You only want the best. So do we. That's why we share our top picks and favorites with you each month. Read on for this month's top picks -- educational games online.
It's happened to all of us. Our third-grader listlessly plunks down her pencil and stares at us with mournful eyes. "I can't get it," she says. "This is boring...."
We know she just needs a little extra practice. A bit of spice to liven up and add interest to an over-worn subject. Often in these times, we keep a familiar toolkit at hand: flash cards, math cubes, the big world map hanging on our schoolroom wall. We might even go an extra mile and haul out an astronomy puzzle or a Word Rummy card game.
But as with everything else in our virtual age, it's no surprise that academic reinforcement tools have also gone digital -- in the form of online games.
We know she just needs a little extra practice. A bit of spice to liven up and add interest to an over-worn subject. Often in these times, we keep a familiar toolkit at hand: flash cards, math cubes, the big world map hanging on our schoolroom wall. We might even go an extra mile and haul out an astronomy puzzle or a Word Rummy card game.
But as with everything else in our virtual age, it's no surprise that academic reinforcement tools have also gone digital -- in the form of online games.
I remember when I first ran into the idea of educational computer games. "Oh, they're fun," I thought. "But they're not school." Imagine my surprise later that spring when one of my friends, who teaches at a public school, began raving about the computer games her students practiced during classtime. The reality is that games can be school -- as long as they truly do center on academic core subjects, and aren't just recreation splashed with a few inaccurate history facts.
A schoolworthy digital game must carry three qualities:
A schoolworthy digital game must carry three qualities:
- Its primary focus must be reinforcing commonly-recognized learning objectives. Ideally, you will be able to guide your student in targeting key disciplines where she needs extra practice.
- It must be a safe online environment, with minimal ads and a child-friendly interface.
- it must, of course, be affordable. There are a number of subscription-based learning games that cost hundreds of dollars for an annual membership. That's fine ... if you can get a group co-op to sponsor it. Otherwise, you're SOL.
For the earliest grades, Starfall has been the best choice of online games for our young ones. Children as young as three can navigate the site and learn skills in language, counting, geometry, and more. Most games are structured without a choice or penalty for wrong answers, which guides children in learning the correct response. Because of the structured guidance in game design, our older students became easily bored. The site offers activities up to third grade, but in our experience, students wanted more advanced material after second grade. The ad-free site offers a sampling of games for free, but a minimal paid subscription is necessary to access the full menu.
ABCya! is tops on our list for elementary level students, in grades 1-6. Although it sports activities through pre-K, we have found that our pre-readers struggled to understand the instructions in a few of the games. Activities are common-core-aligned and sorted by academic subject and by grade, with an impressive diversity of topics including spelling, compound words, typing, astronomy, anatomy, punctuation, and more. This honing allows you to target your student's specific weak areas for practice. Best of all, it's absolutely free as long as you don't mind a few unobtrusive ads.
Sheppard Software is another site that hones in on specific learning objectives, with a wide scope of skills. While its presentation is less splashy than ABCya! and its Language games are notably wanting, it offers a possibly wider array of science and geography games to help students, for example, memorize the 50 states and study plant cell structures. We recommend this one for 2nd grade onward, as our younger students found it less engaging. This is another site that is free, with the existence of sidebar ads.
Learning Games for Kids has a provision of classic-style learning games, such as Hangman, crosswords, and word searches in language, spelling, science, geography and more. Although it includes games in all areas, the social studies are where this platform really shines, with games on the US states, world maps, US presidents, famous women, inventors, etc. In addition to games, this site offers science songs and printables that you can incorprate for off-screen study. If you want a learning song to teach your child speed and velocity, this website has it. Also free, we recomend this one for grades 2 and up as well.
My students study Spanish, and so OnlineFreeSpanish.com is a fun way for them to practice basic vocabulary and pronunciation. Concepts are taught immersion-style, using pictures, rather than English translations, to denote meaning. With 23 leveled lessons and a host of games and printables, this website allows students to "quiz" themselves on numbers, letters, common phrases, feelings, foods, etc. The ads are a bit bothersome as they sit at the top of each page rather than a demure sidebar, but overall this resource serves as a great accompaniment alongside a child's regular language curricula.
What online learning games have you found beneficial? Subscribe and share your suggestions!
Happy schooling,
Connie
At Connie's Corner, we're walking this journey together! If I see an outstanding resource, I'll feature it here for you. And since my reviews are unpaid, you can be sure they're 100% honest.
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Connie's Corner
