Teaching Strategies
How Online Educational Games Help Kids Learn
If you’ve been online these last few months, you may have noticed many sites and browsers alerting you that they are no longer supporting or distributing Adobe Flash Player after December 31, 2020.
While this won’t affect your BrainPOP experience in any significant way—we’ve been hard at work migrating our games and other features—please be aware that a few of our Flash-based games will no longer be supported on BrainPOP’s GameUp portal after August 31. But rest assured, you can still find a broad range of top-quality, award-winning learning games across the curriculum.
Why Teach with Games?
Equipped with an ever-expanding toolbox of digital technologies, teachers and students alike are benefitting more than ever from game-based learning. When meaningfully integrated into curriculum, games have the power to motivate students, encourage participation, foster creative problem-solving, strengthen critical thinking, pose adaptive challenges, and spark inquiry.
Games are particularly beneficial during distance learning. Without the constraints of a traditional class period, students can take the time they need to problem solve and persevere without pressure of a bell ringing at the end of class.
BrainPOP supports game-based learning by providing a curated collection of pedagogically sound games developed by leading publishers, universities, and organizations around the globe. The games feature topics across the curriculum on subjects ranging from digital citizenship and persuasive argumentation to science inquiry and mathematical operations.
Our self-reflection tool, SnapThought, is built into many of the games so teachers can prompt students to write about their thinking while playing a game, such as how they solved a problem or worked through a strategy. When students think about their thinking, they naturally make connections and gain a deeper understanding of what they’re learning. SnapThought also provides an ideal opportunity for teachers to differentiate their prompts based on student interest and need.
Accompanying every BrainPOP game are Lesson Ideas, including lesson plans, best practice strategies, game guides, SnapThought prompts, and more to help teachers facilitate the seamless integration of game-based learning into their lessons. Again, teachers can differentiate gameplay for students by assigning different levels of a game, for example.
For more on how to make the most of game play with your students, explore our many support resources, such as 5 Ways to Structure Game Play.
Free Online Learning Games by Subject
GameUp also features collections by themes. Following are some BrainPOP staff favorites, organized by subject area.
English/Language Arts
Jo Wilder and the Capitol Case
Unravel clues to find real stories for the History Museum.
Sortify: Parts of Speech
Use buckets to sort parts of speech.
Newsfeed Defenders
Can you outlaw viral deception, detect hidden ads and banish false reporting?
After the Storm
Run an online news magazine after a huge hurricane hits town.
Community in Crisis
As the community center’s director, it’s your job to manage the aftermath of a hurricane.
Math
Area Builder
Build shapes or find the area of funky figures.
Teachley Mt. Multiplis
Use the distributive property to earn gems and build bridges to new islands.
Battleship Numberline
Collect stars and explode paper ships by estimating their position on a number line.
Lost at the Forever Mine
Use mathematical models to predict how to escape before time—and fuel—run out.
Unit Rates
Use the unit rate to solve problems, and leverage the double number line to reason about rates.
Coding Games
CodeCombat: Ogre Encounter
Fight ogres as you code your way through a dungeon!
Run Marco!
Guide Marco through each level-puzzle by giving him instructions in the form of the standard visual programming language.
Blockly: Maze
Build a simple computer application by programming “tag” blocks.
Tynker: 15-Block Challenge
Create your own animation with programming blocks.
Tynker: Puppy Adventure
Connect visual code blocks to help a puppy get home.
Science
Color Simulation
Using light to change colors, one bulb at a time.
Hot Air Balloon
Apply knowledge of buoyancy and gravity to keep a hot air balloon flying for as long as possible.
Flap to the Future
Avoid predators to earn new adaptations that let you fly like a bird!
Antibiotic Resistance Game
Can you defeat multiplying bacteria with an antibiotic dose?
Acceleration Simulation
Build a skate course that makes your skater go faster.
Carbon Cycle Game
Transform carbon from water to sky to land–before your tricky opponent does!
Energy Skate Park Basics
Explore the conservation of mechanical energy with a skateboarder on different tracks.
Health and SEL
Vital Signs
As the Medical Director of a community health clinic, it’s up to you to diagnose and treat a variety of patients.
Quandary
Shape the future of a new society while considering ethical issues.
Community in Crisis
As the community center’s director, it’s your job to manage the aftermath of a hurricane.
After the Storm
Run an online news magazine after a huge hurricane hits town.
Social Studies
Cast Your Vote
Evaluate candidates running for office and use what you learn to make informed voting choices.
Do I Have a Right?
Run your own constitutional law firm and assert rights for clients.
Executive Command
As president, you are in charge of running the government and keeping the country healthy and safe.
Win the White House
Launch and manage your own presidential campaign.
LawCraft
As a member of the U.S. Congress, you’ll draft a bill on an issue you believe in.
Related Articles
- GameUp Directory
- Game-Based Learning Research
- Playful Assessments: What Are They and Why Use Them?.
- BrainPOP Help Center: Flash Retirement
