Educational games have long been used in classrooms to grab students’ attention, reinforce knowledge and provide inclusive contexts for practice. They allow students to absorb information while enjoying themselves and forgetting that they’re learning.
Educational videos offer a similar experience to students. They’re fun, engaging and can teach topics like physics or the human body.
Monopoly Junior
Getting students to learn new skills can be challenging, but using interactive learning games in the classroom makes it easy. Students can play with different partners and work on various subjects, including maths (multiplication times table practice) and science.
This Junior Monopoly game is a fast and fun version of the classic board game designed for kids ages five and up. It uses a smaller board based on a fair’s midway instead of street names and features kid-friendly property spaces like an ice cream parlor and skate park.
Pass, go, and take a chance card; you might build the property of your dreams — or end up in jail!
Life Junior
If you’ve got kids ages five and up, they’ll love this spin on the classic board game that allows them to choose their vacation adventures from a beach or zoo to castles and forests. Earn money by completing Animal Action cards, but watch out for Event Action cards that can cost you lots of cash!
This popular party and TV game works well on an interactive display, allowing students to answer questions about vocabulary words or math equations. Great for building teamwork and boosting focus in class. A must-have for any classroom.
Animal Action
Designed for preschool-age students, Animal Action is a movement game that helps kids build sizeable gross motor movements while engaging in fun learning. Teachers and classrooms can use this activity for a PE warm-up or as part of an ABC or movement lesson.
Professor Noggin’s Wildlife Safari is a great card game that teaches children about animals and ecology. The game also builds math and counting skills by having players take turns spinning a spinner to decide how many cards to pick from a rotating fishing pond. The first player to collect a Creature Power Suit from each habitat wins the game. This game is also great for enhancing working memory.
Set
Educational board games can help kids learn about a wide range of subjects in a fun and engaging way. Children can hone their academic skills while having fun with friends and family.
For example, Payday is a family game that teaches kids about finances by giving and receiving play currency. It also teaches counting money and making exact changes.
For younger students, Set is a card game that helps students learn visual perception by matching shapes, colors, and patterns. Another game to try is the award-winning Guess Who, which teaches social skills using yes-no questions to help players identify different characters. It also builds sight word knowledge and vocabulary.
Connect 4
The classic Connect Four game is easy for children to play and a fun way for them to learn strategy. The goal is for players to connect four color squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row before their opponent.
This educational board game has also been adapted into games incorporating learning elements like math or spelling skills. Check out these options:
This educational board game is an excellent choice for kids with short attention spans. Practicing patience as they build their tower without crashing down is also a great game. It’s perfect for ages six and up.
Pancake Pile-Up
Stack them high and serve them up in this fast-paced relay race game. Players race to use a spatula to balance plastic pancakes in a stack without falling over. This fun dexterity game helps develop upper extremity stability and control, hand-eye coordination, visual memory, and pattern recognition.
It’s a busy day at the diner, so don’t dilly-dally! Help customers get precisely what they ordered by racing the other servers to the grill, relay style, and piling up pancakes in precisely the correct order. The first player (or team) to find, stack, and serve them up topped with a pat of butter wins! Includes 10 pancakes in five different flavors, 2 pats of butter, two plates, two spatulas, a griddle game board, and instructions.
Raccoon Race
Taking 2-5 players ages 8+, Raccoon Race pits each player against their fellow raccoon gang bosses in a battle to reach the golden trash can of victory. The game has some economics in play, but the primary way to score points is by building towns and purchasing railroads.
This fast-paced game requires hand management, as a player must know when to bank climb cards and when to rush ahead of the pack. There’s also a bit of take-that with Mischievous cards that can bump other raccoons down and cause chain reactions.
Memory
Memory games are the perfect way to build children’s short-term memory skills. They are essential to learning and improving other cognitive abilities necessary for academic success.
Kids work on memory and concentration while attempting to remember what objects are hidden under a cloth in this simple but fun game. They get instant feedback to see how well they’re doing.
This game requires players to pay attention to their teammates and be aware of who might be a traitor in this deception-based game. It also works on balance and motor skills. This game is excellent for family and group play. It even improves abstract language skills that can be delayed in neurodivergent children.