6 Great Educational Video Games at Home

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With more and more parents opting for an educational home setting, they are forced to be creative with their homeschool curriculum. Sometimes you need to find ways to get your children interested by using something they’re already familiar with. Video games can come in handy to teach students different subjects and they don’t even realize it.

Technology in the Classroom

Technology has made great strides in providing for the classroom. I see students today that now have laptops and iPads that were issued by the schools for them to do work on. With Covid and the struggles they’ve had to endure due to the pandemic, schools and teachers have needed to adapt. Though, I believe the electronics were in use before the pandemic.

Not only have more electronics become the norm in classrooms, there are more “online” days that I’ve seen. Those that have brought their kids home to learn; may be struggling to gain their kids interest or focus on the classroom subjects.

(Note: I homeschool my children and have been for the last seven years as of this post. My sisters kids are in public school and I’m relating what I’ve seen from when my kids did go to public school.)

Benefits of Games in the Classroom

Gaming may not seem like a very productive way for kids to learn. In fact, many feel it is a waste of time and some say it has a negative impact on children. There are ways to incorporate video games into the curriculum for your kids to learn what you intend for them to learn.

Have you ever noticed how children can completely zone out everything as they are playing a video game? They are so enthralled that nothing else is able to take their attention from the game. Wouldn’t you want that in your classroom as you teach your kids? That same focus and interest as they complete tasks and assignments? Give them the chance to enjoy gaming with their tough subjects.

Learning From Video Games

As with video games, anything your children learn comes with effort. If they show no interest and are not putting effort into the class, they will not care what happens with the outcome. Well, they may care in the moment, but it doesn’t encourage them to do better the next time. (Our daughter struggles with History and Math. Though she’s seen the results of poor effort and not asking for help when needed, she does not change her thought process to do better.)

With video games, there are built-in rewards as they play the game. Those that play, generally play longer and are more engaged than those that are only playing for level completion. To get through the game, students engage in more strategic and critical thinking to achieve the main goal.

Educational Benefits

Sense of Accomplishment – Students feel a sense of accomplishment as they reach goals and level up within the game. They are motivated to engage in the game as they advance through levels, learn and maneuver through game mechanics and achieve goals.

Learn from Mistakes – Games provide a safe way for students to make mistakes and learn from them, playing areas and levels over to learn how to move past and continue on their way.

Use of Visual Progress – Video Games utilize visuals such as maps and statistics to show a player areas where they can progress, which motivates them to continue trying and move through the levels.

Growth Opportunities – Students grow as they gain opportunities to evolve within the game, take on new abilities, or earn in game add-ons.

Long-Term Benefits

Students can show passion and perseverance as they work toward long-term goals: following rules, acquire and practice skills. They apply those skill to achieve specific goals. They also show teamwork as those that need help are supported by others who faced and overcame the same struggles.

Guide to Every Day Skills

Video games are a great example when enlightened as they break down tasks, and guide players through tasks in a series of steps. Many real life activities can benefit from breaking them down into smaller tasks or steps when performed. Games are a great way to learn to do this as they progress and achieve tasks to a large goal.

Educational and Entertaining

If you really look at the video game our child is playing, I bet you could find an educational benefit to it. The great thing is, your children are not looking for it and are receiving the benefit unconsciously. Whether it’s Pokemon or The Legend of Zelda and their need to read in order to play or The Sims with city planning, there are things kids and teens can learn from the games that they are playing. Even those for more mature audiences can give educational tidbits, such as Assassin’s Creed and their historical events.

The point is, if you took the time to play and really look at the games, you could see something your kids are learning from them that provide an educational benefit. Those that are homeschooling, you could totally use them as an added bonus to your curriculum if you so choose.

Games (even board games) transform learning into an enjoyable, thrilling game. Students see and retain the information they are learning without realizing they are. They also boost motivation in the sense that studying takes the role of the main characters in the story. As the main characters, they are given a reward for their success when achieving a goal; which will keep their interest in learning. One more thing, games give the opportunity to practice and apply the knowledge they’ve acquired without getting into dangerous situation. Some examples are flight and navigation simulations.

Even More Benefits:

• Speed up response times/problem solving – improve troubleshooting skills by posing problems that must be solved in a set time. Puzzles, challenges, and more.
• Encourage teamwork – multiplayer games boost teamwork and problem solving
• Stimulate creativity, focus and visual memory – By setting goals that require concentration, imagination and memorization to achieve goals.
• Improve Strategy and leadership – when out in command, players hone their skills to resole disputes, interact with others and make devotions.
• Teach languages – learning languages through on screen instructions, chats or in game story narrative.
• Critical thinking – games can make players think and improve critical thinking.
• Coordination – having to move the character and react to what they see on screen gives them a chance to practice coordination skills

Educational Video Games

Developers have become very creative at adding educational aspects to their games. Kids hardly realize they are learning something educational as they play and have fun. Here are some games you many not have realized could be used for educational purposes and what subjects they teach.

Console Games:

Minecraft

Educational Value: Creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, reading, and math.

Not only will they get an aspect of world building as they literally build the world around them; the game allows players to explore, gather resources, craft tools and engage in mild combat. With different modes, (survival, creative, adventure, spectator and multi-player) players are free to choose how they want to play the game.

Minecraft allows for creative freedom and self-direction as well as teamwork and improved reading and math skills in the form of researching biomes, calculating rations and deciding supplies as the game progresses.

Available On: Pc, Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Board Game

The Little Big Planet Series

Educational Value: logic, spatial orientation, design, problem solving

Follow Sockboy and his friends as they travel through platform-jumping, obstacle avoiding levels. Players are able to create their own levels, customize characters, and build complex contraptions within their levels. Players also have the option to share their levels to the Playstation Network for others to try.

Available On: Playstation, PSP

Portal Series

Educational Value: logic, problem-solving, physics, math, science and spacial skills.

NOTE: Portal, though number one was rated teen due to the inclusion of bloodstains, they were taken out for Portal 2 which is rated E.

Portal places players in a secret facility who are then led through a series of dangerous tests. The puzzles are solved by creating an entry portal in a wall and an exit portal somewhere else, then are tasked with walking through the portals. Players advance by learning how to manipulate physics and spacial constraints. Just try not to fall.

Available On: Playstation, Xbox, PC

Computer/App Games

The Oregon Trail

Educational Value: Historical events, critical thinking, problem solving.

I remember playing this in grade school as part of our computer class!! I never made it to the end, but it was definitely a highlight when our teacher announced that we were playing this game for the duration of the class. We didn’t care that it was teaching us the difficulties of the Oregon Trail, what they endured while trying to keep your party alive and well.

You take the role of a wagon leader, you much safely guide your party from Independence, Missouri to Willamette Valley. Along the trail you face numerous hazards and are in charge of keeping your party safe from hunger and disease.

Available on Amazon, iOs (The Oregon Trail: American Settler) and Apple Arcade (The Oregon Trail)

Word Games: Wordscapes, Word Connect, Etc

Educational Value: Vocabulary and spelling

These games offer different layouts, but have the same game mechanics to play. These types of puzzle games allow the player to learn new words, spellings, and more. You have an unlimited number of times to solve the puzzle and can try as many combinations as you need to find the right word. Most offer daily challenges to guess words in a certain order, and some offer in game dictionaries for students to learn about new words they discover.

Available on Android and iOS

Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Holy cow! I remember watching this show when I got off of school. We would rush home just in time for it to start on an old tube TV where you had to adjust the antenna to make the picture come in! It was one of the highlights of our day!

They’ve now created a game using Google Earth to play this game! Players use a magnifying class to interview witnesses in different cities and gather clues. Students learn about geography and history as they play. When you think you’ve got what you need, players can click the airplane icon to fly to the next city and continue solving the mystery.

Available on Web browser, Android, iOS

Final Thoughts

Sometimes while teaching at home, it’s really hard to find a way to gain your kids interest in the subject as all the things around them are distractive. Use what’s around them as an educational learning tool and video games are no exception. Find ways to bring the game mechanics back to the lesson and you can use pretty much anything they have around the home!