Why Learning Games for Kids are Important for Success 🎯

What are learning games?

Simply, learning games provide an educational experience through play. Kids can play games online or offline and independently or with a group.

Kids are naturally curious creatures. They absorb information like a sponge and gravitate to activities that are fun and engaging. This is why learning games are a fantastic way to help kids of any age learn various skills and concepts.

Word-based play is a great way to use learning games and writing together — Learning games are a great way to support kids educationally.

As the Washington Times Herald writes, “Game play has traditionally had a bad reputation, but parents can rest assured that by letting their children get involved in entertaining games of all types, including video games, they’re actually helping their youngsters in various ways.”

How can games support education?

If you’ve spent 5 minutes with a child, you know they love to play! This makes games an ideal way to support student learning. Learning games allow students to learn or review skills and concepts while engaging in a fun, child-centered activity.

Learning games can:

Build on foundational skills
Allow kids to practice social skills
Teach problem solving
Help develop critical thinking
Introduce new concepts and interests
Provide a risk-free environment for new experiences

What are some examples of learning games?

There are a variety of learning games for kids to play. However, most fall into one of two categories: offline games or online games.

Offline learning games include board games, card games, imaginative play, writing games, trivia challenges, and physical play. Online games include digital review games, learning apps, educational digital learning toys, and educational learning sites (ex- ABCMouse.com).

Turn anything into a game:

This section includes links from Amazon, but they are not affiliate links.

Setting up learning games is simple and can be created from popular games you’re already playing. The biggest thing to keep in mind is educational games need to support learning. This can be done using trivia type questions, true/false statements, fill in the blank sentences, or matching.

If you don’t want to think up your own questions, you can use student workbooks, free worksheets, or a quick Google search. However, I highly suggest BrainQuest. My students love using this trivia game as a brain break, bell ringer, or a way to solve disputes.

Here are a few popular games you can easily make educational:

I Spy– instead of looking for colors, try one of these phrases: “I spy a synonym for the word branch.”; “I spy something that’s a sphere.”; “I spy the answer to this question- where would you find the stratosphere?”.
Cornhole– before you can toss a beanbag, you have to answer a question correctly.
Hopscotch– this is perfect for math fact practice. Give your child a math problem and they hop to the answer.
Basketball– in the classroom, teachers have been using small basketball hoops (or even trashcans) as test review. You can easily do the same at home. If you get a question correct, you get to shoot for the goal.
Tic-tac-toe– place trivia cards or question on each space. If a person wants to place their X or O in that square, they first have to answer the question correctly.