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The best educational video games is when their child scores a goal, touchdown, or home run, they cheer louder than anyone else. They might even brag about having a child who stays up after lights out to read a book under the covers with a flashlight. But no one ever hears a mom brag about how much time her child or teen spends with a controller in front of a screen.
Even though the main point of gaming is to have fun, there have been many games over the years that try to teach kids in fun and effective ways. The best educational video games on this list all find a good balance between being fun to play and teaching in a way that will keep most kids’ attention.
Sure, kids spend a lot of time in front of computers, TVs, and handheld devices, and as a parent, you probably worry that all that gaming is messing up their brains. But it turns out that time spent playing video games can be pretty educational. The best educational video games and problem-solving tasks they have to do to move on to the next level can really teach them useful skills.
Best Educational Video Games
Minecraft
Minecraft, a STEM game praised by critics and teachers, is one of the best educational video games of all time. Players of all ages enjoy mining their own creative resources and also mining interesting biomes for resource blocks to make tools and build complex structures, landscapes, and villages.
As players move through the game, Minecraft’s world generates itself randomly, giving them the freedom to explore and build anything they can think of. Minecraft not only lets players use their imaginations, but it also helps them learn how to solve problems. As soon as a player enters a new biome, they must quickly mine the area for materials to build a shelter, find food, and make tools.
Prodigy English
Prodigy English is best educational video games for kids that helps them learn English language skills through creative, sandbox-style play. The game takes place in the player’s own village, where they collect resources and use them to build things that can be used in their own world.
Like Prodigy Math, Prodigy English uses an algorithm that changes the questions based on the grade and skill level of the student. This can help them learn to read and expand their vocabulary while having fun. From first grade to sixth grade, Prodigy English teaches Common Core reading and language skills.
Scratch
Scratch is a free programming language and community for kids ages 6 to 16 that can be used online. The Lifelong Kindergarten group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is in charge of making it (MIT). Scratch lets people use blocks of code to make and share interactive games, animations, and other projects.
The Scratch website has step-by-step guides, sample projects, and a community forum to help people get started with programming. Scratch is made to be easy to use, and many teachers use it to teach their students about programming. Download Scratch from its officailly website.
Brainiversity
Brainiversity is “a brain training game designed to stimulate your brain,” as the game’s slogan says. It has more than a dozen different activities that teach things like math, language, memory, and analysis. Often, these activities add to what a child learns in elementary school. In one called “Add It Up,” for example, players have 60 seconds to solve as many math problems as they can.
Most of these best educational video games fit into a mode called “Daily Exam.” This mode lets you keep track of your scores in the different games and create an online chart to see how you’re doing. Luckily, the game is a mix of work and fun. A lightbulb named Edison is the team’s mascot. He cheers you on and keeps things light and interesting by making jokes and encouraging you.
Kerbal Space Program
Kerbal Space Program is another kind of video game that both kids and adults can enjoy. Kerbal Space Program is mostly a simulation game where you help a race of tiny aliens build a rocket that works and sends them into space. Some people might find the premise boring or uninteresting, but the core gameplay is quite addicting and provides a satisfying challenge.
This best educational video games also has realistic aerodynamics and orbital physics, which can be interesting for adults to watch in real time. Once kids have built their first rocket and sent their Kerbals into space, they can move on to exploring the solar system and building bases, planes, and rovers along the way. Kerbal Space Program is a good way to teach your kids how to be patient, solve problems, and make plans.
Civilization 6
It’s important to point out right away that Civilization 6 is much more about fun than learning. But this has its benefits because it teaches players without making it feel like they are being forced to learn. This makes it a great best educational video games to use to trick kids into learning.
In Civilization 6, players start in 4000 BC in the Ancient Era and have to build a whole civilization through the ages until at least 2050 AD. During this time, players will build cities, do research, build wonders, and more. The research topics, wonders, world leaders, and city names are all based on real history, so each playthrough will teach players a lot about history.
Little Big Planet 3
Little Big Planet 3 is one of the best educational games because it gives you so many ways to be creative. The “Imagisphere” in Little Big Planet is a fun place for kids and adults to go to find fun surprises while they solve puzzles and use the game’s unique customization tools to expand their creativity.
Player-made levels with up to 16 layers of depth now let players bring their colourful ideas to life. This game is fun and educational for a long time because it has new levels and new friends, as well as the ability to download content from previous Little Big Planet games. Little Big Planet 3 has a huge level creator that gives kids a lot of ways to play and lets them use their imaginations.
Final Words
As you can see, many of the best educational video games are instructive. While it may be tempting to only look into instructional games for tablets or smartphones, computer games are frequently more immersive and completely realised. Additionally, they let you play instructive best educational video games with your kids, often even the same ones you did when you were younger.