Parents and teachers alike know there are many Learning Games for kids that are effective as well as fun. When kids stay busy, they are less likely to get into trouble, do better in school, and grow to become more successful and responsible adults. Learning Games can be divided into many categories depending on the age of the child. Certainly as they grow and mature, the games get more and more challenging, until the games create more ways to help the kids determine solutions to problems and hone their thinking skills.
Samples of Games by Group
- Pre-Schooler’s Games – Most schools expect children to have already acquired a certain level of knowledge by the time they are even in pre-school nowadays. For example they need to identify a variety of colors, and understand what colors are created when various primary colors are mixed together. There are a variety of Learning Games for pre-schoolers on the internet that allows them to play with different colors and create new colors to learn. There are also coloring pages that can be printed to let them learn coloring skills.
There are other games that helps them learn their alphabetic letters and numbers, and how to count. These are great because they help them to learn to identify different shapes as well as pictures as they are learning to count. There are a variety of matching games that allows pre-schoolers to identify the same shapes and when those include symbols for math such as plus, minus, multiplication, division, and percentage signs, it helps them be able to quickly recognize the signs. They also learn how to recognize body parts and associate the correct name with the body part.
- Kindergarten Games — For children who are in kindergarten, there are a great variety of Learning Games that are specifically designed for them. There are assorted number games to help them count using pictures and shapes and learn to write the names of the numbers as well. In addition, there are a variety of games that help them learn to tell time and identify the difference on the clocks between morning and afternoon. They also add measurements to the game, such as tall and short, light and heavy, and determine what would hold more or less amounts of fluid. There are also games to help them recognize patterns and be able to recall the patterns, allowing them to work on their memory skills.
- First Grade Games — As the children grow and get into kindergarten, the Learning Games become just a bit more challenging. They learn to count forwards and backwards, count by twos or fives, or tens, and there are even a variety of games that allows them to differentiate odd and even numbers. They begin to learn addition, subtraction, and even identification of geometric figures where they can identify geometric shapes and figures and determine the number of sides each figure has. They learn to associate shapes with other figures such as square or rectangles to three dimensional boxes, circles to cubes, or triangles to funnels.
Keeping Their Interest
As children grow and learn, the Learning Games get more difficult and the child plays the next sets of programs and rewarded for their accomplishment. If the practices are too easy, the soon get bored and want to go on to something else that is more stimulating; unfortunately if the practices are too difficult, they get frustrated and want to quit. This means there is a great balance between keeping the children interested in learning and continuing to excite them about learning, and making it so difficult they begin to dislike the exercises. Within each set of skills for each grade, there are many different ways to help teach them new things, ensure they are retaining what they have learned, and keep them excited about learning. When the excitement of learning is accomplished at a very young age, the children are more likely eager to learn something new than for children who are not stimulated and encouraged to learn when they are young.
Almost Unlimited Options
When parents and teachers are looking for different Learning Games to help encourage the kids to learn something new, there are almost unlimited options on the internet. As the children master each game, they are encouraged to move on to the next level with some games giving out points as they move higher in their scores, while others assign ribbons to their accomplishments. Regardless of how they are rewarded, they are always encouraged to learn more and keep working.
Image Credit: Hortongrou
