @johnbarson5 

I haven’t built dashboards specifically for kids yet (and honestly — I’m a bit jealous, it sounds like a really fun project!).
So I can’t share examples, but I can offer some guidance based on cognitive psychology, visual-perception principles, and lots of “experiments” on my own kids whenever they saw the complex dashboards I built for organizations.

1. Kids rely much more on visual perception than on numbers or text
Their visual processing is strong, while numerical or text-heavy content is harder for them.
This means:
• Use more charts, fewer tables.
• Prefer simple shapes and layouts.
• Make the visual message obvious without requiring reading.

2. Kids have shorter attention spans, so minimizing cognitive load is critical
Keep the layout airy with plenty of white space.
Use calm, soft colors.
Avoid the bright neon style used on the website you linked — it may be fun in games, but it creates visual overload in dashboards.

3. Kids love interaction — give them playful micro-interactions
A little interactivity goes a long way.
Even small touches like playful titles or encouraging messages make a difference.
For example, if you combine a ranking chart with a trend line, you could add a small callout saying:
“Tap me to see if I’m improving over time!”

4. Most important: give them information they actually care about
A dashboard is a tool, not a goal by itself.
There’s no such thing as a boring chart — only information that isn’t meaningful to the user.
Even kids will stay engaged if the content relates to what they enjoy inside the game.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @johnbarson5 , Hope you're doing okay! May we know if it worked for you, or are you still experiencing difficulties? Let us know — your feedback can really help others in the same situation.

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @johnbarson5 , Hope you are doing well. Kindly let us know if the issue has been resolved or if further assistance is needed. Your input could be helpful to others in the community.

[v-hashadapu · Accepted solution]

Hi @johnbarson5 , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

For showing top features or items, bar charts or column charts will work best because they’re simple, instantly readable and let parents or teachers compare popularity at a glance. A stacked column can help if you want to show time spent per area but keep the number of segments small so it doesn’t feel busy. For activity trends over the week, a clean line chart or area chart works well because it shows rising and falling engagement without overwhelming the viewer.

To make the dashboards feel kid-friendly but still adult readable, lean into soft, playful colours instead of neon game style colours. Use rounded shapes, big spacing and minimal text so the visuals feel light and friendly. Adding small touches like iconography (a little house icon for a location, a toy icon for an item) makes it more intuitive without clutter. Parents don’t need the dashboard to look like the game, they just need it to be warm, approachable and easy to digest.

When dealing with ties in rankings, sort by the metric and then break ties with a secondary field like the feature name, so each bar still gets a unique position and colour. Alternatively, you can group tied values into a single shared rank but assign each one a distinct colour from a soft palette. The key is consistency, once a feature gets a colour, keep that colour across all visuals so users instantly recognize it wherever it appears.

Thank you @Ritaf1983  for your valuable response.

[Ritaf1983 · Accepted solution]

Hi @johnbarson5 

I haven’t built dashboards specifically for kids yet (and honestly — I’m a bit jealous, it sounds like a really fun project!).
So I can’t share examples, but I can offer some guidance based on cognitive psychology, visual-perception principles, and lots of “experiments” on my own kids whenever they saw the complex dashboards I built for organizations.

1. Kids rely much more on visual perception than on numbers or text
Their visual processing is strong, while numerical or text-heavy content is harder for them.
This means:
• Use more charts, fewer tables.
• Prefer simple shapes and layouts.
• Make the visual message obvious without requiring reading.

2. Kids have shorter attention spans, so minimizing cognitive load is critical
Keep the layout airy with plenty of white space.
Use calm, soft colors.
Avoid the bright neon style used on the website you linked — it may be fun in games, but it creates visual overload in dashboards.

3. Kids love interaction — give them playful micro-interactions
A little interactivity goes a long way.
Even small touches like playful titles or encouraging messages make a difference.
For example, if you combine a ranking chart with a trend line, you could add a small callout saying:
“Tap me to see if I’m improving over time!”

4. Most important: give them information they actually care about
A dashboard is a tool, not a goal by itself.
There’s no such thing as a boring chart — only information that isn’t meaningful to the user.
Even kids will stay engaged if the content relates to what they enjoy inside the game.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly