Y Educational Games
Ditch the dry lessons and let learning games transform study time into an adventure students will want to go on again and again! Interactive and Educational Games for Every Young Learner With our diverse range of learning games, your child will have a blast building essential skills in math, reading, writing, digital literacy, and more. Flippity offers several opportunities to design learning games with a Google spreadsheet. Play fun online learning games from your child's favorite Nick Jr. Games are designed to help develop your preschooler's math and reading skills. About This Site We find and review high-quality free educational software and websites - mostly for kids, but also for grown-ups. We have a large selection of web-based software (check the Online tab), as well as Windows educational software to download (under the Downloads tab). The groundbreaking game that makes learning to read fun. Covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. Designed in collaboration with leading academics. Complements all synthetic phonics programmes used in schools. Computer version is 100% free.
By Elizabeth Kahn
It is a fact that even in the 21st century, students need to study and review information they’ve been taught in class. In fact, many scientific studies have asserted that learning doesn’t take place without repetition.
Study guides created by the teacher or student in the form of lists may help when a student is preparing to take a test but may not be the best route for learning.
There are many digital tools that allow teachers and students to create games to make the repetition of information fun, rather than a chore.
The librarian and classroom teacher can make a great team when planning and executing lessons where the students generate games for study review in any content area and across grade levels. Here are a few of the tools I recommend using to create these learning games.
Flippity
Flippity offers several opportunities to design learning games with a Google spreadsheet. My favorite is the Quiz Show template. I’ve used it to make a game based on ancient Roman and Greek history for students in a 6th grade world history class, and everyone loved it. You can read more about this activity on my blog.
Digital Jeopardy
There are several ways to create digital Jeopardy—including tools like Flippity. An undergrad at Washington State University in Vancouver made Jeopardy Labs, another fun way to create and play the game online. This template is easier to edit and save online than the many Power Point game templates available to teachers and there are other games on this site too. For example, use the one to build crossword puzzles that can be played online (best used on laptop rather than tablet).
More:How Gamification Helped More Than 10,000 Students Improve Reading
Kahoot
I am a huge fan of Kahoot because it’s extremely engaging with its music and point system and can be played on any device, including a laptop, phone or tablet. The best part is students don’t have to download an app to access it.
With Kahoot, you create a quiz with up to four answers, but the number of questions is not limited nor is the number of players. I am the one who usually creates the questions and answers, but a Kahoot could certainly be made by the students.
There’s a new game on Kahoot called Jumble that allows students to put the four answers in order. Using Jumble could be great for practicing problems in math or putting historical events in order in social studies.
Quizlet
Quizlet has been around a long time as a way for students or teachers to create flashcards for study practice. If you haven’t visited it lately, you might be surprised at the updates. There are tools that allow for more game-like study practice including a fun matching game.
Teachers can register their classes and use Quizlet to monitor students’ understanding of concepts. It can also be used in a similar way to Kahoot with the new Quizlet Live. Learn how to use Qizlet Live here.
More:12 Educational Games to Boost Productivity
Memorize.com
Another site that can be used to create flash cards is Memorize.com. The student or teacher creates a page, called a “wizard,” focused on a specific topic. They select their preferred mode for studying, including flash cards, matching, or multiple choice. These wizards can then be shared and users can collaborate and merge their wizards together.
A wide variety of visuals can be added to the wizards making this site a great resource for diagram a skeleton, parts of a cell, or Newton’s laws of motion in science.
Vocabulary.com
At Vocabulary.com, students can play games to learn the meaning of words already curated on the site, or they can create an account and build a bank of specific words they need to know for class. Banks of words can be shared with others so students can assist each other as they build a guide for learning and remembering new words.
Dustbin Game
The Dustbin Game on Classtools is an easy way for teachers to create a review game. There’s a template for the creator to add the questions and answers in four different categories. This game could be used to review math problems, locations in geography, or species in science. Don’t miss Richard Byrne’s quick tutorial to help you use Dustbin.
If Dustbin doesn’t work for your class, you might find a better tool to create an interactive study guide for your students on Classtools. This website was created and is maintained by history teacher Russel Tarr. He has vetted all the tools on his site and most can be adapted for other subject areas besides social studies. One caveat: all tools are free and that means there will be ads.
- No Adware or Spyware
- Safe & Easy Downloads
- No pirated software, 100% legal games
- Games by Genre
Most Popular Educational Games
Tux Typing
Improve Your Typing Skills With This Fantastic Educational Game!
SpongeBob SquarePants Typing
Help SpongeBob Win the Typing Tournament!
Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom
Explore Four Storybooks to Find the Crystals and Save the Crystal Kingdom!
Diego's Dinosaur Adventure
Join Diego on His Big Adventure!
Doras Carnival Adventure
Help Dora Win Lots Of Fun Prizes!
La Casa De Dora
Explore The Fun Inside Dora's Home!
Doras Carnival 2: At the Boardwalk
Have Fun at the Carnival with Dora the Explorer in the Educational game Doras Carnival 2: At the Boardwalk!
Bob the Builder - Can Do Zoo
Build Bobland Bay Zoo From the Ground Up in This Awesome Adventure Based on the Hit Television Series!
Aqua Words
Fun word game with a really cute character!
Caillou Kindergarten: Counting and Thinking Skills Combined
Children Can Learn Vital Counting and Thinking Skills By Playing With Caillou
All Educational Games
10.0 = DFG Review Score
NA = Not Reviewed Yet
New! = Games listed in the last 30 days
= Mobile Games
Aqua Words
Make words out of fun bubble letters.
Bob the Builder - Can Do Zoo
Build Bobland Bay Zoo from the ground up!
Bob the Builder: Can Do Carnival
Save the Carnival and do fun educational activities!
Caillou Kindergarten: Counting and Thinking Skills Combined
Learning counting and spelling is fun when playing with Caillou!
Caillou Preschool - Alphabet, Colors, & Shapes
Learn shapes, colors and the alphabet in three languages.
Diego's Dinosaur Adventure
Join Diego on his big adventure!
Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom
Explore four storybooks to help save the Crystal Kingdom!
Dora the Explorer: Swiper's Big Adventure!
Help Dora and Swiper save a lost baby fox!
Doras Carnival 2: At the Boardwalk
Learn, have fun and win great prizes at Dora's carnival!
Doras Carnival Adventure
Help Dora win lots of fun prizes!
JumpStart Advanced 2nd Grade Fundamentals
Get Ready for 2nd Grade with a Worldwide Adventure!
JumpStart Advanced Preschool Fundamentals
Get a headstart on your child's early learning skills!
La Casa De Dora
Explore the fun inside Dora's home!
Y Educational Games Websites
Math Blaster Ages 7-9
Exciting story & game combined with age 7-9 math!
Piano Teacher
Learn how to play piano with this free portable music app.
Reading Blaster Ages 9-12
Stop a madman who's turning people into appliances!
SpongeBob SquarePants Typing
Help SpongeBob win the typing tournament!
To the Rescue Bundle!
When disaster strikes, count on The Rescue Team to save the day!
Trivia Crack
A fun and fast-paced game that anyone can pick up and play!
Tux Typing
Improve your typing skills!
Typer Shark Deluxe
Learn to be an excellent typer and have a great time doing it!
Learn About Kids’ Educational Games
What are Educational Games?
Computer games have been extremely popular over the last several decades. People of all ages enjoy playing games on the computer as a form of entertainment. Unsurprisingly, computer games are especially popular among children. Educators have taken advantage of this fact to create computer games specifically designed for children. These video games are often referred to as “educational games” or “edutainment”. They are designed to teach or reinforce concepts and ideas in the context of a computer game. This means that kids can learn while they are having fun.
Kids computer games often allow the child to interact with the characters in the game. They can manipulate objects and variables in an effort to solve a goal. Often, they must learn how to solve puzzles, learn facts, or learn new skills before they can advance to the next level of the game. Some computer games force children to plan ahead and can be effective at developing their strategic thinking skills. After working on and improving these skills in the context of a computer game, the skills can often be transferred over and used to solve problems in real life.
Computer games used for education are a hot topic among many educators. Computer and video games are often portrayed in the media as mindless entertainment that often does more harm than good. However, there have been emerging studies that actually show the opposite. For this reason, many school systems in the United Stakes and the United Kingdom have begun to include computer games as part of the educational curriculum.
Y Educational Games Free
History of Educational Games
One of the first and most widely known computer game for kids was The Oregon Trail. This game was originally developed in 1971 by three student teachers in Minnesota. One of the teachers had the idea to create a video game based on a history class that he was currently teaching. By 1974, the game was accessible by students across Minnesota. The first Apple version was released in 1978, and proved to be extremely popular. Subsequent editions were released in 1980, 1985, 1992, and 1997. As late as 2009, an updated version was released for the iPhone. Many adults today can remember playing The Oregon Trail on Apple computers when they were in school.
Another extremely popular educational computer game was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? developed by Broderbund Software in 1983. This game was originally designed as an effort to get children interested in geography facts. In this game, the player acts as a detective and tries to hunt down Carmen Sandiego as she travels around the world committing crimes. Players would have to know geographical facts in order to follow the right clue leading to the capture of a criminal. This game, originally on the Apple II computer system, also spawned a wide variety of spinoffs, including Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego?, and Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? It also spun off several television game shows for children on the PBS network.
Another classic kids computer game was Math Blaster. Math Blaster was first released in 1987. This game made math fun for kids by forcing them to quickly solve math problems as an integral part of the game’s fast paced shooter gameplay. Based on the popularity of Math Blaster, a sequel was produced in 1989, and soon an entire suite of games we produced under the Blaster Learning System brand. These included Reading Blaster and Science Blaster.
Due to the popularity of these early kids computer games, many other titles were released with the intent to both entertain and educate children. Some of these titles included:
* Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
* The ClueFinders
* EcoQuest
* Storybook Weaver
* Genomics Digital Lab
* Treasures of the Deep
* Gizmos & Gadgets
* Reader Rabbit
* Quest Atlantis
* JumpStart
* PlaceSpotting
Y Educational Games
Who Might Like These Types of Games?
These games can be great for teachers and parents. Many parents are reluctant to let their children play video games when they would rather have them reading or playing outside. When children ask for video games to play, these can be great. Parents can be sure that their children are getting a learning benefit from them as well as having fun.
Teachers also are constantly looking for ways to educate their students in a fun way. These games can be a way to accomplish that; engaging the mind, teaching skills, and solidifying the concepts using interaction, audio, video and entertainment all at the same time.