Learning through games

Over the years of home-educating my five children, I’ve always looked for fun ways to teach and reinforce concepts. Children are much more receptive to learning when they are having fun, and when they are doing something practical to learn rather than just reading or filling in endless worksheets.

My boys especially love playing computer games, and while I don’t want them on screens all day, there are actually some fantastic games that help them to learn. They’ll easily get lost in playing a game and not realise just how much they are learning whilst they are having fun!

At the moment they really love playing games that involve money, building things and coding. Oren just wants to do whatever his big brother does, so finding things that a 4-year-old can manage too is really important.

The last few weeks, we’ve been playing some really fun games that have been great for their learning whilst keeping them entertained – perfect when this Mama needs to get on with some jobs too! I thought I’d share a couple of our favourites here with you

LEGO City Adventures Build And Protect

We’re big Lego fans and when they saw this Lego City Adventures game they wanted to play right away. The aim of the game is to help Mayor Solomon Fleck build a LEGO city. You have to dig to find the Lego pieces you need to build different buildings, then collect taxes from each building to allow you to dig for more bricks. With six zones to build in, and emergencies such as burglaries and fires to contend with it was a really fun game!

Cashier Simulator

Beastie loved playing this cashier simulator game! You’re working as a cashier and you have to ring up your customer’s purchases and take payment and make change. It was great for him to work out how much money he needed to give people back and also I got him to estimate how much their purchases would cost before he hit ‘total’. Great skills for everyday life!

Code Panda

Code Panda is currently Oren’s favourite game. A coding game that my 4-year-old can manage – it is a fantastic introduction to coding. The aim of the game is to get the panda across the board to eat the bamboo. It offers really easy-to-follow instructions as to how to make him move, and as you move through levels you unlock more movements. I think learning to code is essential for kids today and this is a great way to get them started.

Treze Coins

A really simple game, Treze Coins requires you to add together coins to put in a gumball machine. This was wonderful for Oren and helping him practice his counting skills.

We Bare Bears Develobears

Perhaps our favourite, We Bare Bears Develobears is a fun STEM game that teaches about all the components that come together to build a video game. Lots of levels to play, you get to play as your character inside the game whilst unlocking game elements as you go along. It’s given my 8 year old a desire to build his own game from scratch now!!