Educational Games for Children
- Quizzes are an easy type of game to set up. At a basic level, an adult creates a series of questions for children. The students answer these questions as a class or individually on paper to test to reinforce knowledge of a subject. Quizzes can be made more interactive, too. Children can create their own questions to challenge their friends or an adult could split a class into small groups and ask a series of questions aloud, with each group allowed to confer before writing an answer. Online quizzes are available. For example, a quiz at the Syvum website tests a child's knowledge of European flags.
- Sorting games are typically aimed at younger students, primarily around kindergarten age. These games, which require the identification of objects based on a set of characteristics, sort objects into respective piles. For example, kids might be asked to place toy blocks into piles based on color or shape. While these games work well in the classroom, online versions, such as the "Sesame Street Laundry Game," are also available.
- Spelling games help kids to practice their knowledge of words. A classic classroom spelling game is "Hangman," in which the teacher thinks of a word and outlines the number of letters in the word on a blackboard or similar surface. The teacher challenges his class to call out letters, with incorrect guesses being penalized by the addition of parts of the hanging scaffold drawn on the board.
- A webquest is a type of educational game that challenges students to find answers to a series of questions via the Internet. Children are placed into groups to conduct a webquest. Each group is handed a list of questions to answer as quickly as possible. The first group to present the teacher with all of the correct answers are the winners. Kids can use different websites to find the information needed, but should provide references for their sources so the teacher can check that the sources used are reputable. Alternatively, teachers can give groups a topic to research, with students putting together a short presentation using the information gathered within a certain time period.
