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Crowded Dungeon Crowdsourcing, Digital view

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A Mother’s Heart A Pair of Tarts Before and After Silence Café René Endgame Fade to Grey Fallen Stars Hug Street Kink & Coffee Lim…

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Compiled by Tomek from Salto EECA

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HOP articles, stories and insights: Old freeware educational games | HOP

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Lemonade Stand (1979) - take charge of your own lemonade stand, advertise it, look up in the sky for the weather and set the drinks price to make sure you have profit. Multiplier is also possible.

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4 educational games available in 7 languages.

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Edugame: Expansion | Output 3 release | Playversity

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The last four educational games of “Edugame: Expansion” are ready for download at playversity.co. But, what is the story behind?

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4 educational games available in 7 languages.

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Edugame: Expansion | Output 2 release | Playversity

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The second four educational games of “Edugame: Expansion” are ready for download at playversity.co. But, what is the story behind?

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4 educational games available in 7 languages.

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After months of testing, adjusting and translating, the first four educational games of "Edugame: Expansion" are ready for download at playversity.co. But, what is the story behind?

Timeline

The games were first tested in their original form with groups of young people from the local communities of all the partner countries ( Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Portugal and Slovakia). Then, partner organizations gathered valuable feedback and changes suggestions which served the coordinators in Shokkin Group ( Estonia) to apply the first round of changes.

In April 2024 the first training activity for educators and youth workers took place in Tallinn, where once again, the games were subject to another round of analysis, this time from the perspective of the educators and people using these tools with youth groups.

After another round of changes, the English version was the first to be finalized and published in the summer of 2024, and then translated into all the languages of the consortium ( Bulgarian, Estonian, German, Latvian, Portuguese, Slovak and Russian).

Four educational tools

The games are now available for you, education or youth work practitioner, to download for free in 8 different languages and make your work with youth more engaging and meaningful.

When downloaded, each game contains a thourough game outline with technical characteristics, intro and rule texts, detailed gameplay descriptions, debriefing questions, suggestions for follow-up exercises, a material list and a restart list in the case of the escape games. Additonally, all the printable materials are available for download and are easy to print and prepare, making your experience hassle-free.

In this first output you will find the following games:

🔴 "The truth Seekers" | Media literacy
An immersive escape game about media literacy that can fill in many hours of analysis, discussions and gathering of good practices with your students about the way we receive and filter information around us.

🔴 "Secrets of Class 8A" | Bullying
A stirring escape game that sheds light on the different actors involved in a bullying process. The game explores various reasons that can spiral to situations of misunderstanding, exclusion and, eventually, conflict.

🔴 "Transylvania Corp" | Workplace discrimination
A nail-biting live action game about workplace discrimination that brings players to the backstage of the HR department of a big company, challenging their views and sense of fairness...

🔴 "Pitch Perfect" | Creativity and pitching skills
A dynamic table top game that will drag your students into creating funky, out-of-the-box ideas while working in groups and polishing their pitching skills to be clear, concise and convincing!

About the project

"Edugame: Expansion" is a long-term cooperation project in the field of youth that aims to further develop, translate, share and promote game-based learning solutions as an efficient approach to learning and therefore promote the use of quality game-based learning in formal and non-formal education contexts.

" Edugame: Expansion" is co-funded by the European Union and supported by the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps Agency for the Erasmus+ program (euroopanoored.eu).

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Edugame: Expansion | Output 1 release | Playversity

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After months of testing, adjusting and translating, the first four educational games of "Edugame: Expansion" are ready for download at playversity.co. But, what is the story behind?

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Party game - Elect me!

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Quest to Learn is a public 6-12 school with an innovative educational philosophy developed by top educators and game theorists at The Institute of Play, with funding from The MacArthur Foundation.

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A Q2L student is prepared not only for college, but for life. The systems thinking structure and iterative platforms provide foundations of intellectual navigation that are durable in all life situations from high school to college and beyond.

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A Truly New Approach to Education Quest to Learn is a public 6-12 school with an innovative educational philosophy developed by top educators and game theorists at The Institute of Play, with funding from The MacArthur Foundation. Learn More Ready to take your next step?

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Aiz Nemiera stāv tas, ko Tu vēlies. Veido sevi par to, kas Tu gribi būt unveido sevi spēcīgāku.

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Climate, natural disasters and a board game

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Sarah Lynne Bowman, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Simon Brind

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Transformative Role-playing Game Design | Scholarly books from Uppsala University Publications

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This textbook describes theory and practice in analog role-playing game (RPG) design that encourage specific transformative impacts in participants, including tabletop, live action role-playing (larp), and Nordic and American freeform. We describe three types of transformative RPGs: transformative leisure, therapeutic, and educational. We present our model of nano-game design, offering recommendations for designing transformative goals; framing activities such as workshops and debriefs; narrative and culture design. 
This interdisciplinary book highlights theories from role-playing game studies, peace and conflict studies, psychology, social psychology, sociology, counseling, anthropology, pedagogy, and several other fields. Key concepts include bleed, alibi, RPGs as transformational containers, immersion, identity, transfer, ritual, psychotherapeutic techniques, group theories, and educational theories. We emphasize psychological safety before, during, and after games, as well as strategies for cultivating transformational communities. Key topics include working with specific populations; crisis management; sensitive content and representation. 
Then, we discuss working with myth, symbolism, and ritual, narrative, and postmodern magic as methods for transforming the stories of our lives. We cover forms of culture within and around RPGs, as well working with conflict in scenarios related to politics, culture, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. We share thoughts around the use of RPGs to foster activism, advocacy, inclusion, and accessibility. 
Finally, we offer considerations for researchers studying transformative role-playing games, including academic argument, structure, theory, method, data collection, ethics, and other considerations. We introduce key methods, including Research through Design, ethnography, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The book closes with a summary of evidence-based research available on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects of role-playing games.

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For anyone that is interested about Hack The Box, I will leave here some websites!

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Cyber security training with hands-on exercises and labs made by Hack The Box, join now and advance your cyber security skills!

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Online asynchronous course

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Master’s Programme in Transformative Game Design - Uppsala University

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Change-makers, like you, are found in various sectors of society, including education, health, government, business, and culture. Role-playing is already a common practice in many of these sectors, e.g., health care simulations, game-based learning in schools, professional skill training in businesses, art-based play for well-being, RPGs as therapeutic interventions, and Serious Games for government workers.

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Release your creativity and build custom escape rooms

ROOM ESCAPE MAKER is a free online editor for you to easily create point-and-click games with puzzles, clues, locks, and much more.
Challenge players to escape from the rooms you design.

Share your virtual rooms with others

Escape games can also be a great way to celebrate special occasions and create engagement through gamification.
Design specific puzzles as challenging as you want.

Join the community of creators

Developed by an escape room enthusiast, ROOM ESCAPE MAKER is a growing platform with more than 30,000 creators and new games every day. Be a part of the amazing community 🤗

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🍪 This site uses cookies

ROOM ESCAPE MAKER uses cookies to provide you with a good experience when browsing the website.
Essential cookies are needed to save game and account data, as well as for performance and security. Optional cookies are third-party cookies used by Google, Instagram and Twitter for social media content display. Google's cookies are also used for faster sign-in, traffic analysis and personalization of ads (read Google's Privacy & Terms).
Do you accept these cookies and the processing of personal data involved?

2023 - ROOM ESCAPE MAKER

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ROOM ESCAPE MAKER is a free game editor to create escape rooms online. Build point-and-click games and challenge players to escape from your virtual rooms.

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Educational Foundation Nausika | Fundacja Edukacyjna Nausika

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Games | Nausika MARING PIG GROVE THE RESERVOIR LARPCHESS CEREMONY FOR HOPE

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200 Deep Games ideas | games, meaningful, empathy

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Oct 20, 2016 - Updated collection of meaningful, transformational, philosophical, personal, empathy games and emotional design... See more ideas about games, meaningful, empathy.

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Over 40k words of interactive fiction. Playthroughs are short enough to be done in one day, but long enough for the game to have gotten it's point across. About 150 unique encounters. Based on your depression levels, different choices open and close off to you. Content generated based on your decisions.

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https://deep-games-lab.itch.io/the-beautiful-story

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An experimental, minimalistic microgame about loneliness, made for the Korean middle school students I taught for a year. Loneliness was an official selection of the Extra Credits Innovation Awards 2011, in the category of Narrative Delivery. It was also the focus of episode 25 of Extra Credits season 4: Mechanics as Metaphor.

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Edularps created in a frame of Erasmus+ projects

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Edu-Larp "A Tree of Life" - The environmental educational role-playing game (EduLarp) "The Tree of Life" introduces the principle of ecological balance and the impact of overconsumption on the environment.

Players take on the role of characters who live in the fictional Tree of Life ecosystem and are a vital part of it. The characters belong to 5 different groups, 2-6 players in each group. Each group has its own place of residence (ecological niche) and role in the overall ecosystem of the tree.
The central issue of the game is the change in the living environment and the balance of the ecosystem - the conditions for the tree and its inhabitants have worsened drastically, and the players must understand how their actions have affected it and how to restore the well-being of the tree and all of its inhabitants.

The allegorical role-play "What's going on there?" - In the allegorical role-playing game "What's going on there?" studied through Estonian mythology characters discussion on oil shale mining.Scenariou in Estonian.

Different characters from Estonian mythology - mermaids, crates, forest fairies, underground and werewolves - are to decide the fate of Estonia. Deep in the earth's crust hides Estonian gold, which many want to get it or are already mining in order to do magic. Others think that magic could be captured from the sun and wind instead. The community gathered under the forest has a lot secrets and connections, even the greatest friends can betray each other, fervently different even those who stand for their views can be bound by love... What does gold mining bring? What and how can this be changed? Who to find your allies in? The allegorical role-playing game "What's going on there?" the discussion around oil shale mining through the characters of Estonian mythology is studied

The game takes place in the future - our planet in 303 years - in 2424. The situation on Earth is poor due to climate change, many species have already become extinct and humanity is looking for a new home on Mars. The spacecraft NOA is about to take off for Mars - Now is the Time, which can bring with it a limited number of species and resources. Different groups - food producers, naturalists, government, giants (corporations), cultural figures - need to agree on which species and stocks to bring. What choices do you make?

Perseids - this is how the stars of August were once called. See was before people realized the catastrophic effects of greenhouse gases on Earth climate; before the first extinction waves, but also before the first orbital mirrors that eventually rise in temperature at the last minute before irreversible destruction. But the Perseids - it was from this cloud that the rubbish came mirror OCM-18. The mirrors themselves are fine, but the control system did error and slope is now a little wrong and the sun's rays throughout its atmosphere by absorbing infrared they reach Earth. Where thanks to previous generations Idiotic inaction requires only very little to keep the whole carefully rebalance and relaunch the chain of disasters. Which means YOU have to wear a spacesuit and to orbit to repair this cuckoo.

Scenario in Estonian.
Scenario in Russian (includes also roles)
Scenario in English / Roles in English

It is 1816. The small village of Suure-Kaalika somewhere in Europe lives its peaceful life. There are several farms, fields, cattle, people are tired of the Napoleonic Wars and long for a peaceful life again. This spring seems to be a breathtaking time and a new life can begin with a resurgent nature. But there is still something wrong. Why is the sky cloudy and when can the sun shine again? ... "A year without the sun" is an environmental educational role-play that makes you think about what happens when we do not see the sun... The game is aimed more at young people and adults. The key issue is climate change and its effects.

Educational role play game ESTONIA 2121 : Estonia after 101 years.

Which is Estonia in 2121? In the game, we create an intermediate 101-year probability and realistic events and their consequences. We invite up to 10 students group of teachers to take part in the educational role-play that takes place In Estonia, where in the changed climate situation some areas are unviable for people. The players are a team working in a research station isolated from the rest of the world revitalize the affected areas and test new societal and economic model. How to fight pollution, revitalize the ecosystem and to reintroduce species? How do people have to adapt to a changed environment? What could have been done differently during these 101 years to improve the situation? The game the aims are to introduce the goals of sustainable development, to create in the participants emotional communication with game topics, develop mutual cooperation, value humanity, to find and implement solutions, to empower young people, to address them environmental issues in a broader political context, address ethical issues dilemmas, carry out tangible experiments and link what is happening in the game both before and after the event in the current world of current topics and potential ways of personal contribution.
To help us better understand migration issues, especially environmental migration, we are prepared a comprehensive description of the two workshops. Objective of the program is to develop the empathy of the participants through theatrical activities and self - expression, and to help understand the links between environmental justice, climate change and migration as well as connections to our daily lives.

Scenario in Estonian.

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Edu-Larp "A Tree of Life" - The environmental educational role-playing game (EduLarp) "The Tree of Life" introduces the principle of ecological balance and the impact of overconsumption on the environment. Players take on the role of characters who live in the fictional Tree of Life ecosystem and are a vital part of it.

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🚀 Why was Gender Trivia created?

Empowerment: The Gender Trivia Game empowers participants to become advocates for a more understanding world.

Engagement: Say goodbye to traditional learning methods! The game is designed to captivate the participants' interests and make the learning process enjoyable. Get ready for a unique and interactive experience.

Fostering Inclusion: Discover the beauty of diversity and foster a sense of inclusivity.

Motivation: Learning about gender and sex dimensions doesn't have to be dull. The game injects motivation into the educational journey, inspiring participants to delve deeper into the complexities of the human experience.

📚 Printable Tool: The Gender Trivia Game is a tangible, printable tool that you can use in various settings, whether in classrooms, community centers, or at home. Take the learning offline and make an impact in your immediate surroundings!

🚀 Ready to play a part in creating a more enlightened and empathetic world?

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A toolkit for intercultural work

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"Intercultural Talks" is an easy-going, surprising card set that unveils, question by question, the depth of a person's cultural background and ways of seeing life.

A toolbox created to support meaningful conversations about culture and diversity.

To foster communication in culturally diverse groups of people.

To enrich players' understanding of one another and their cultural traits.

"Intercultural Talks" toolbox includes a set of 17 methods to be used with 54 question cards and can be used at learning events and social gatherings with groups of all ages.

*******
© 2020 Shokkin Group. All rights reserved.
Images: Anna Arharova

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"Intercultural Talks" is an easy-going, surprising card set that unveils, question by question, the depth of a person's cultural background and ways of seeing life.

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Sono qui: a set of cards to reflect on maltreatment of children  

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Sono qui: a set of cards to reflect on maltreatment of children  

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https://www.codiciricerche.it/it/progetti/dipende-da-come-mi-abbracci/

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Il titolo del progetto fa riferimento all'ultimo verso della Filastrocca del bambino futuro di Bruno Tognolini che richiama il diritto del bambino a "crescere in un ambiente familiare, in un'atmosfera di felicità, amore e comprensione" come prerequisito per il suo sviluppo futuro.

Il progetto affronta il tema del maltrattamento con un approccio interdisciplinare e intersettoriale, facendo attenzione alla prevenzione e ai bisogni delle famiglie, anche quelli non esplicitati per paura o per inconsapevolezza. La prevenzione è il primo atto per contrastare realmente il maltrattamento sui minori. Parlare e agire in modo preventivo significa anticipare l'intercettazione dei fattori di rischio e promuovere fattori protettivi sin dal primo momento di vita del bambino.

Il progetto è promosso da Spazio Aperto Servizi, in partenariato con Anteo Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale (ASST) Monza, Being, Cesvi Fondazione Onlus, Città Metropolitana di Milano, Codici | Ricerca Intervento, Comune di Locate di Triulzi, Comune di Milano, Comune di Pieve Emanuele, Comune di Varese, Lo Scrigno Società Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, Proges Cooperativa Sociale a r.l.

Il progetto intende sperimentare un nuovo paradigma di intervento nei territori di Milano (municipi 6 e 3), Pieve Emanuele, Locate di Triulzi, Monza e Varese attraverso azioni trasversali e interconnesse, interventi di formazione e sensibilizzazione.

Nell'ambito del progetto Codici ha realizzato una ricerca partecipata che approfondisce le tematiche del progetto, i bisogni formativi e gli sguardi di tutti gli enti coinvolti. A partire da questa ricerca, realizzerà un toolkit formativo partecipativo insieme all'illustratrice Arianna Vairo e con il contributo di tutti i partner del progetto.

Illustrazione ☉☉ Arianna Vairo

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Il progetto affronta il tema del maltrattamento ai minori, mirando alla prevenzione e ai bisogni delle famiglie.

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The SBM Game is an awareness raising game about autonomy, designed for people who are experiencing a process of transition – young people and adults leaving the care system and in need to acquire independence – and for the professionals that support them.

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SALTO-YOUTH - Toolbox - Stand By Me Board Game

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Created to help you find and share useful training Tools, the Toolbox for training is an online catalogue you can browse through freely or even contribute to!

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Me&You&EveryoneWeKnow: a set of card to prevent gender based violence 

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Me&You&EveryoneWeKnow: a set of card to prevent gender based violence 

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A tool to stimulate educational conversations about violence in intimate relationships among teenagers and among adults and teenagers.

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Aims of the tool

We decided not to give a set of strict rules to play but instead, we identified five educational functions that can be performed with the cards and that can be combined to develop workshops about violence in intimate relationships, both with teenagers and adults.
1. Conversation: This is the primary function the whole pack can perform. The stories in particular
are designed to create a fictional scenario within which participants can learn to deal with complex issues in a safe space and to exchange views on their emotions, values and opinions drawing on the experiences of the characters. The stories can be read in small groups, and few generative questions can be given by the facilitator to help participants frame the discussion. Questions can deal with an array of perspectives: emotions, roles, social expectations and so on.
2. Identification: The pack is designed to promote identification with the experiences and emotions lived by the characters, meaning by identification the deep ability to put oneself in the shoes of others and to experience his/her point of view. The emotional and relational key word cards can be used to explore the feelings and emotions of each character and to compare them with the ones of the participants; while each story can be read picking up the perspective of one of the characters (like the victim, the perpetrator, the family, the teachers...) allowing participants to prove themselves with different viewpoints.
3. Deconstruction: The pack is also designed to help participants understanding how socio-cultural models of gender, sexuality and relationship shape individual behaviours and deconstructing stereotypes and prejudices. The common sense cards are explicitly designed for this function: they question statements of common sense that lie behind belief and behaviours about identities and relationships - like differentiated expectations on boys and girls - and can be used to open up a second layer discussion. They can be used alone as generative stimulus, or they can be integrated in the process of reading, discussing and deconstructing the stories. 4. Naming and framing: The definition cards are designed to help naming and framing effectively the experiences explored with the other cards. They can help participants to locate the group discussion within a wider framework and to compare the lexicon of meanings on violence in intimate relationships created within the group with those elaborated by the institutions. They can be used by the facilitator to support a debriefing session of the workshop or by the participants themselves to ask for support within a group discussion.
5. Generating: Overall function of the pack is to generate new thoughts and new attitudes toward
intimate relationships: in order to overcome stereotypes and role models and to promote freedom, self-determination and mutual respect. All the stories are open ended, meaning that they can be re-written adding new characters and/or changing the characters' choices and behaviours. The character cards as well as the landscape ones can be used to create brand new stories, drawing upon the creativity of the participants; participants can also create their own new card to add what they think is missing in the pack in terms of definitions, key words, characters, common sense statements or landscapes.

Description of the tool

Description of the tool: The pack consists of 58 cards sorted 5 categories: characters, landscapes, emotional and relational key words, common sense statements and definitions. A facilitator is needed to guide the play and stimulate discussions.
The character cards depict 10 different people that can be potentially involved in a situation of violence with different positions: as victims, perpetrators, witnesses, rivals or supporters. Some cards represent a single character, while others represent a group of people like friends or family.
The landscape cards depict 10 different sceneries of ordinary life, like an urban space, a classroom or a party. They portray also online sceneries like a Facebook group or a chat on WhatsApp because we believe that online environments can be fully-fledged considered landscapes of ordinary life.
The emotional and relational key word cards are 21 meaningful words concerning people's approach toward relationships. They describe emotions - like rage or shame; attitudes toward oneself or the others - like trust or care; and feelings - like vulnerability or pride.
The common sense cards consist of 11 statements that put into question stereotypical, but widely shared opinions on how boys and girls should behave or feel concerning sexuality, emotions or gender expression.
The definition cards represent 6 key statements defining as many phenomena that we identify as crucial for the purpose of this tool, such as gender based violence, sexual harassment or sexism. They draw upon a variety of institutional and trusted sources: to define gender based violence, violence in intimate relationship and sexual harassment we consulted the most recent research report and official definition of the European Commission and of the United Nations; while in order to write the definition of violence against children, we relied on the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Article 19 of the UNCRC, the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. For the definition of bulling we adapted the renowned definition coined by Dan Olweus and acquired by UNESCO. For the definition of sexism we worked upon the definition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Alongside the cards, attached to this booklet you will find nine stories. They are not "true" stories, but they are grounded in the opinions and experiences of the teenagers we consulted during the project. Each story tackles violence in intimate relationships among teenagers from a different perspective in terms of main character, typology of experience and challenges to be met. They are nuanced on purpose, meaning that each story has its own internal complexity that forces the reader to avoid easy answers and to reflect on the different elements the story puts into question.

Disclaimer

SALTO cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate use of these training tools. Always adapt training tools to your aims, context, target group and to your own skills! These tools have been used in a variety of formats and situations. Please notify SALTO should you know about the origin of or copyright on this tool.

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Created to help you find and share useful training Tools, the Toolbox for training is an online catalogue you can browse through freely or even contribute to!

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Social entrepreneurship game + escape room

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LOGOS has deep knowledge and practical experience with building escape rooms. Only since 2016, Logos Polska has been actively involved in the Erasmus+ and has built a reliable network of local and international partners, with whom they have developed projects connected to outdoor educations, Life actions role playing games (LARP), escape rooms, critical thinking, storytelling, soft skills and art.

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LOGOS has deep knowledge and practical experience with building escape rooms. Only since 2016, Logos Polska has been actively involved in the Erasmus+ and has built a reliable network of local and international partners, with whom they have developed projects connected to outdoor educations, Life actions role playing games (LARP), escape rooms, critical thinking, storytelling, soft skills and art.

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Multiple games on topic of youth participation

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Søholm 4H is a local club of 4H with about 350 members that works to engage youth to reach their fullest potential through practical learning. We arrange and facilitate activities to stimulate young people's development with leadership training courses and weekly activities.

Søholm 4H works under the motto "Learning by doing" and values practical work, and helps to self-help throughout our activities.

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"Play. Engage. Participate" is a KA2 Strategic Partnership between four organizations from Denmark, Czechia, Spain and Poland. The main aim of the project is

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a manual on design of educational escape games

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"Breakout Box" is another cooperation between Shokkin Group Estonia, Be International, and Ticket2Europe that started in the summer of 2021. Game-based learning is the incorporation of game methods into the learning process. These games can be very different, from computer games to board games or even escape games.

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In this Unity game development tutorial, we're going to show you how to make your first educational game using math as our basis (though you can expand this for other subjects).

Not only will this educational game tutorial give you the skills to make your own games, but also allow you to access a trillion-dollar industry in fantastic ways while improving the educational experiences for droves of children.

Let's start learning how educational games are made!

Project Files

This project will feature various sprites, animations, and a particle effect. You can download the project files here.

Project Setup

First of all, create a new 2D Unity project. Then we need to make sure that our "Main Camera" has an orthographic size of 5. This is due to the scale we're working with.

Since we're working in 2D and the fact that we're utilizing the whole height and width of the screen, it's important that it's consistent across most platforms. Go to the Game window and set the aspect ratio to 16:9.

For this project, we're going to need to add in some tags, sorting layers, and one layer. If you've downloaded the project files and are using that, then you can skip this step.

Tags: Floor, Entrance, Obstacle

Sorting Layers: Background, Jetpack, Player, Obstacle, Ship, UI
Note: Make sure that the sorting layers are in that specific order, as this determines what sprites render in front of others.
Layers: Player

Scene Setup

Now create an empty GameObject (right-click Hierarchy > Create Empty), and call it "Ground". This is going to be where we store all of our ground tiles. Then, drag in the "GroundTile" sprite as a child of the object.

To make the floor usable, we need to add a BoxCollider2D component to the tile and set its tag to "Floor". If you don't have a "Floor" tag, just add one.

Now duplicate that tile and lay them out horizontally along the bottom border of the camera frame.

Next, drag in the "Ship" sprite to the top of the frame. You may see that it's a bit too small, so just increase the scale to 1.15. Then, set the sorting layer to "Ship" and add a BoxCollider2D component, resizing it so it fits the ship.

For our tubes, we're going to drag in the "Tube" sprite, add a BoxCollider2D, set the tag to "Entrance" and sorting layer to "Ship" with an order in layer to 1. This basically means that it's on the same layer as the ship but it will render in-front.

Then duplicate them. In our case we're having 4 possible answers, but you can have as many as you want.

Now at the moment, our background is just the default blue. So what we're going to do is change the color to something a bit more 'alien'. Click on the camera and change the "Clear Flags" property to Solid Color. Then you can set the background color. For me I used a blue/green color (hexadecimal: 4BC1AC).

Setting up the Player

Now it's time to move on to our player. Before jumping into scripting it, we need to set up a few things first.

Drag the "Player_Default" sprite into the scene (part of the Player sprite sheet). Then set the tag, layer, and sorting layer to "Player". Finally, add a CapsuleCollider2D. We're not using a box collider because they can get stuck if moving along a surface with multiple other colliders. Capsule collider allows us to glide much smoother.

We also need to add a Rigidbody2D component. Set the "Linear Drag" to 1 and enable "Freeze Rotation". This will prevent the player from falling over.

For the player, if you downloaded the project files you will have some animations. They've all been connected and setup inside of the "Player" animation controller. So to add it, just add an Animator component and set the controller to be the "Player" controller.

If you double click on the player controller, you will see in the Animator window what it's made up of. Our various animations play determined based on the "State". This is a number we'll talk about more when we script the player.

To add some interesting visual elements, we've got a jetpack particle that will blast particles when the player flies.

Drag in the "FlyParticle" prefab into the scene as a child of the player. Position it in a way so it comes out from the player's jetpack.

Scripting the Player Controller

To begin, let's create a new C# script called "PlayerController" and attach it to the player object we just made.

Opening it up, we can start by adding a new enumerator called "PlayerState" at the top of our class. This enum will contain the player's current state. If you look back at the player animation controller, you will see that the "State" float value correlates to the id of each enum value.

public enum PlayerState
{
    Idle,       // 0
    Walking,    // 1
    Flying,     // 2
    Stunned     // 3
}

Now back in our class, let's add the variables we're going to be using. First, we have our state, some values for speeds and durations and finally a list of components that we can access.

public PlayerState curState;            // current player state

// values
public float moveSpeed;                 // force applied horizontally when moving
public float flyingSpeed;               // force applied upwards when flying
public bool grounded;                   // is the player currently standing on the ground?
public float stunDuration;              // duration of a stun
private float stunStartTime;            // time that the player was stunned

// components
public Rigidbody2D rig;                 // Rigidbody2D component
public Animator anim;                   // Animator component
public ParticleSystem jetpackParticle;  // ParticleSystem of jetpack

To begin with our functionality, let's add a "Move" function. This is going to be called every frame. It gets the horizontal axis (-1 to 1) which maps to the left/right arrows and A/D keys. Then we check if the player is moving left or right and flip the X scale depending on that. This will make the player flip their facing direction. Finally, we set our horizontal velocity to be the direction with the move speed applied.

// moves the player horizontally
void Move ()
{
    // get horizontal axis (A & D, Left Arrow & Right Arrow)
    float dir = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");

    // flip player to face the direction they're moving
    if (dir > 0)
        transform.localScale = new Vector3(1, 1, 1);
    else if (dir < 0)
        transform.localScale = new Vector3(-1, 1, 1);

    // set rigidbody horizontal velocity
    rig.velocity = new Vector2(dir * moveSpeed, rig.velocity.y);
}

Another function is "Fly". This gets called whenever the player holds the up arrow key and adds force upwards to the player's rigidbody. We also play the jetpack particle.

// adds force upwards to player
void Fly ()
{
    // add force upwards
    rig.AddForce(Vector2.up * flyingSpeed, ForceMode2D.Impulse);

    // play jetpack particle effect
    if (!jetpackParticle.isPlaying)
        jetpackParticle.Play();
}

Something we need to know for changing states is whether or not the player is standing on the ground. For this, we have the "IsGrounded" function which returns a bool value of true or false.

We shoot a short raycast downwards and check if it hit the floor. If so, return true; otherwise, return false.

// returns true if player is on ground, false otherwise
bool IsGrounded ()
{
    // shoot a raycast down underneath the player
    RaycastHit2D hit = Physics2D.Raycast(new Vector2(transform.position.x, transform.position.y - 0.85f), Vector2.down, 0.3f);

    // did we hit anything?
    if(hit.collider != null)
    {
        // was it the floor?
        if(hit.collider.CompareTag("Floor"))
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}

Speaking of states, we need a way to change it. So let's make a function called "SetState" which will be called every frame. First up, we check if we're not stunned, because if we are the state can't change.

The Idle state is determined if the player's velocity is 0 and they're grounded. Walking is if the player's horizontal velocity isn't 0 and they're grounded, and Flying is if the player's velocity isn't 0 and they're not grounded. Fairly simple.

Then we tell the Animator we've set our state, which will change the currently playing animation.

// sets the player's state
void SetState ()
{
    // don't worry about changing states if the player's stunned
    if (curState != PlayerState.Stunned)
    {
        // idle
        if (rig.velocity.magnitude == 0 && grounded)
            curState = PlayerState.Idle;
        // walking
        if (rig.velocity.x != 0 && grounded)
            curState = PlayerState.Walking;
        // flying
        if (rig.velocity.magnitude != 0 && !grounded)
            curState = PlayerState.Flying;
    }

    // tell the animator we've changed states
    anim.SetInteger("State", (int)curState);
}

"Stun" is a function that will be called when the player gets stunned. We set the state and make their velocity shoot them downwards so they hit the ground. Also setting the stun time and stopping any jetpack particles.

// called when the player gets stunned
public void Stun ()
{
    curState = PlayerState.Stunned;
    rig.velocity = Vector2.down * 3;
    stunStartTime = Time.time;
    jetpackParticle.Stop();
}

So how does the player actually call these functions? With the "CheckInputs" script. This calls the "Move" function which has its own inputs. For flying, we check for up arrow inputs and at the end, we set the state as it may have changed.

// checks for user input to control player
void CheckInputs ()
{
    if (curState != PlayerState.Stunned)
    {
        // movement
        Move();

        // flying
        if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.UpArrow))
            Fly();
        else
            jetpackParticle.Stop();
    }

    // update our current state
    SetState();
}

What calls "CheckInput" is the "FixedUpdate" function. This is a function that is similar to the "Update" function. The difference is that unlike being called every frame, this is called at a consistent rate (0.02 seconds). Why? Well because we are altering the physics of the rigidbody. This needs to be a consistent rate otherwise things can mess up.

In this function, we also update the "grounded" bool to be if the player is grounded or not. We also check if the player is stunned and if so, has the stun time ran out? If so, make them idle.

void FixedUpdate ()
{
    grounded = IsGrounded();
    CheckInputs();

    // is the player stunned?
    if(curState == PlayerState.Stunned)
    {
        // has the player been stunned for the duration?
        if(Time.time - stunStartTime >= stunDuration)
        {
            curState = PlayerState.Idle;
        }
    }
}

One last function is an OnTriggerEnter2D check. We're checking if we're entering an "Obstacle" object. If so, we get stunned.

// called when the player enters another object's collider
void OnTriggerEnter2D (Collider2D col)
{
    // if the player isn't already stunned, stun them if the object was an obstacle
    if(curState != PlayerState.Stunned)
    {
        if(col.GetComponent<Obstacle>())
        {
            Stun();
        }
    }
}

Going back to the editor now, we can enter in the values for our player and test it out. The best values that I found for the game are:

Make sure you also add in the components and press play!

Creating an Obstacle

Now, we're going to begin to create the obstacles for the player to avoid.

Drag in the "Obstacles_0" sprite (a part of the Obstacles sprite sheet) into the scene. Set the tag and sorting layer to "Obstacle" and add a CircleCollider2D. a good thing would be to make the collider a bit smaller than the actual sprite. This will make it so when the player gets stunned, they don't think, "I didn't even touch that!". It allows for more near misses.

Now create a new C# script called "Obstacle", attach it to the obstacle object and open it up.

Our variables are fairly simple. We have the direction that it's going to move in which is determined by the spawner when it's created. The move speed is how fast it moves and aliveTime is how long until it will be destroyed.

public Vector3 moveDir;         // direction to move in
public float moveSpeed;         // speed to move at along moveDir

private float aliveTime = 8.0f; // time before object is destroyed

In the "Start" function, we want to call the Destroy function. Now this won't instantly destroy it, but we can set a time delay. This means the object will be destroyed after "aliveTime" seconds.

void Start ()
{
    Destroy(gameObject, aliveTime);
}

In the "Update" function, we want to move the object in the direction specified. As well, we want to rotate it over time in the direction that it's moving. This just makes the movement look better and as if something 'threw' it.

void Update ()
{
    // move obstacle in certain direction over time
    transform.position += moveDir * moveSpeed * Time.deltaTime;

    // rotate obstacle
    transform.Rotate(Vector3.back * moveDir.x * (moveSpeed * 20) * Time.deltaTime);
}

Now back in the editor, we can duplicate the obstacle for each of the 4 sprites. You can create your own, or use the ones included (math-related symbols). Then save them as prefabs and you're done!

Spawning the Obstacles

Now it's time to spawn in our obstacles. First, create an empty GameObject called "GameManager". This will hold our obstacle spawner as well as other scripts. Then, create a new C# script called "ObstacleSpawner" and attach it to the game manager.

This is how it's going to work. When we spawn an obstacle, we're first going to decide if it's going to come from the left or right-hand side of the screen. Then with that side decided, we pick a random Y-axis value from a pre-defined min and max. The object is spawned and thrown across the screen.

The "obstacles" array will hold all of the obstacle prefabs. "minSpawnY" and "maxSpawnY" is the vertical range to spawn objects along. "leftSpawnX" and "rightSpawnX" are the X positions of the left/right side of the screen.

public GameObject[] obstacles;      // array of all the different types of obstacles

public float minSpawnY;             // minimum height objects can spawn at
public float maxSpawnY;             // maximum height objects can spawn at
private float leftSpawnX;           // left hand side of the screen
private float rightSpawnX;          // right hand side of the screen

public float spawnRate;             // time in seconds between each spawn
private float lastSpawn;            // Time.time of the last spawn

We're also going to be pooling our obstacles. This helps with performance as we Instantiate all of them at the start of the game.

// pooling
    private List<GameObject> pooledObstacles = new List<GameObject>();  // list of objects in the pool
    private int initialPoolSize = 20;                                   // size of the pool

Now in the "Start" function, we need to calculate the left and right spawn X variables. To do this, we first need to get the width of the camera. Unfortunately, that's not something we can just get, so we just need to do a bit of math. Since the middle of the camera is X=0, we can determine that left spawn X will be -camWidth / 2, with right spawn being the same but positive.

Let's also call the function to create our pool, which we'll be creating next.

void Start ()
{
    // setting left and right spawn borders
    // do this by getting camera horizontal borders
    Camera cam = Camera.main;
    float camWidth = (2.0f * cam.orthographicSize) * cam.aspect;

    leftSpawnX = -camWidth / 2;
    rightSpawnX = camWidth / 2;

    // create our initial pool
    CreateInitialPool();
}

"CreateInitialPool" instantiates a set number of obstacles, deactivates them, and adds them to the "pooledObstacles" list. We'll then get objects from that list later on to 'spawn' them.

// instantiates the initial objects to add to the pool
void CreateInitialPool ()
{
    for(int index = 0; index < initialPoolSize; index++)
    {
        // determine which obstacle type we're going to create
        GameObject obstacleToSpawn = obstacles[index % 4];

        // instantiate it
        GameObject spawnedObject = Instantiate(obstacleToSpawn);

        // add it to the pool
        pooledObstacles.Add(spawnedObject);

        // deactivate it
        spawnedObject.SetActive(false);
    }
}

"GetPooledObstacle" returns an inactive object from the "pooledObstacles" list. We'll be calling this function instead of "Instantiate".

// returns a new pooled obstacle ready to be used
GameObject GetPooledObstacle ()
{
    GameObject pooledObj = null;

    // find a pooled object that is not active
    foreach(GameObject obj in pooledObstacles)
    {
        if (!obj.activeInHierarchy)
            pooledObj = obj;
    }

    // if we couldn't find one, log error
    if (!pooledObj)
        Debug.LogError("Pool size is not big enough!");

    // activate it
    pooledObj.SetActive(true);

    // then send it
    return pooledObj;
}

Now it's time for the "SpawnObstacle" function, which will spawn a random obstacle.

First, we get an available obstacle from the "GetPooledObstacle" function and set a position for it from the "GetSpawnPosition" function. We'll get to that soon. Then with the spawned object, we set the move direction to be horizontal across the screen.

// spawns a random obstacle at a random spawn point
void SpawnObstacle ()
{
    // get the obstacle
    GameObject obstacle = GetPooledObstacle();

    // set its position
    obstacle.transform.position = GetSpawnPosition();

    // set obstacle's direction to move in
    obstacle.GetComponent<Obstacle>().moveDir = new Vector3(obstacle.transform.position.x > 0 ? -1 : 1, 0, 0);
}

The "GetSpawnPosition" returns a Vector3, which is the random position for the object to spawn at. Inside the function, we first determine the X position. This is a 50/50 chance of being on the left or right. Then the Y position is a random value between the min and max Y spawn range.

// returns a random spawn position for an obstacle
Vector3 GetSpawnPosition ()
{
    float x = Random.Range(0, 2) == 1 ? leftSpawnX : rightSpawnX;
    float y = Random.Range(minSpawnY, maxSpawnY);

    return new Vector3(x, y, 0);
}

To spawn these over time, we check each frame in the "Update" function if the time between now and the last time we spawned is more than the spawn rate. If so, we reset the last spawn time and spawn an obstacle.

void Update ()
{
    // every 'spawnRate' seconds, spawn a new obstacle
    if(Time.time - spawnRate >= lastSpawn)
    {
        lastSpawn = Time.time;
        SpawnObstacle();
    }
}

Now back in the editor, we can fill out the script variables. Add all of your obstacle prefabs into the obstacles array. I set the Min Spawn Y to be -3.5 and max to be 2. This spawns them just of the ground to just below the ship. For the spawn rate, I set it to 0.75, but you can test and tweak this value.

Here's how it should look like when you play the game! Make sure that you get stunned when you collide with the obstacles.

Creating the Base Problem Class

The game manager is going to be a script that holds all of our math problems and runs the game's loop.

So first up, create a new C# script called "Problem". This is going to be the base class for our math problems.

Under the pre-made class, create a new enumerator called "MathsOperation". For our game the format is going to be: [number] [operation] [number]. The way the two numbers are going to be calculated together is determined by the operator. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are the ones we're going to be using.

public enum MathsOperation
{
    Addition,
    Subtraction,
    Multiplication,
    Division
}

We then need to change the pre-made "Problem" class. First, remove the "MonoBehaviour" text at the end of the class definition and add "[System.Serializable]" just above.

We remove mono behavior because we don't need any of Unity's pre-made functions and for the fact that this script isn't going to be attached to any script. The System.Serializable property makes it so that this class can be displayed in the Inspector with all its values laid out to edit.

With our variables, we have our two numbers and our operator. "answers" is a float array that will hold all the possible answers, including the correct one. "correctTube" is the index number of the correct answer in the "answers" array.

[System.Serializable]
public class Problem
{
    public float firstNumber;           // first number in the problem
    public float secondNumber;          // second number in the problem
    public MathsOperation operation;    // operator between the two numbers
    public float[] answers;             // array of all possible answers including the correct one

    [Range(0, 3)]
    public int correctTube;             // index of the correct tube
}

Scripting the Game Manager

Now that we have our problem class, let's make the game manager. Create a new C# script called "GameManager" and attach it to the "GameManager" object.

Here are our variables. "problems" is an array holding all of our math problems. "curProblem" is the index number of the "problems" array, pointing to the current problem the player is on.

public Problem[] problems;      // list of all problems
public int curProblem;          // current problem the player needs to solve
public float timePerProblem;    // time allowed to answer each problem

public float remainingTime;     // time remaining for the current problem

public PlayerController player; // player object

We also want to create an instance of this script (or singleton). This means we can easily access the script by just going GameManager.instance.[...] without needing to reference it. The only downside, is that you can only have one instance of the script.

// instance
public static GameManager instance;

void Awake ()
{
    // set instance to this script.
    instance = this;
}

Let's start with the "Win" and "Lose" functions. Right now they'll just set the time scale to 0 (pausing the game). Later on, we'll call a UI function to show text saying "You Win!" or "Game Over".

 // called when the player answers all the problems
void Win ()
{
    Time.timeScale = 0.0f;
    // set UI text
}

// called if the remaining time on a problem reaches 0
void Lose ()
{
    Time.timeScale = 0.0f;
    // set UI text
}

Now we need a way to present and set a problem. The "SetProblem" function will carry over an index number for the problem array and set that as the current problem.

// sets the current problem
void SetProblem (int problem)
{
    curProblem = problem;
    remainingTime = timePerProblem;
    // set UI text to show problem and answers
}

When the player gets the correct answer, "CorrectAnswer" will be called. "IncorrectAnswer" will be called if it's the wrong answer. If they get it wrong, we'll just stun them.

// called when the player enters the correct tube
void CorrectAnswer()
{
    // is this the last problem?
    if(problems.Length - 1 == curProblem)
        Win();
    else
        SetProblem(curProblem + 1);
}

// called when the player enters the incorrect tube
void IncorrectAnswer ()
{
    player.Stun();
}

When the player enters a tube, the "OnPlayerEnterTube" function will be called, carrying over the id of the tube, which correlates back to the "answers" array in the "Problem" class.

// called when the player enters a tube
public void OnPlayerEnterTube (int tube)
{
    // did they enter the correct tube?
    if (tube == problems[curProblem].correctTube)
        CorrectAnswer();
    else
        IncorrectAnswer();
}

Since we're having a timer for each problem, we need to check if it's run out. If so, then the player will lose.

void Update ()
{
    remainingTime -= Time.deltaTime;

    // has the remaining time ran out?
    if(remainingTime <= 0.0f)
    {
        Lose();
    }
}

Finally, we need to set the initial problem when the game starts.

void Start ()
{
    // set the initial problem
    SetProblem(0);
}

Back in the editor, we can begin to create our problems. Here, I have 3 problems, one addition, multiplication, and division. Make sure that your "answers" array is as many tubes as you have and set the "correctTube" slider to be the element number with the correct answer.

Creating the UI Elements

It's going to be pretty hard to play the game at the moment without some UI, so let's get into that.

What we want to do is have a world space canvas that can hold our text elements. Setting up a world space canvas can be a bit finicky though, so first, let's create a Canvas.

Then change the "Render Mode" to Screen Space - Camera. Drag the main camera into the "Render Camera" property and you should see that the canvas becomes the same size as the camera.

Now we can change the "Render Mode" to World Space and the sorting layer to "UI". This prevents us from needing to manually scale the canvas down to the camera size.

Create a new Text element as a child of the Canvas (right-click Canvas > UI > Text). Then position it in the middle of the large white rectangle and change the boundaries so it fits.

For the text properties, set it to bold, with a size of 30, and center it horizontally and vertically.

Then create another Text element for the answer. This is going to be similar to the problem one, but smaller of course.

Now just duplicate it for each problem tube.

To show the player how much time they have left, we'll add in a dial that will retract over time. Create a new Image element (right-click Canvas > UI > Image). Then set the "Source Image" to be the UIDial and resize the width and height to be 50. Now to make the image actually be able to reduce like a clock, we need to change the "Image Type" to Filled and then set the "Fill Origin" to Top. Now position it to the right of the problem text.

When the game ends, we need text to display if they won or not. Create a new Text and place it in the middle of the screen. I added an Outline component since we'll be changing the text color later on in the script. Also, disable it, so it doesn't appear when we start playing.

Scripting the UI

Create a new C# script called "UI" and attach it to the "GameManager" object.

We first need to reference the UnityEngine.UI library, since of course we're going to be modifying UI elements.

using UnityEngine.UI;

For our variables, we have the problem text, answers text as an array. The remaining time dial, end text, and remaining time dial rate. I'll explain that shortly.

public Text problemText;                // text that displays the maths problem
public Text[] answersTexts;             // array of the 4 answers texts

public Image remainingTimeDial;         // remaining time image with radial fill
private float remainingTimeDialRate;    // 1.0 / time per problem

public Text endText;                    // text displayed a the end of the game (win or game over)

We're also going to create an instance with the UI script, like the GameManager.

// instance
public static UI instance;

void Awake ()
{
    // set instance to be this script
    instance = this;
}

With our time dial, we're using an image that is "filled". This means we can choose what percentage of the image is visible. In our case, we have it radial so it fills up like how a hand goes around a clock.

The "fill amount" is 0.0 to 1.0. Since our remaining time will be around 15 seconds, we need a way of converting 15 to 1 to use in the fill amount value.

void Start ()
{
    // set the remaining time dial rate
    // used to convert the time per problem (8 secs for example)
    // and converts that to be used on a 0.0 - 1.0 scale
    remainingTimeDialRate = 1.0f / GameManager.instance.timePerProblem;
}

In the "Update" function, we're going to be constantly updating the time dial.

void Update ()
{
    // update the remaining time dial fill amount
    remainingTimeDial.fillAmount = remainingTimeDialRate * GameManager.instance.remainingTime;
}

Now we need to set up the function "SetProblemText" which gets a problem and displays it on the UI.

// sets the ship UI to display the new problem
public void SetProblemText (Problem problem)
{
    string operatorText = "";

    // convert the problem operator from an enum to an actual text symbol
    switch(problem.operation)
    {
        case MathsOperation.Addition: operatorText = " + "; break;
        case MathsOperation.Subtraction: operatorText = " - "; break;
        case MathsOperation.Multiplication: operatorText = " x "; break;
        case MathsOperation.Division: operatorText = " ÷ "; break;
    }

    // set the problem text to display the problem
    problemText.text = problem.firstNumber + operatorText + problem.secondNumber;

    // set the answers texts to display the correct and incorrect answers
    for(int index = 0; index < answersTexts.Length; ++index)
    {
        answersTexts[index].text = problem.answers[index].ToString();
    }
}

Also when the game ends (either win or lose) we need to set the on-screen text. "SetEndText" will send over a bool (win = true, lose = false). If it's a win, the end text will be "You Win!" and the color will be green. If it's a loss, the end text will be "Game Over!" and the color will be red.

// sets the end text to display if the player won or lost
public void SetEndText (bool win)
{
    // enable the end text object
    endText.gameObject.SetActive(true);

    // did the player win?
    if (win)
    {
        endText.text = "You Win!";
        endText.color = Color.green;
    }
    // did the player lose?
    else
    {
        endText.text = "Game Over!";
        endText.color = Color.red;
    }
}

Now we need to go back to the "GameManager" script and connect the two scripts. In the "SetProblem" function add...

UI.instance.SetProblemText(problems[curProblem]);

In the "Win" function add:

UI.instance.SetEndText(true);

In the "Lose" function add:

UI.instance.SetEndText(false);

Now that we're done with that, go back to the editor and add the objects to the UI script.

Finishing off the Problem Tubes

The last thing we need to do is add functionality to the problem tubes. Create a new C# script called "ProblemTube" and attach it to all of the 4 problem tube objects we made.

This is all we need to code. We check for a trigger enter with the player and if that happens, call the "OnPlayerEnterTube" function in "GameManager" and send over the tube id.

public int tubeId;  // identifier number for this tube

// called when something enters the tube's collider
void OnTriggerEnter2D (Collider2D col)
{
    // was it the player?
    if(col.CompareTag("Player"))
    {
        // tell the game manager that the player entered this tube
        GameManager.instance.OnPlayerEnterTube(tubeId);
    }
}

Now go back to the editor and enter in the tube id for each tube. 0, 1, 2, and 3.

And that's it! Test out your first educational game, which should now be fully functioning.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've now finished your first educational game! Try it out for yourself, share it with your friends, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Over the course of this definitive guide, you've gathered a lot of skills - including how to set up players, how to implement streams of enemies, and even how to create randomized math problems. That's not even to mention the tricky UI components! While you've managed to create a math game with these abilities combined, don't stop there. These foundations can be applied to a ton of different educational games, whether you want to teach phonetics, cover world of history, or teach kids about the wonders of space.

Keep practicing, and good luck with your future educational game projects!

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The Definitive Guide to Making Your First Educational Game

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In this Unity game development tutorial, we're going to show you how to make your first educational game using math as our basis (though you can expand this for other subjects).Not only will

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A tool for making presentations, interactive infographics and games.

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Genially, the platform for interactive animated content

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This article helps to differentiate Gamificatioon with GBL with examples

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Gone are the days of textbook-only learning. As an educator, you've likely experienced firsthand how challenging it is to meet the needs of different types of learners - all while trying to keep student engagement high.

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1. Students are becoming tech savvy at an earlier age

2. Educational technology companies are developing more products

And rightly so. In a 2018 study, researchers found "evidence that the use of educational games could support and increase the mathematics learning outcomes." Another 2018 systematic review of game-based learning highlighted research that found "educational games play a successful role in terms of both a better understanding of the course content by the students and the participation of the students in this process." Since then, the amount of research on game-based learning has continued to soar.

Below, we'll dive into what game-based learning is, the benefits and drawbacks, as well as types of game-based learning educators like you can use every day.

What is game-based learning (GBL)?

Game-based learning is a teaching method that uses the power of games to define and support learning outcomes.
A GBL environment achieves this through educational games that have elements such as engagement, immediate rewards and healthy competition. All so that while students play, they stay motivated to learn.

The great thing about game-based learning is everyone can reap its benefits, from preschool all the way up to post-secondary education and beyond. Where and how doesn't matter, either - students can learn:

With online games

In person with physical objects

Independently or as part of a team

Game-based learning vs. Gamification

If you're experienced with GBL, chances are you've come across the terms "gamified" or "gamification." And while they're similar, the two applications are distinctly different.

In game-based learning, teachers incorporate learning activities through games to refresh old concepts or solidify new ones.

By leveraging today's students' intimate knowledge of gameplay, teachers can create exciting learning environments that increase student engagement.

Gamification is about bringing aspects of game-design into the learning process. This includes features like:

Earning badges

Using points systems

Getting on leaderboards

Collecting other rewards

However, the biggest difference between game-based learning and gamification is its application in non-game settings. In your classroom, gamification could mean creating a leaderboard for students who finish their homework on time every day, and getting some kind of prize for the longest streak every month.

Example: Game-based learning vs gamified learning

Here's an example to illustrate the differences between GBL and gamified learning:

Scenario: Teaching mathematics to students in 3rd grade.

Game-Based Learning: You would use an application like Prodigy Math. In this game, players explore a fantasy world where they complete quests, take part in magic battles and collect in-game "Pets". To progress, students must answer standards-aligned questions set by their teacher.

Gamified Learning: Students earn points or badges for completing problems or math worksheets for third graders. A leaderboard could be used to track progress and create a sense of competition.

Digital game-based learning (DGBL)

In an increasingly tech-filled world, DGBL takes things one step further and harnesses technology to help make game-based learning even more engaging and effective. As defined in our digital game-based learning article, it:

"Offers a delicate balance between in-class lessons and educational gameplay. Teachers introduce students to new concepts and show them how they work. Then students practice these concepts through digital games."

A good DGBL platform should seamlessly track progress as students work through subject matter and help identify where students are excelling, as well as where they need support.

Example of DGBL: Prodigy Math

Prodigy Math is an engaging, standards-aligned, digital game-based learning platform that checks all those boxes. Success in the game requires students to correctly answer math questions which adapt to their learning needs, and gives teachers the ability to differentiate!

Educators, get full access for free

Combined with your teaching style and continued lesson plans, you'll likely have a lot of success when you implement digital game-based learning in the classroom.

Traditional game-based learning

GBL wasn't always digital, of course. Take formative, non-digital childhood games like Simon says or Duck-Duck-Goose, for example.

Teachers would - and still do - pepper the traditional learning environment with them to help teach students how to understand classroom rules, the importance of paying attention and to improve motor skills. All while having fun.

Top benefits of game-based learning

Some educators and researchers still argue that game-based learning can be detrimental to educational experience.

However, studies continue to show that games can positively impact things like students' math and language learning in many ways. Game-based learning:

Helps problem-solving - Game-based learning can help students solve problems by fostering skills like understanding causation, logic and decision making they can use in life outside of school.

Addresses special education needs - GBL positively impacts special education classrooms, too, according to this 2020 literature review. Researchers found that for students with individualized education plans, "game-based learning is a must to help guide instruction, create a positive environment, and generate academic success... [And students] with autism [are] more successful and motivated when using computerized games for academic lessons."

Potential drawbacks of game-based learning

As we mentioned above, not everyone is convinced of game-based learning just yet. GBL's purpose was never to replace teachers and traditional learning, but to help positively augment it.

Depending on your personal teaching approaches or a student's individual learning style, there can be drawbacks to game-based learning:

Too much screen time

Games aren't always created equally

Games can be a source of distraction

It requires a technology learning curve

Doesn't replace traditional learning strategies

Not always aligned to teaching or learning goals

Researchers still have much to study about GBL and, if not implemented effectively, teachers and students can have a poor experience.

However, we hope resources such as the one you're reading now help empower educators and students alike to benefit from game-based learning - in school and beyond!

7 Types of game-based learning

Exploring the world of GBL will open the door to many types and examples of games, whether you teach pre-kindergarten, elementary or high school students.

Compared to games outside of the education space, "serious games" are ones designed to teach or help students practice specific skills or content.

Some of the most common game-based learning examples include:

1. Simulation games - A game designed to closely simulate real-world activities. The Sims, which launched in 2000, is one of the most popular series of life simulation games that involves creating and exploring virtual worlds.

2. Word games - A game that's typically designed to explore the properties of language or the ability to use a language itself. Scrabble is an example of a traditional word game while the app Words With Friends is a more modern one.

3. Video games - an electronic game wherein players can manipulate what appears on the screen with, for example, a joystick, controller or keyboard. A couple that might pop into your head are the decades-old classic Pac-Man, or, more recently, Fortnite.

4. Role-playing games (RPGs) - a game in which players assume the role of imaginary characters who engage in adventures. A popular fantasy tabletop RPG is Dungeons & Dragons and was first introduced in 1974. Prodigy Math is also a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where 1st to 8th grade students go on exciting adventures and correctly answer curriculum-aligned math questions to progress.

Of course, the types of game-based learning you choose to use may depend on the students to have in a given year. But you have plenty of options if GBL is something you want to try this year!

Learn more about Prodigy for teachers
How game-based learning drives a strong learning experience

Do you remember the first time a new concept finally clicked after learning through play? Maybe you experienced something similar as a student or in an effective professional development session.

If you have, you recognize the power game-based learning can have on one's personal learning journey. As a company rooted in game-based learning, we witness it every day: students who play Prodigy Math and develop a love of math that wasn't there before.

Whether you're planning to apply it to in-person learning or e-learning, do so with an open mind. You may be surprised how much you - and your students - love game-based learning.

3 Successful case studies of game-based learning in action

1. Prodigy Math helped bridge learning gaps in West Haralson Elementary School

Prodigy Math is a game-based learning platform for 1st to 8th grade. In this fantasy-inspired game, students are magical wizards who complete quests and take part in thrilling wizards battles. To progress in the game, students answer standards-aligned math questions set by their teacher.

As well as the game itself, Prodigy Math includes a teacher dashboard with features that let teachers tailor content to their teaching, curriculum and individual student needs. They are also able to get insightful data reports on how each student is progressing, ideal for spotting gaps in knowledge.

When educators at West Haralson Elementary School used Prodigy, they reported many benefits, including:

More engagement in student learning

Better support in spotting and solving learning gaps

Better academic outcomes in grade level performance

Hear more from the educator themselves below:

2. Game-based learning vocabulary acquisition

Higher education is known for being slower to respond to technological changes, but there might be some promising news for instructions at this level.

In a recent 2020 study, an educational video game, named 'Programmer Adventure Land', was created to improve college students' understanding of computer programming. Using a problem-based strategy, the game served as an innovative courseware that aimed to make learning more engaging and effective.

The findings of the study were quite promising. The problem-based approach used in 'Programmer Adventure Land' not only improved students' enjoyment and motivation but also boosted their satisfaction with learning. Most significantly, the study suggests that such interactive game-based platforms can be an effective teaching tool, especially for challenging subjects like computer programming. It indicates that leveraging the power of games can greatly enhance the learning experience.

3. Quizziz boosted vocabulary acquisition

In a 2023 study involving 69 eighth-grade students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), a digital game-based learning tool, "Quizziz," was used to test vocabulary acquisition skills. Similar to the popular Kahoot game, Quizziz has an quiz-style approach embedded in its game mechanics.

For this study, the students were divided into an experimental group, which used Quizziz for vocabulary practice, and a control group, which practiced vocabulary traditionally in their native language.

The results showed that the experimental group notably outperformed the control group, demonstrating the effectiveness of digital game-based learning.

The students expressed positive views about this approach, noting that game elements like power-ups, competition and instant feedback boosted their motivation to learn. Hence, digital game-based learning has been targeted as a way to boost foreign vocabulary acquisition in foreign languages.

Because it's online, adaptive and highly engaging, Prodigy's math platform is ideally suited to help parents and teachers ensure their students are learning math in either an in-person, virtual, or hybrid learning environment.

There are three product attributes that I'd like to highlight here which can help in either scenario: world-class student engagement, easy assessment and remediation, and a shared data set between home and school.

Prodigy creates fun and effective game-based learning experiences

Discover how we design, build and deliver incredibly engaging learning experiences for students, teachers and parents.

Or get started today!

Gone are the days of textbook-only learning. As an educator, you've likely experienced firsthand how challenging it is to meet the needs of different types of learners - all while trying to keep student engagement high.

Game-based learning is one teaching strategy that's growing increasingly popular to help students achieve their learning objectives. Especially as:

1. Students are becoming tech savvy at an earlier age

2. Educational technology companies are developing more products

And rightly so. In a 2018 study, researchers found "evidence that the use of educational games could support and increase the mathematics learning outcomes." Another 2018 systematic review of game-based learning highlighted research that found "educational games play a successful role in terms of both a better understanding of the course content by the students and the participation of the students in this process." Since then, the amount of research on game-based learning has continued to soar.

Below, we'll dive into what game-based learning is, the benefits and drawbacks, as well as types of game-based learning educators like you can use every day.

What is game-based learning (GBL)?

Game-based learning is a teaching method that uses the power of games to define and support learning outcomes.
A GBL environment achieves this through educational games that have elements such as engagement, immediate rewards and healthy competition. All so that while students play, they stay motivated to learn.

The great thing about game-based learning is everyone can reap its benefits, from preschool all the way up to post-secondary education and beyond. Where and how doesn't matter, either - students can learn:

With online games

In person with physical objects

Independently or as part of a team

Game-based learning vs. Gamification

If you're experienced with GBL, chances are you've come across the terms "gamified" or "gamification." And while they're similar, the two applications are distinctly different.

In game-based learning, teachers incorporate learning activities through games to refresh old concepts or solidify new ones.

By leveraging today's students' intimate knowledge of gameplay, teachers can create exciting learning environments that increase student engagement.

Gamification is about bringing aspects of game-design into the learning process. This includes features like:

Earning badges

Using points systems

Getting on leaderboards

Collecting other rewards

However, the biggest difference between game-based learning and gamification is its application in non-game settings. In your classroom, gamification could mean creating a leaderboard for students who finish their homework on time every day, and getting some kind of prize for the longest streak every month.

Example: Game-based learning vs gamified learning

Here's an example to illustrate the differences between GBL and gamified learning:

Scenario: Teaching mathematics to students in 3rd grade.

Game-Based Learning: You would use an application like Prodigy Math. In this game, players explore a fantasy world where they complete quests, take part in magic battles and collect in-game "Pets". To progress, students must answer standards-aligned questions set by their teacher.

Gamified Learning: Students earn points or badges for completing problems or math worksheets for third graders. A leaderboard could be used to track progress and create a sense of competition.

Digital game-based learning (DGBL)

In an increasingly tech-filled world, DGBL takes things one step further and harnesses technology to help make game-based learning even more engaging and effective. As defined in our digital game-based learning article, it:

"Offers a delicate balance between in-class lessons and educational gameplay. Teachers introduce students to new concepts and show them how they work. Then students practice these concepts through digital games."

A good DGBL platform should seamlessly track progress as students work through subject matter and help identify where students are excelling, as well as where they need support.

Example of DGBL: Prodigy Math

Prodigy Math is an engaging, standards-aligned, digital game-based learning platform that checks all those boxes. Success in the game requires students to correctly answer math questions which adapt to their learning needs, and gives teachers the ability to differentiate!

Educators, get full access for free

Combined with your teaching style and continued lesson plans, you'll likely have a lot of success when you implement digital game-based learning in the classroom.

Traditional game-based learning

GBL wasn't always digital, of course. Take formative, non-digital childhood games like Simon says or Duck-Duck-Goose, for example.

Teachers would - and still do - pepper the traditional learning environment with them to help teach students how to understand classroom rules, the importance of paying attention and to improve motor skills. All while having fun.

Top benefits of game-based learning

Some educators and researchers still argue that game-based learning can be detrimental to educational experience.

However, studies continue to show that games can positively impact things like students' math and language learning in many ways. Game-based learning:

Helps problem-solving - Game-based learning can help students solve problems by fostering skills like understanding causation, logic and decision making they can use in life outside of school.

Addresses special education needs - GBL positively impacts special education classrooms, too, according to this 2020 literature review. Researchers found that for students with individualized education plans, "game-based learning is a must to help guide instruction, create a positive environment, and generate academic success... [And students] with autism [are] more successful and motivated when using computerized games for academic lessons."

Potential drawbacks of game-based learning

As we mentioned above, not everyone is convinced of game-based learning just yet. GBL's purpose was never to replace teachers and traditional learning, but to help positively augment it.

Depending on your personal teaching approaches or a student's individual learning style, there can be drawbacks to game-based learning:

Too much screen time

Games aren't always created equally

Games can be a source of distraction

It requires a technology learning curve

Doesn't replace traditional learning strategies

Not always aligned to teaching or learning goals

Researchers still have much to study about GBL and, if not implemented effectively, teachers and students can have a poor experience.

However, we hope resources such as the one you're reading now help empower educators and students alike to benefit from game-based learning - in school and beyond!

7 Types of game-based learning

Exploring the world of GBL will open the door to many types and examples of games, whether you teach pre-kindergarten, elementary or high school students.

Compared to games outside of the education space, "serious games" are ones designed to teach or help students practice specific skills or content.

Some of the most common game-based learning examples include:

1. Simulation games - A game designed to closely simulate real-world activities. The Sims, which launched in 2000, is one of the most popular series of life simulation games that involves creating and exploring virtual worlds.

2. Word games - A game that's typically designed to explore the properties of language or the ability to use a language itself. Scrabble is an example of a traditional word game while the app Words With Friends is a more modern one.

3. Video games - an electronic game wherein players can manipulate what appears on the screen with, for example, a joystick, controller or keyboard. A couple that might pop into your head are the decades-old classic Pac-Man, or, more recently, Fortnite.

4. Role-playing games (RPGs) - a game in which players assume the role of imaginary characters who engage in adventures. A popular fantasy tabletop RPG is Dungeons & Dragons and was first introduced in 1974. Prodigy Math is also a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where 1st to 8th grade students go on exciting adventures and correctly answer curriculum-aligned math questions to progress.

Of course, the types of game-based learning you choose to use may depend on the students to have in a given year. But you have plenty of options if GBL is something you want to try this year!

Learn more about Prodigy for teachers
How game-based learning drives a strong learning experience

Do you remember the first time a new concept finally clicked after learning through play? Maybe you experienced something similar as a student or in an effective professional development session.

If you have, you recognize the power game-based learning can have on one's personal learning journey. As a company rooted in game-based learning, we witness it every day: students who play Prodigy Math and develop a love of math that wasn't there before.

Whether you're planning to apply it to in-person learning or e-learning, do so with an open mind. You may be surprised how much you - and your students - love game-based learning.

3 Successful case studies of game-based learning in action

1. Prodigy Math helped bridge learning gaps in West Haralson Elementary School

Prodigy Math is a game-based learning platform for 1st to 8th grade. In this fantasy-inspired game, students are magical wizards who complete quests and take part in thrilling wizards battles. To progress in the game, students answer standards-aligned math questions set by their teacher.

As well as the game itself, Prodigy Math includes a teacher dashboard with features that let teachers tailor content to their teaching, curriculum and individual student needs. They are also able to get insightful data reports on how each student is progressing, ideal for spotting gaps in knowledge.

When educators at West Haralson Elementary School used Prodigy, they reported many benefits, including:

More engagement in student learning

Better support in spotting and solving learning gaps

Better academic outcomes in grade level performance

Hear more from the educator themselves below:

2. Game-based learning vocabulary acquisition

Higher education is known for being slower to respond to technological changes, but there might be some promising news for instructions at this level.

In a recent 2020 study, an educational video game, named 'Programmer Adventure Land', was created to improve college students' understanding of computer programming. Using a problem-based strategy, the game served as an innovative courseware that aimed to make learning more engaging and effective.

The findings of the study were quite promising. The problem-based approach used in 'Programmer Adventure Land' not only improved students' enjoyment and motivation but also boosted their satisfaction with learning. Most significantly, the study suggests that such interactive game-based platforms can be an effective teaching tool, especially for challenging subjects like computer programming. It indicates that leveraging the power of games can greatly enhance the learning experience.

3. Quizziz boosted vocabulary acquisition

In a 2023 study involving 69 eighth-grade students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), a digital game-based learning tool, "Quizziz," was used to test vocabulary acquisition skills. Similar to the popular Kahoot game, Quizziz has an quiz-style approach embedded in its game mechanics.

For this study, the students were divided into an experimental group, which used Quizziz for vocabulary practice, and a control group, which practiced vocabulary traditionally in their native language.

The results showed that the experimental group notably outperformed the control group, demonstrating the effectiveness of digital game-based learning.

The students expressed positive views about this approach, noting that game elements like power-ups, competition and instant feedback boosted their motivation to learn. Hence, digital game-based learning has been targeted as a way to boost foreign vocabulary acquisition in foreign languages.

Because it's online, adaptive and highly engaging, Prodigy's math platform is ideally suited to help parents and teachers ensure their students are learning math in either an in-person, virtual, or hybrid learning environment.

There are three product attributes that I'd like to highlight here which can help in either scenario: world-class student engagement, easy assessment and remediation, and a shared data set between home and school.

Prodigy creates fun and effective game-based learning experiences

Discover how we design, build and deliver incredibly engaging learning experiences for students, teachers and parents.

Or get started today!

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Game-Based Learning: Pros, Cons & Implementation Tips for Educators

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Gone are the days of textbook-only learning. As an educator, you've likely experienced firsthand how challenging it is to meet the needs of different types of learners - all while trying to keep student engagement high. Game-based learning is one teaching strategy that's growing increasingly popular to help students achieve their learning objectives.

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A bank of ideas for teachers of 3 to 8 year olds that get children up from their desks and immersed in their topics

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A 2D game. Practice your maths skills in an Andean Mythology environment.

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Help the Sun messenger free Inti from the foreign conquerors. Play in your browser

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If you want to learn game design, you need to understand what a game mechanic is so the game has meaning and is interesting

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The phrase "game mechanics" sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. At the heart of every game are these mysterious whirring clicking mechanisms that deliver to the player pleasure and thrills.

We use them, we build them, but I've never seen a good unified definition of game mechanics that gives us a practical base upon which to build great games. Here is one. It is clobbered together from a variety of influences though many of you will recognize some central tenets from 'A Theory of Fun' by Raph Koster.
Game mechanics are rule based systems / simulations that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms.
It is a simple definition, but it offers a good amount of insight into why games work and how we can make them better.

Player performs an action.

The action causes an effect within the simulated game world. The simulation contains public and private tokens and the causal rules that affect the states of the tokens. The player rarely knows all the rules and is highly unlikely to be able to instantly describe the complete possibility space described by the rules. The unknown portion of the simulation is a "black box" that the player must attempt to decipher.

The player receives feedback.

With new tools and information in hand, the player performs another action. Using what we've learned, we pursue additional pleasure.

The info treats that a game provides to the user need not be used to solve the immediate black box at hand. Humans horde potentially useful information like squirrels horde nuts for the winter time. We'll store hints in our copious long term memory in the hope that there will be another black box down the line that will yield to our improved tool chest of knowledge.

The traditional metagame that sits on top of a game's core mechanics is a good example of how one black box feeds into another. In this situation, the game mechanics are arrange in a temporal hierarchy where rapid feedback loops (often part of the basic control scheme) provide tools that enable the mastery of longer term feedback loops. The potential patterns of linking game mechanics together are nearly endless. This is a wonderful area of future study.

A key aspect of our model is that games actively encourage learning. I can put a black box on the table with a hidden button. Unbeknownst to a potential user, pressing the button enough times and the black box will spew out a thousand shiny silver coins. This is not a game. This is a bizarre gizmo.

To turn it into a game, a game designer would need to do several things.

Encourage Discovery: First, make it obvious that the button in meant to be pushed. Humans are naturally curious creatures, but as game designers, we need to explicitly direct them to take certain actions.

Encourage Exploration: Second, the designer would put a counter on the front of the machines that lets the user know that their actions are having some impact on the system. The counter provides delightful drips of feedback and it is up to the user to interpret that feedback

Provide Tool Mastery: Third, the designer would post a note "Payout: 1,000, coins!" Not all games need explicit winning conditions, but hinting at future utility is a highly useful technique for encourage the player to begin interacting with a particular game mechanic.

We've turned a gizmo into a simple game of chance. The difference between the two is that our primitive 1-armed bandit is explicitly designed to encourage player learning.

Existing games are richly laden with techniques that encourage learning. A few that come immediately to mind:

Levels take complex systems and encourage players to explore and master one aspect of the possibility space at a time

The use of scores, coin collecting and experience points are all simple feedback mechanisms that let the user know they are making progress towards some future state.

The classic "See the treasure chest you can't reach" in Zelda acts as a promise of future utility.

A system alone is not a game. A dump of information is not a game. A system that encourages learning through strong feedback mechanisms is a game.

In Monkeyball, researchers were astounded to find the the biggest jolt of pleasured occurred when you fell off a cliff and died. People loved it! If you look at falling off the cliff as a huge learning experience, this makes perfect sense. However, when they replayed the animation, people hated it. Same stimulus, radically different response. The animation of falling off cliff lost its ability to teach the second time around. Ultimately, users are subconsciously constantly asking the question "Is this activity worth my time? Does it gain me anything useful?"

A complex model of Black Jack might take into account probabilities of cards appearing based off what has already been played.

A simple model of Black Jack might conclude that cards appear pretty much randomly. There is more depth for the user to explore, but if they are a casual player, saying it is random is 'good enough' to judge the game.

A big frustration to game designers is that many users settle on a very simplistic model of how a particular game mechanic works. Players will claim that a game is unfair or too difficult and immediately toss it in a rubbish bin because the designer misjudged their reaction to a game mechanic.

Some mechanisms have highly predictable burnout rates. Most players immediately figure out that watching a cutscene again isn't going to provide much additional information. Other mechanisms demonstrate a large variation in burnout rates depending on the person who is playing the game and their personal preferences and disposition towards addiction. Some players try a slot machine once and then never again. Others will ruin their lives in pursuit of the next reward, never grokking the simple truth that such machines exist to take money, not give.

The factors that influence burnout are numerous.

Personality.

Personal history.

Practical importance of imagined future rewards that stem from mastery.

The ability for the mechanism to signal that there is additional depth of mastery possible.

The first two factors are not possible to derive by simply exercising your superior intellect. A deep understanding of your target audience's psychology is most helpful here. The second two factors are very much under the designer's control and can be refined through heavy prototyping and player observation.

When a player has learned one system, they will often keep interacting with it. On first blush, this seems mildly demented. The activity no longer provides burst of juicy learning. It is a bit like jawing on a piece of gum that long ago lost its flavor.

However, remember that games are networks of linked game mechanics. Player will continue to interact with a mastered game system in order to create a useful game state for exploring another black box. Mastery gives the player predictable pragmatic tools that helps them advance in other aspects of the game. The learning and mastery that occurs in other portions of the game provide the necessary reward that goads the player into revisiting old game mechanics.

You can extend the time that a player spends with a set of a game mechanics by ensuring that a mastered system still provides utility to the player. Designs techniques that build tools result in more gameplay for less development work.

Game designers can tease the player with hints to systems that do not exist in order to suggest depth to their games. A sly arched eyebrow in a cutscene triggers as massive cascade of meaning alerts. Our brains love people and faces and relationships and the breeding opportunities and politics! Surely, that eyebrow is important? The player greedily stores the memory away.

What impact will the collected information have on their gameplay? None. What impact will it have on their lives? Very little. This virtual person in a cut scene is no one they will ever meet. But our brains were not evolved to deal with such things. As apes, the tale of an arched eyebrow by a potential mate from our little tribe always meant something very, very important. So our brain rewards us with a little jolt of pleasure for noticing such an "obviously" beneficial tidbit.

The designer managed to suggest a system and get some of the benefits of that system without actually building it. It is not going too far to suggest that paintings, sculpture, movies and television all thrive on this simple quirk of our brain's learning systems.

The downside is that such red herrings burnout quickly. Our brains becomes quite good at recognizing false, useless information. Almost no one watches a cut scene more than once. What would be the point?

My personal bias is to use red herring game mechanics sparingly. As game designers, we have deeper skills at our disposal. We can tailor potent electronic cascades of feedback loops that spin out a complex duet between computer and the player. Such system are highly effective at causing visceral pleasure and encouraging deep long term learning. As game designers, we conduct a majestic symphony of explicit learning and entrancing interactivity, something no static media will ever manage.

Sometimes though, it is worthwhile to suggest great mysteries with broad brush strokes. Setting, character design and plot can be crucial hooks that help make a game meaningful to players before they even press a single button.

This definition of game design is much broader than the current range of games available on the market. Though it works quite well with hit points, button mashing and high scores, the breadth of the definition is intended to encourage exploration of a much wider range of human learning. Some open questions that I find immediately suggested by the model include:

What are the feedback mechanisms that impact learning about relationships, love, hate or spirituality?

How do we build games around such topics that leverage these feedback mechanisms?

Existing games give us the foundation of practical knowledge that lets us make the same thing in a reliable fashion. A good theoretical framework helps game designers create future titles that are inclusive of a wider range of human experience.

I want a practical model that lets the good folks in this grand industry describe game designs in more exacting terms. The model should give insight into why their prototypes suck. It should allow them to discuss potential issues and solutions with shorthand language that cuts to the meat of the matter. A good predictive model allows for more intelligent design decisions with less waste and unnecessary rework.

So some of aspects of the model that I find useful:

It treats game mechanics as well defined, comprehensive atomic units. These units can be discussed individually and they can also be linked together in interesting ways.

Explicit identification of user value. Fun is not a nigh spiritual activity that spontaneously bursts forth from the ether. It has a testable neurological basis.

There exist clearly inputs and outputs that easily identified. You can easily tell when a specific game mechanic has all component elements such as actions, rules, tokens and feedback systems. Through observation, you can identify the player's reaction to each mechanism and then adjust its impact.

All and all, the hope is that this model of game mechanics is a good foundation for future discussion. It is one that I'll be leaning on heavily as I continue to meander through this lovely little series of essays on game design.

Take care
Danc.

References:
The pleasure of killing monkeys
See research lesson #1. I don't agree with their conclusion about what causes the reported result, but I find the data fascinating.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131054/gdc_top_10_video_game_research_.php
http://www.avantgame.com/top10.htm

A theory of fun for game design: Raph Koster
Many of the basic concepts in this essay build upon the ideas in this book. I find it helps my thinking to rework what I've read in essay form. Call it a form of active listening if you must. (
https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Fun-Game-Design/dp/1932111972

Feedback loops
A slightly different definition of feedback loops that comes from control theory.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070503025241/http://jbooth.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_jbooth_archive.html

Games are designer foods for infovores
https://lostgarden.home.blog/2006/07/24/games-are-designer-food-for-infovores/

Is a book a game? With this big emphasis on learning, there is bound to be a wiseass who asks "Is a text book a game? It too encourages learning." The problem here is that there are few strong feedback mechanisms evident. The user reads the book and without a doubt they get a burst of pleasure from ingesting the info. However, the act of turning the pages, and interpreting language are skills mastered through other activities ages early. At best, reading the book is an example of milking, where a player uses a mastered technique to advance the grokking of some larger blackbox.

The primary role of content. In this model of game mechanics, content in the game is meaningful only through it's association with a feedback mechanism. Plot points become reward and hints, Damage becomes a punishment that clues that player into the fact they shouldn't be doing something. There is no such thing as an inherently pretty picture that exists 'just because.' The image is pretty because it activates the brain's learning systems which in turn feed back into actions.

In order to answer the question "what content does my game need?" you need to first answer the question "What feedback should my game mechanics provide to the user based on their actions?"

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The phrase "game mechanics" sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. At the heart of every game are these mysterious whirring clicking mechanisms that deliver to the player pleasure and thrills. We use them, we build them, but I've never seen a good unified definition of game mechanics that gives us a practical base upon...

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You generate a QR code with blank middle part that you have to fill based on numbers. Then you can make a game/quiz/... with a key to filling the code properly.

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QR-Codes lassen sich vielfältig in der Schule gebrauchen. Mit dieser Website kannst du dir QR-Codes zum Ausmalen erstellen, die sich prima für ein Quiz oder einen Wettbewerb verwenden lassen.

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Diese Website ist eine Dienstleistung für Lehrpersonen und Schulen. Wir übernehmen keine Gewähr für die Verfügbarkeit dieses Dienstes.

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Educational games, free membership to download them

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Educational games make a great alternative for children who don't learn best through pencil and paper instruction.

According to educational nonprofit EDUCAUSE, a growing body of research shows game-based learning platforms "can create an engaging dynamic that inspires students to develop competencies and skills as they focus on the activities of the game."

Regardless of the subject, educational games for kids can help you instill a love of learning in your own child. This applies whether they're learning through homeschooling, online learning or traditional classroom setting.

Below, we've organized some of the best educational games for kids by subject! Interested in games for a certain subject? Click one below and jump right to it:

Art games

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 7+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

Embark on a journey into the world of art, creativity, and visual learning with your personal Art Guides: Tickles, Furnace, and Ruby!

Start with Art! will walk your child through four foundational art lessons:

It also has engaging "Creativity Builders" art projects designed to foster creativity, encourage problem solving, and enhance critical thinking skills.

Each lesson is aligned to Creativity Express, a multi-award winning visual arts curriculum that professional educators and former Disney animators created!

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 4+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

No crayons? Run out of sketchbook pages? No worries!

Colorfy is a digital coloring book for kids of all ages, filled with high-quality images. With over 1000 pictures to paint, your child will have the choice of florals, animals, patterns, gardens, mandalas, famous paintings, and other creative images.

This coloring game also includes a new AR virtual gallery that lets your child see what their art would look like in the real world!

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Web

Age: 4 to 18

Cost: 30-day free trial, then $9.99 per month

As outlined on HOMER's website, their "mission is to provide the best educational start possible by offering personalized, fun, and proven learning products for children."

This early learning program has two products: Reading and Stories.

HOMER Reading combines a child's current reading level and their passions, in order to create a personalized learn-to-read plan. Using that child's same interests, HOMER Stories curates stories they'll love - from classic to contemporary.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 3+

Cost: $1.99

Based on the children's animated television series on Nickelodeon, Wallykazam! helps preschoolers learn early reading skills.

Kids will join Wally Trollman, his pet dragon Norville, the mischievous Bobgoblin, Gina Giant, and Libby Light Sprite in magical and hilarious adventures! They'll play games and learn letter recognition, letter tracing, and phonics.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 5 to 12

Cost: Free, premium version available

The purpose of GoNoodle is to help parents and teachers get kids moving, with the help of engaging video content. As their app description states: "make screen time active with 300+ videos that feature kids songs, dance, yoga, mindfulness, stretching, and more!"

Whether you want to throw your children a dance party to get them moving or make cleaning up around the house fun, GoNoodle has the perfect video.

Available: Web

Age: 4 to 13

Cost: Free

When it comes to health, it's important that children learn about their bodies early to stay healthy. Although this website is outdated, there are 36 health-related games across four categories that will help children love to care about their health.From allergies and body parts to dental hygiene and staying fit, playing these games can introduce them to new concepts and help reinforce what they learn in school.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 4+

Cost: Free

Developed by New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab, Eat & Move-O-Matic aims to encourage young people to learn about - and practice - healthy and active lifestyles.

Children scroll through a food list and match it with something from an activity list. Based on the food and activity combination you choose, it will tell you how long it takes to burn off that food's calories. For example, eating a medium-sized banana with 27 calories will take you four minutes of playing high-impact active video games to burn off, at 7.2 calories per minute.

With 35 activities and 80 foods, children will make new discoveries about their favorite foods and get healthy "Pro Tips."

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Web

Age: 6 to 14

Cost: All in-game educational content is free, Premium Memberships available

Prodigy Math is the engaging, fantasy-based math platform used by over 100 million students teachers and parents around the world.

It's curriculum-aligned, offering content from every major math topic from 1st to 8th grade. Above all, Prodigy's mission is to help every student in the world to love learning.

After creating their own personalized math wizard, your child will compete in math battles against in-game characters, similar to how role-playing games such as Pokémon do. To win, they must answer sets of questions. The game also adapts in difficulty to suit your child's learning style and grade level.

Create your free parent account to follow your child's progress as they have fun learning math. You can also get a Premium Membership to level up your Prodigy experience - packed with plenty of extra benefits for you and your child!

Become a Premium Member!

Available: Web

Age: 8 to 14

Cost: $20 per month, $40 per quarter, $60 per year

This is a middle school math game aligned with the common core and TEKS curricula. Your child will be tasked with helping Alfred, an inventor, save Mathlantis - a chaotic and disordered world - by restoring the population's math knowledge.

On this adventure, they'll time-travel and meet famous mathematicians, help them regain their lost knowledge, and transform Mathlantis back to its original state.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 8 to 14

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

Developed by Touch Press Games, this educational math game helps children understand the beginning thought process of algebra and explore longer, more complex algebraic equations.

In Twelve a Dozen, your child will join the numeric hero, Twelve, on a journey through a universe of numbers. She's on a mission to rescue her family and the crumbling world of Dozenopolis from the destructive Ultimate Prime. And they'll use their skills and understanding of core math concepts to solve puzzles.
Looking for more amazing math games for kids? Check our list of the 13 best math apps for kids in elementary school!

Science games

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Microsoft

Age: 4+

Cost: $2.99 per app, discounted bundles available

Tinybop can be summed up in three words: play, create, and learn.

Using educational apps and digital games created for curious and creative minds, children can explore the awesome and invisible wonders of the world!

Children will develop foundational science literacy while engaging with educational games about the human body, plants, homes, weather, space, animals, states of matter, and other exciting topics.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 4+

Cost: Free with in-game purchases

Flowing from a belief that the power of play jumpstarts imagination, its games are open-ended, so children are encouraged to experiment and make new connections. The educational game developer Toca Boca creates digital toys from the kid perspective.

Among Toca Boca's products, science-related ones include Toca Lab: Elements and Toca Lab: Plants.

In Elements, children will explore the exciting world of science and meet all 118 elements from the periodic table, as they experiment with lab equipment!

And in Plants, they'll have the opportunity to see how plants evolve, while collecting up to 35 different plant characters!

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 4+

Cost: Free

One of the most popular educational sites today, Wonderopolis was created by the National Center for Families in 2010.

Camp Wonderopolis started as a free way to keep children and their families learning outside of school and help avoid summer learning loss - the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of long school holidays. There are five Wonderopolis camps:

Flex Your Wonder

Mission to Wonder

Symphony of Wonders

Connect with Your Wonders

Build Your Own Wonderocity

Each one aims to keep children engaged with fun, interactive STEM and literacy-building topics boosted by Maker experiments!

Available: Web

Age: 10+ (See PBS Kids' Gamestar Mechanic Jr made especially for young designers!)

Cost: Free

In partnership with E-Line Media and the Institute of Play, Gamestar Mechanic is an online game and community with the sole aim of helping children learn the guiding principles of game design in a highly engaging environment.

There are three components to Gamestar Mechanic: Play, Design, and Share.

Here's a quick overview of how it works:

1. Your child will start by going on an exciting single-player quest to learn about the principles of game design, while earning "sprites."

2. After exhibiting a certain level of mastery, they can use their sprites to design their own original games!

3. Then, if your child wishes, they may publish their game in Game Alley as well as review and collaborate on other players' games.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 2 to 11

Cost: Free

Starring some of children's favorite television characters, the social studies games on PBS Kids explore culture, different environments, identity, governance, science, and more.

Not sure there's something for your child? PBS Kids offers a variety of styles of games - from Jet's Planet Pinball to learn about our solar system to Fidgits to the Rescue! where they build structures to help victims of environmental disasters. There's something for every type of learner.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 8+

Cost: Free

In 2009, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor founded iCivics to reimagine civic education. Since its inception, her vision has been "to cultivate a new generation of students for thoughtful and active citizenship. Civic knowledge is a prerequisite for civic participation. Yet for decades, civic education had largely disappeared from school curricula and the repercussions are undeniable."

Taking a game-based approach, iCivics transforms abstract concepts into problems that every child will face in real life.

If it's used in your child's class, they'll have a class code to sign in. If it isn't, they can still make their own account to play engaging and educational games that will help make them better citizens!

Available: iTunes App Store, Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

This social studies game allows children to "meet" other kids around the world through photo- and audio-based stories called "A Day in My Life." Choose from places like Haiti, New York City, the Netherlands, or Indonesia to hear each storyteller's language as well as learn geographic, cultural, and political facts about each country.

Depending how your child would like to explore each friend's story, they can choose from three different approaches: Adventure, Start to Finish, and Conversations.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store

Age: 10+

Cost: Free, Silver ($7.99) or Gold (24.99) Memberships

If your child loves history, mystery and a great story, keep reading.

Created by a parent, educator and anthropologist, this educational game brings fun historical facts, archaeology, and world cultures together.

You're summoned to an old manor, full of ancient relics and mysterious people. But why? Unravel the secrets of a lost clan and claim your right to travel through time!

Your child will embark on a point-and-click journey that encourages exploration, self-expression, and self-directed learning - all while learning real history.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: All ages (However, children under 16 are advised to have an adult present.)

Cost: Free

With this engaging app, Civilisations AR puts puts history in your hand with the BBC's first ever Augmented Reality app. You and your child will discover things like ancient Egyptian secrets and reveal hidden layers beneath Renaissance masterpieces.

Whether at home or on a walk in the park, you can use Civilisations AR to bring realistic, to-scale artifacts to life. Become the explorer as you move, scale, and rotate the collection. And, if interested, use features like the "Spotlight" to reveal audio guides and special features, or the "X-Ray" to discover some of history's greatest secrets.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 7+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases ($2.79 to $13.99)

Children will have fun discovering the ancient world and exploring through games and adventures. With vibrant colors and high-quality images, they'll find themselves engaged with the history of 14 different civilizations.

Kids also get to create their own avatar! And when they do, playing the game will allow them to level it up so they can unlock some awesome prizes.

Geography games

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Parents may remember the National Geographic Kids magazine. Now, children can engage with the same fun aspects of the magazine online.

To learn more about geography, head over to their website for some fact-filled, fast-paced fun! There are many educational quizzes, funny fill-ins, and action-adventure games to play.

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Your child will just have to hop on the internet to find out. In collaboration with education publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Google Earth created a series of Carmen Sandiego games: The Crown Jewels Caper, Tutankhamun's Mask Caper, and The Keys to the Kremlin Caper.

Your child will help Carmen Sandiego track down burglars working for a global criminal organization called VILE. Flying from continent to continent, players interview characters to gain clues that help track down the burglars while testing their geography knowledge.

Simply go to Google Earth → Voyager → Games → Scroll down!

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Created by education publishing company Houghton Mifflin, GeoNet is a geography game led by Chester the beaver. Children first choose where in the world they'd like to go, then answer questions broken down into six categories: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and the uses of geography.

Chester will ask different types of multiple choice questions. But don't worry -- if they get it wrong the first time, they can keep trying until they get it right. Then, Chester will give a short explanation as to why that answer was correct! And if your child doesn't find Level 1 challenging enough, try Level 2!

Ready to see the impact educational video games for kids can have?

Gamification in education need not be limited to the classroom. Encouraging your child to spend their screen time playing educational video games for kids not only strengthens their skills in various subjects but can also help transform them into lifelong learners!

Educational games make a great alternative for children who don't learn best through pencil and paper instruction.

According to educational nonprofit EDUCAUSE, a growing body of research shows game-based learning platforms "can create an engaging dynamic that inspires students to develop competencies and skills as they focus on the activities of the game."

Regardless of the subject, educational games for kids can help you instill a love of learning in your own child. This applies whether they're learning through homeschooling, online learning or traditional classroom setting.

Below, we've organized some of the best educational games for kids by subject! Interested in games for a certain subject? Click one below and jump right to it:

Art games

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 7+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

Embark on a journey into the world of art, creativity, and visual learning with your personal Art Guides: Tickles, Furnace, and Ruby!

Start with Art! will walk your child through four foundational art lessons:

It also has engaging "Creativity Builders" art projects designed to foster creativity, encourage problem solving, and enhance critical thinking skills.

Each lesson is aligned to Creativity Express, a multi-award winning visual arts curriculum that professional educators and former Disney animators created!

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 4+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

No crayons? Run out of sketchbook pages? No worries!

Colorfy is a digital coloring book for kids of all ages, filled with high-quality images. With over 1000 pictures to paint, your child will have the choice of florals, animals, patterns, gardens, mandalas, famous paintings, and other creative images.

This coloring game also includes a new AR virtual gallery that lets your child see what their art would look like in the real world!

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Web

Age: 4 to 18

Cost: 30-day free trial, then $9.99 per month

As outlined on HOMER's website, their "mission is to provide the best educational start possible by offering personalized, fun, and proven learning products for children."

This early learning program has two products: Reading and Stories.

HOMER Reading combines a child's current reading level and their passions, in order to create a personalized learn-to-read plan. Using that child's same interests, HOMER Stories curates stories they'll love - from classic to contemporary.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 3+

Cost: $1.99

Based on the children's animated television series on Nickelodeon, Wallykazam! helps preschoolers learn early reading skills.

Kids will join Wally Trollman, his pet dragon Norville, the mischievous Bobgoblin, Gina Giant, and Libby Light Sprite in magical and hilarious adventures! They'll play games and learn letter recognition, letter tracing, and phonics.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 5 to 12

Cost: Free, premium version available

The purpose of GoNoodle is to help parents and teachers get kids moving, with the help of engaging video content. As their app description states: "make screen time active with 300+ videos that feature kids songs, dance, yoga, mindfulness, stretching, and more!"

Whether you want to throw your children a dance party to get them moving or make cleaning up around the house fun, GoNoodle has the perfect video.

Available: Web

Age: 4 to 13

Cost: Free

When it comes to health, it's important that children learn about their bodies early to stay healthy. Although this website is outdated, there are 36 health-related games across four categories that will help children love to care about their health.From allergies and body parts to dental hygiene and staying fit, playing these games can introduce them to new concepts and help reinforce what they learn in school.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 4+

Cost: Free

Developed by New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab, Eat & Move-O-Matic aims to encourage young people to learn about - and practice - healthy and active lifestyles.

Children scroll through a food list and match it with something from an activity list. Based on the food and activity combination you choose, it will tell you how long it takes to burn off that food's calories. For example, eating a medium-sized banana with 27 calories will take you four minutes of playing high-impact active video games to burn off, at 7.2 calories per minute.

With 35 activities and 80 foods, children will make new discoveries about their favorite foods and get healthy "Pro Tips."

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Web

Age: 6 to 14

Cost: All in-game educational content is free, Premium Memberships available

Prodigy Math is the engaging, fantasy-based math platform used by over 100 million students teachers and parents around the world.

It's curriculum-aligned, offering content from every major math topic from 1st to 8th grade. Above all, Prodigy's mission is to help every student in the world to love learning.

After creating their own personalized math wizard, your child will compete in math battles against in-game characters, similar to how role-playing games such as Pokémon do. To win, they must answer sets of questions. The game also adapts in difficulty to suit your child's learning style and grade level.

Create your free parent account to follow your child's progress as they have fun learning math. You can also get a Premium Membership to level up your Prodigy experience - packed with plenty of extra benefits for you and your child!

Become a Premium Member!

Available: Web

Age: 8 to 14

Cost: $20 per month, $40 per quarter, $60 per year

This is a middle school math game aligned with the common core and TEKS curricula. Your child will be tasked with helping Alfred, an inventor, save Mathlantis - a chaotic and disordered world - by restoring the population's math knowledge.

On this adventure, they'll time-travel and meet famous mathematicians, help them regain their lost knowledge, and transform Mathlantis back to its original state.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 8 to 14

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

Developed by Touch Press Games, this educational math game helps children understand the beginning thought process of algebra and explore longer, more complex algebraic equations.

In Twelve a Dozen, your child will join the numeric hero, Twelve, on a journey through a universe of numbers. She's on a mission to rescue her family and the crumbling world of Dozenopolis from the destructive Ultimate Prime. And they'll use their skills and understanding of core math concepts to solve puzzles.
Looking for more amazing math games for kids? Check our list of the 13 best math apps for kids in elementary school!

Science games

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Microsoft

Age: 4+

Cost: $2.99 per app, discounted bundles available

Tinybop can be summed up in three words: play, create, and learn.

Using educational apps and digital games created for curious and creative minds, children can explore the awesome and invisible wonders of the world!

Children will develop foundational science literacy while engaging with educational games about the human body, plants, homes, weather, space, animals, states of matter, and other exciting topics.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

Age: 4+

Cost: Free with in-game purchases

Flowing from a belief that the power of play jumpstarts imagination, its games are open-ended, so children are encouraged to experiment and make new connections. The educational game developer Toca Boca creates digital toys from the kid perspective.

Among Toca Boca's products, science-related ones include Toca Lab: Elements and Toca Lab: Plants.

In Elements, children will explore the exciting world of science and meet all 118 elements from the periodic table, as they experiment with lab equipment!

And in Plants, they'll have the opportunity to see how plants evolve, while collecting up to 35 different plant characters!

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 4+

Cost: Free

One of the most popular educational sites today, Wonderopolis was created by the National Center for Families in 2010.

Camp Wonderopolis started as a free way to keep children and their families learning outside of school and help avoid summer learning loss - the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of long school holidays. There are five Wonderopolis camps:

Flex Your Wonder

Mission to Wonder

Symphony of Wonders

Connect with Your Wonders

Build Your Own Wonderocity

Each one aims to keep children engaged with fun, interactive STEM and literacy-building topics boosted by Maker experiments!

Available: Web

Age: 10+ (See PBS Kids' Gamestar Mechanic Jr made especially for young designers!)

Cost: Free

In partnership with E-Line Media and the Institute of Play, Gamestar Mechanic is an online game and community with the sole aim of helping children learn the guiding principles of game design in a highly engaging environment.

There are three components to Gamestar Mechanic: Play, Design, and Share.

Here's a quick overview of how it works:

1. Your child will start by going on an exciting single-player quest to learn about the principles of game design, while earning "sprites."

2. After exhibiting a certain level of mastery, they can use their sprites to design their own original games!

3. Then, if your child wishes, they may publish their game in Game Alley as well as review and collaborate on other players' games.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 2 to 11

Cost: Free

Starring some of children's favorite television characters, the social studies games on PBS Kids explore culture, different environments, identity, governance, science, and more.

Not sure there's something for your child? PBS Kids offers a variety of styles of games - from Jet's Planet Pinball to learn about our solar system to Fidgits to the Rescue! where they build structures to help victims of environmental disasters. There's something for every type of learner.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: 8+

Cost: Free

In 2009, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor founded iCivics to reimagine civic education. Since its inception, her vision has been "to cultivate a new generation of students for thoughtful and active citizenship. Civic knowledge is a prerequisite for civic participation. Yet for decades, civic education had largely disappeared from school curricula and the repercussions are undeniable."

Taking a game-based approach, iCivics transforms abstract concepts into problems that every child will face in real life.

If it's used in your child's class, they'll have a class code to sign in. If it isn't, they can still make their own account to play engaging and educational games that will help make them better citizens!

Available: iTunes App Store, Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases

This social studies game allows children to "meet" other kids around the world through photo- and audio-based stories called "A Day in My Life." Choose from places like Haiti, New York City, the Netherlands, or Indonesia to hear each storyteller's language as well as learn geographic, cultural, and political facts about each country.

Depending how your child would like to explore each friend's story, they can choose from three different approaches: Adventure, Start to Finish, and Conversations.

Available: Web, iTunes App Store

Age: 10+

Cost: Free, Silver ($7.99) or Gold (24.99) Memberships

If your child loves history, mystery and a great story, keep reading.

Created by a parent, educator and anthropologist, this educational game brings fun historical facts, archaeology, and world cultures together.

You're summoned to an old manor, full of ancient relics and mysterious people. But why? Unravel the secrets of a lost clan and claim your right to travel through time!

Your child will embark on a point-and-click journey that encourages exploration, self-expression, and self-directed learning - all while learning real history.

Available: iTunes App Store, Google Play

Age: All ages (However, children under 16 are advised to have an adult present.)

Cost: Free

With this engaging app, Civilisations AR puts puts history in your hand with the BBC's first ever Augmented Reality app. You and your child will discover things like ancient Egyptian secrets and reveal hidden layers beneath Renaissance masterpieces.

Whether at home or on a walk in the park, you can use Civilisations AR to bring realistic, to-scale artifacts to life. Become the explorer as you move, scale, and rotate the collection. And, if interested, use features like the "Spotlight" to reveal audio guides and special features, or the "X-Ray" to discover some of history's greatest secrets.

Available: iTunes App Store

Age: 7+

Cost: Free, in-app purchases ($2.79 to $13.99)

Children will have fun discovering the ancient world and exploring through games and adventures. With vibrant colors and high-quality images, they'll find themselves engaged with the history of 14 different civilizations.

Kids also get to create their own avatar! And when they do, playing the game will allow them to level it up so they can unlock some awesome prizes.

Geography games

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Parents may remember the National Geographic Kids magazine. Now, children can engage with the same fun aspects of the magazine online.

To learn more about geography, head over to their website for some fact-filled, fast-paced fun! There are many educational quizzes, funny fill-ins, and action-adventure games to play.

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Your child will just have to hop on the internet to find out. In collaboration with education publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Google Earth created a series of Carmen Sandiego games: The Crown Jewels Caper, Tutankhamun's Mask Caper, and The Keys to the Kremlin Caper.

Your child will help Carmen Sandiego track down burglars working for a global criminal organization called VILE. Flying from continent to continent, players interview characters to gain clues that help track down the burglars while testing their geography knowledge.

Simply go to Google Earth → Voyager → Games → Scroll down!

Available: Web

Age: 6+

Cost: Free

Created by education publishing company Houghton Mifflin, GeoNet is a geography game led by Chester the beaver. Children first choose where in the world they'd like to go, then answer questions broken down into six categories: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and the uses of geography.

Chester will ask different types of multiple choice questions. But don't worry -- if they get it wrong the first time, they can keep trying until they get it right. Then, Chester will give a short explanation as to why that answer was correct! And if your child doesn't find Level 1 challenging enough, try Level 2!

Ready to see the impact educational video games for kids can have?

Gamification in education need not be limited to the classroom. Encouraging your child to spend their screen time playing educational video games for kids not only strengthens their skills in various subjects but can also help transform them into lifelong learners!

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27 Best Educational Games for Kids to Play Sorted by Subject

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Educational games make a great alternative for children who don't learn best through pencil and paper instruction. According to educational nonprofit EDUCAUSE, a growing body of research shows game-based learning platforms "can create an engaging dynamic that inspires students to develop competencies and skills as they focus on the activities of the game."

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Free Word Cloud Generator - Create a Word Cloud Live

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Create Live Word Clouds with your audience using their smartphones. All for Free with Mentimeter!

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Resources for educators - lesson plans, ideas & etc.

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Recursos educativos para docentes de todos los niveles y para familias.

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Acceso a más de 860.000 recursos educativos de todas las materias para preescolar, primaria y secundaria en Inglés y Castellano. Actividades, PowerPoints, juegos, imagenes, libros digitales y material interactivo en diferentes idiomas.

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A framework for gamifying processes.

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Yu-kai Chou - Learn how to use Gamification to make a positive impact on your work and life

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This post is a high-level introduction to Octalysis, The Gamification Framework I created Octalysis is a powerful Gamification Framework created after extensive research and study by its creator over 17 years.

Gamification, a design approach centered around human motivation, takes elements from games and applies them to real-world activities. Octalysis emphasizes "Human-Focused Design" instead of mere functionality, optimizing human motivation and engagement within a system.

The framework comprises 8 Core Drives represented by an octagon shape, including Epic Meaning & Calling, Development & Accomplishment, Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback, Ownership & Possession, Social Influence & Relatedness, Scarcity & Impatience, Unpredictability & Curiosity, and Loss & Avoidance. By understanding and implementing these Core Drives, designers can create engaging experiences that cater to intrinsic motivators and promote positive user experiences.

What is Gamification?
Gamification is a design that places the most emphasis on human motivation in the process. In essence, it is Human-Focused Design (as opposed to "function-focused design").
Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and engaging elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities. Click To Tweet

Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and engaging elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities. This process is what I call "Human-Focused Design," as opposed to "Function-Focused Design." It's a design process that optimizes human motivation in a system, as opposed to pure efficiency.

The Challenges with Function-Focused Design

Most systems are "function-focused," designed to get the job done quickly. This is like a factory that assumes its workers will do their jobs because they are required to. However, Human-Focused Design remembers that people in a system have feelings, insecurities, and reasons why they want or do not want to do certain things, and therefore optimizes their feelings, motivations, and engagement.

Why Gamification drive human behavior?

The reason we call it Gamification is that the gaming industry was the first to master Human-Focused Design.

Games have no other purpose than to please the individual playing them. Yes, there are often "objectives" in games, such as killing a dragon or saving the princess, and sometimes saving a dragon, but those are all excuses to simply keep the player happily entertained.

Since games have spent decades (or even centuries depending on how you qualify a game) learning how to master motivation and engagement, we are now learning from games, and that is why we call it Gamification.

So in the past decade, I have been digging deep into forming a complete Gamification framework to analyze and build strategies around the various systems that make a game fun.

I saw that almost every game is fun because it appeals to certain Core Drives within us that motivate us towards certain activities. I also noticed that different types of game techniques push us forward differently: some in an inspiring and empowering way, while some in a manipulative and obsessive manner. I drilled down to find what differentiates one type of motivation from another.

The result is the Gamification Framework called Octalysis, designed as an octagon shape with 8 Core Drives representing each side.

With many years of trials and adjustments, I believe that besides a ninth hidden Core Drive called "Sensation," everything you do is based on one or more of the 8 Core Drives.

The 8 Core Drives of Gamification

Epic Meaning & Calling is the Core Drive where a player believes that he is doing something greater than himself or he was "chosen" to do something. A symptom of this is a player that devotes a lot of his time to maintaining a forum or helping to create things for the entire community (think Wikipedia or Open Source projects). This also comes into play when someone has "Beginner's Luck" - an effect where people believe they have some type of gift that others don't or believe they were "lucky" to get that amazing sword at the very beginning of the game.

Development & Accomplishment is the internal drive of making progress, developing skills, and eventually overcoming challenges. The word "challenge" here is very important, as a badge or trophy without a challenge is not meaningful at all. This is also the Core Drive that is the easiest to design for and coincidently is where most of the PBLs: points, badges, and leaderboards mostly focus on.

Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback is when users are engaged in a creative process where they have to repeatedly figure things out and try different combinations. People not only need ways to express their creativity, but they need to be able to see the results of their creativity, receive feedback, and respond in turn. This is why playing with Legos and painting are fun in-and-of themselves and often become Evergreen Mechanics, where a game designer no longer needs to continuously add more content to keep the activity fresh and engaging.

This is the drive where users are motivated because they feel like they own something. When a player feels ownership, she innately wants to make what she owns better and own even more. Besides being the major Core Drive for wanting to accumulate wealth, this deals with many virtual goods or virtual currencies within systems. Also, if a person spends a lot of time customizing her profile or her avatar, she automatically feels more ownership towards it too. Finally, this is also the Core Drive that makes collecting stamps or puzzle pieces fun.

This drive incorporates all the social elements that drive people, including mentorship, acceptance, social responses, companionship, as well as competition and envy. When you see a friend that is amazing at some skill or owns something extraordinary, you become driven to reach the same level. Also, it includes the drive we have to draw closer to people, places, or events that we can relate to. If you see a product that reminds you of your childhood, the sense of nostalgia would likely increase the odds of you buying the product. This Core Drive is relatively well-studied too, as many companies these days are putting a lot of priority on optimizing their online social strategies.

This is the drive of wanting something because you can't have it. Many games have Appointment Dynamics (come back 2 hours later to get your reward) - the fact that people can't get something right now motivates them to think about it all day long. This is the Core Drive utilized by Facebook when it first started: at first it was just for Harvard. Then it opened up to a few other prestigious schools, and eventually all colleges. When it finally opened up to everyone, many people wanted to join because they previously couldn't get into it.

Generally, this is a harmless drive of wanting to find out what will happen next. If you don't know what's going to happen, your brain is engaged and you think about it often. Many people watch movies or read novels because of this drive. However, this drive is also the primary factor behind gambling addiction. Also, this Core Drive is utilized whenever a company runs a sweepstake or lottery program to engage users. The very controversial Skinner Box experiments, where an animal irrationally presses a lever frequently because of unpredictable results, are exclusively referring to the Core Drive of Unpredictability & Curiosity, although many have misunderstood it as the driver behind points, badges, and leaderboard mechanics in general.

This Core Drive is based upon the avoidance of something negative happening. On a small scale, it could be to avoid losing previous work. On a larger scale, it could be to avoid admitting that everything you did up to this point was useless because you are now quitting. Also, opportunities that are fading away have a strong utilization of this Core Drive, because people feel like if they didn't act immediately, they would lose the opportunity to act forever.

Within Octalysis, the Core Drives on the right are Right Brain Core Drives, being more related to creativity, self-expression, and social aspects.
Note: the Left Brain/Right Brain Core Drives are not considered true brain science; they are merely symbolic as it makes the framework easier and more effective when designing. It's useful dividing things up between the logical and the emotional, and I just named them Left Brain/Right Brain Core Drives so people can remember them easily.
The Core Drives on the left are Left Brain Core Drives, being more associated with logic, calculations, and ownership.

Interestingly, Left Brain Core Drives are Extrinsic Motivators - you are motivated because you want to obtain something, whether it be a goal, a good, or anything you cannot obtain; on the other hand, Right Brain Core Drives are Intrinsic Motivators: you don't need a goal or reward to use your creativity, hang out with friends, or feel the suspense of unpredictability - the activity itself is rewarding on its own.

This is important because many companies aim to design for motivation based on Extrinsic Motivators, such as rewarding users at the end. However, many studies have shown that once you stop offering the extrinsic motivator, user motivation will often decrease too much lower to before the extrinsic motivator was first introduced.

Companies should design experiences that motivate the Right Brain Core Drives, making something in itself fun and rewarding, so users continuously engage in the activity.

Another element to note within Octalysis is that the top Core Drives in the octagon are considered very positive motivators, while the bottom Core Drives are considered negative motivators.

Techniques that utilize the top Core Drives are called "White Hat Gamification", while techniques that utilize the bottom Core Drives are called "Black Hat Gamification".

If something is engaging because it lets you express your creativity, makes you feel successful through skill mastery, and gives you a higher sense of meaning, it makes users feel very good and powerful.

On the other hand, if you are always doing something because you don't know what will happen next, you are constantly in fear of losing something, or because there are things you can't have, even though you would still be extremely motivated to take the actions, it can often leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The problem with Zynga games, according to the Octalysis framework, is that they have figured out how to do many Black Hat Game Techniques, which drive up revenue numbers from users, but it doesn't make users feel good. So when a user is finally able to leave the system, they will want to, because they don't feel like they are in control over themselves, just like gambling addiction.

Keep in mind that just because something is Black Hat doesn't mean it is necessarily bad - these are just motivators - and they can be used for productive and healthy results or malice and manipulative ones. Many people voluntarily submit themselves to Black Hat Gamification in order to go to the gym more often, eat healthily, or avoid hitting the snooze button every morning.

A good Gamification expert will consider all 8 Core Drives as a positive and productive activity so that everyone ends up happier and healthier.

How to apply Octalysis to actual systems

Now that we have the Gamification Framework laid out, the next step is to figure out how to utilize this framework.

Generally, any good and engaging product or system will have at least one of the Core Drives listed above.

The way to use Octalysis is to identify all the game mechanics that are used to appeal to each Core Drive and list it next to the Core Drive of the Octagon.

Afterwards, based on how strong these game mechanics are, each side of the Octagon will expand or retract.

If a side crosses the inside Octagon, then that side is extremely weak and the Gamification expert needs to improve on that area.

Of course, this is all very abstract, so let's look at a few examples.

A few Gamification examples with Octalysis

Here's an Octalysis did for a few products online:

And this is just Level 1 Octalysis

20 years of Gamification study and implementation resulted in a very robust framework that can become actionable towards driving higher user metrics. As people get more and more advanced in Octalysis, they can learn higher levels (up to 5 Levels...there are only a handful of people in the world who know what level 4 and above), which incorporates much more advanced design principles and in-depth analysis.

Level 2 Octalysis

1. Discovery (why would people even want to start the journey)

2. Onboarding (how do you teach users the rules and tools to play the game)

3. Scaffolding (the regular journey of repeated actions towards a goal)

4. Endgame (how do you retain your veterans).

Factoring in the 4 Phases of a Player's Journey Getting a feel about what players feel across the journey.
Once level 1 is mastered, one can then apply it to Level 2 Octalysis, where we try to optimize experience throughout all four phases of a player's journey:

Level 3 Octalysis
Pushing up a level further - Factoring Bartle's Player Type This way the Gamification Designer can feel that there's something for everyone at every stage.
Once you mastered Level 2 Octalysis, you can then push it one level higher to Level 3 and factor in different player types, so you can begin to see how different types of people are motivated at different stages of the experience.

The Octalysis Tool

Many fans of Octalysis over the years have helped contribute to making the framework more available to the public. They made an Octalysis Tool, which is not 100% perfect from an UX standpoint, but it has been a very useful tool for my clients and many people practicing Octalysis. Click here to check out the Octalysis Tool.

The Long Journey to GOOD Gamification

As you can see, creating a rich gamified experience is much more than simply slapping on various game mechanics to existing products. It's a craft that requires a lot of analysis, thinking, testing, and adjusting.

While there are 5 Levels in total, Level 1 is usually sufficient for the majority of companies trying to create a better-designed gamified product and experience. Higher Level Octalysis processes are there for organizations that are truly committed to making sure that they push their metrics in the right direction while improving the longevity of a gamified system. Many games are only popular for 3-8 months, but ones that have good Endgame design can last decades or even centuries.
Check out the video walk-through of the 8 Core Drives Check out the video walk-through of Octalysis
If the world adopts good gamification principles and focuses on what truly drives fun and motivation, then it is possible to see a day where there is no longer a divide between things people must do and the things they want to do. All people have to do is play all day. This way, the quality of life for everyone will be significantly higher, companies will perform better because people actually want to do the work, and society overall will become more productive. This is the world that I have dedicated my life to enabling.

Watch all of the videos in the Gamification Video Guide here.

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The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design

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Gamification Design, With 8 Principal: Epic Meaning ,Accomplishment, Empowerment of Creativity, Ownership, Social Influence, Scarcity, Unpredictability & Loss.

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Aims of the tool

To boost, encourage and sustain creative (divergent) thinking.

Description of the tool

Playbook consists of 6 main chapters:

- Creative Thinking and Warm-up Exercises
- Creative Writing exercises
- Creative Drawing exercises
- Creative Movement exercises
- Problem-Solving exercises
- Multidisciplinary Exercises

Moreover, there is a chapter with a theoretical background and information of how the manual can be used in different contexts.

Within the chapters you can find QR codes with various extra materials or instructional videos as well as the templates for the exercises.

Playbook is available in 4 languages: English, Polish, Czech and Latvian. All the versions are shared in a form of printable PDF file, which you can print or follow the instructions on the screen:

ENG: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OfS05YnKdAeMPHJEkeVc9L3ewErpvE8d/view
PL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u5j1EEE1pFldU2xv8W7xGARDE5VS5IDk/view
LV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JuJuRQO7WMmpck9-oqZ6FhrvKf3bSnC8/view
CZ: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdIZklzaUsZXvzONL3F8pWkaeZ5yrMFJ/view

Creativity is your new activity!

Disclaimer

SALTO cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate use of these training tools. Always adapt training tools to your aims, context, target group and to your own skills! These tools have been used in a variety of formats and situations. Please notify SALTO should you know about the origin of or copyright on this tool.

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Created to help you find and share useful training Tools, the Toolbox for training is an online catalogue you can browse through freely or even contribute to!

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Hey there,

collaboration always comes with the possibility of a magical experience. Increase this chance simply by beginning and ending team sessions with checking-in and checking-out. By answering a question together, you start more aligned and close more enlightened.

Because it isn't always easy to come up with a good question, we're happy to share our collection with you. If your favorite is missing or if you're curious about our other tools for better collaboration, please get in touch: tscheck@denkwerk.com.

Have a great day and never stop questioning!

PS. Collaborating remotely? Check out tscheck for Slack!

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tscheck is a simple tool for teams from the collaborators at denkwerk. Give it a try and begin your sessions more aligned and end them more enlightened.

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"THE Gamification Bible" (for me)

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Act Fast and Get Over £50 Worth of Gamification Content and Tools for ONLY £9.99! Become a Gamification Pro with the Ninja Monkeys Unicorn Edition eBook and Other Premium Content Included in This Bundle. Don't Miss Out on This Incredible Offer - Start Building Your Gamified Solutions Toda

That may well be the oddest title I've ever written.

Look, I'll keep this short. If you want to write content, be it personal or professional, that resonates with people - don't talk about yourself all the time!

If you read your content out loud and it sounds like this

Or

Then you are not speaking to or about your target audience - you are just talking about you and they will get bored very very very fast.

I want to keep this Ludic Spirit idea going as it is now shaping how I view pretty much everything in a way that gamification never really did. It is a much simpler way to improve the world around me that does not rely on the sorts of reward frameworks that gamification often needs you to design.

Made you look, made you stare, made you mess your underwear!

We have all seen the headlines like "Expert says if you don't know AI, you won't be in business next week". But the truth is, that's bollocks.

Now, you may not be in as great a shape as those in a similar line of work that do understand AI, but you won't be out of business if you remember this one simple rule. People make a business.

Ludic Spirit is a fancy term for being playful in our approach to life and the world around us. It's something I want to explore more over the coming months as an alternative world view to gamification.

When we embrace the Ludic Spirit, we are embracing playfulness and a carefree attitude.

Play is a fundamental human need that brings joy, creativity, and learning to our lives. Play can also help us cope with stress, improve our mental health, and enhance our social skills. But what happens when we don't play enough? What is the opposite of play, and how does it affect us?

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Gamification Blog and Thought Leadership

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Understanding the different motivations of players towards a game

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The Gamer Motivation Model in Handy Reference Chart and Slides - Quantic Foundry

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The Gamer Motivations Model Reference Chart and Slides

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Youngsters can learn about the decision making process of the European Parliament - available in 24 languages.

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Translations in progress - The content will soon be available in all EU languages.

Together with their fellow Members of the European Parliament, players will debate, negotiate, compromise and vote on a law proposal to improve the lives of citizens across the European Union.

In around 60 minutes, players will be able to learn about European democracy in an immersive and interactive way, all while collaborating closely and also improving public speaking and diplomatic skills.
Play the game
A facilitator 's guide is also available, including complementary educational material and preparatory activities to enrich the experience.
Download the guide
Both the game and the guide are FREE and available in 24 languages!

Who is for?

Players of age 14+, of any background or experience.

How do you play?

The game works best for groups of 14 to 28 players (max 40), and requires 1 facilitator.

Both the players and the facilitator will need their own internet connected devices, and one screen to display content to the whole group.

Together with their fellow Members of the European Parliament, players will debate, negotiate, compromise and vote on a law proposal to improve the lives of citizens across the European Union.

In around 60 minutes, players will be able to learn about European democracy in an immersive and interactive way, all while collaborating closely and also improving public speaking and diplomatic skills.
Play the game
A facilitator 's guide is also available, including complementary educational material and preparatory activities to enrich the experience.
Download the guide
Both the game and the guide are FREE and available in 24 languages!

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The Virtual role play game of the European Parliament

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Students can take a seat in the European Parliament and experience the decision-making process directly from their classroom or community through this online game!

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A game about dis- and malinformation, fake news and trolling on-line. It should work like a vaccine, because you play a... bad guy.

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Play the fake news game! How bad are you? Become a fake news tycoon and get as many followers as you can.

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A place for setting up virtual games

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Create tomorrow together, today

Miro empowers 60M users to shape the future by providing a place where they can create together seamlessly, regardless of location.

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Miro | The Visual Workspace for Innovation

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Miro is a visual workspace for innovation where teams manage projects, design products, and build the future together. Join 60M+ users from around the world.

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Interland | A game about cybersecurity for kids, by Google

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Interland | A game about cybersecurity for kids, by Google

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Interland is an adventure-packed online game that puts the key lessons of digital citizenship and safety into hands-on practice. Play your way to being Internet Awesome.

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Handbooks for facilitators & non-formal learning settings.

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A lot of handbooks, toolboxes or other publications are published all over the world. Although publishing takes time, costs nerves and also money, the authors haven't done this for financial reasons. However different they all might be, most of them unite the mission to improve formal and non-formal learning or to empower people for democratic citizenship and civic engagement. Competendo aims to present good practices from the community. If you like it, contact the authors and let them know! The library will be updated regularly.

Competendo Handbooks for Facilitators

Our handbooks can be accessed as PDFs.

Feedback & Proposals

Please send us your feedback and proposals:

Nils-Eyk Zimmermann
nz ​competendo.net

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A lot of handbooks, toolboxes or other publications are published all over the world. Although publishing takes time, costs nerves and also money, the authors haven't done this for financial reasons. However different they all might be, most of them unite the mission to improve formal and non-formal learning or to empower people for democratic citizenship and civic engagement.

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Role-playing Games - Scenarios - Board games - LARP - Alexandria

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Alexandria is continuously updated - only major additions are mentioned here:

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HALLS OF THE MAD MAGEWinner - Best GeometryOne-Page Dungeon 2009THE HALLS OF THE MAD MAGEPDF VERSIONTRAIL OF CTHULHU: LEFT HAND OF MYTHOSLEFT HAND OF MYTHOSPATRON

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A hub for edugames & edugame trainings

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Changing the way we teach. One game at a time Join the community hello@playversity.com

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Simple Edu Games for Schools & mixed-Ability groups

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Aims of the tool

Integration, inclusion, inclusive education and acceptance. These are frequently used buzzwords nowadays, by some people intuitively, and by others quite consciously. Most of us definitely want to live in a fair, equal society, but even more than equality, we need equity.

A constant desire to move forward led us to create a project titled "IncED: Inclusive Education" under the Erasmus+ programme. "IncEd: inclusive Education"
aims to develop a practical manual for educators, as well as a concrete toolbox to get "hands on practice"

The main aim of this Toolbox is to encourage participation of young people with fewer opportunities and special needs in active social life and for the organizers of all kinds of social events not to be afraid of working with mixed ability groups.

In order to achieve this, in this Toolbox you will find 16 gamified exercises which deal with 5 different topics:
- Learning
- Conflict resolution
- Team building & group dynamics
- Social inclusion
- Mental health

Description of the tool

This toolbox was created as a Project Result of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project "IncEd: Inclusive Education". The project is implemented by Vivere Kool (Estonia) in partnership with Cesis Berzaine Primary School (Latvia), Produções Fixe (Portugal), Shokkin Group (Estonia) and Ticket2Europe (Spain), with the support of the Estonian National Agency.

Content designed, assembled and tested by: Ana Rita Camará, Arta Indriksone, Irina Landa, Jo Claeys, Julia Stolberova, Pavel Vassiljev and Sarmite Gaike

Edited and designed by: Olalla González

You can find "IncEd: Toolbox" in English, Estonian, Latvian, Portuguese, Russian and Castellano languages here: https://inced.viverekool.ee/toolkit/

Disclaimer

SALTO cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate use of these training tools. Always adapt training tools to your aims, context, target group and to your own skills! These tools have been used in a variety of formats and situations. Please notify SALTO should you know about the origin of or copyright on this tool.

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Created to help you find and share useful training Tools, the Toolbox for training is an online catalogue you can browse through freely or even contribute to!

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Transformative Play Initiative YouTube Channel

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Transformative Play Initiative YouTube Channel

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Seminars/lectures on transformative games

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transformation transformative "role-playing games" larp tabletop change "graduate program" "uppsala university" "department of game design"

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The Transformative Play Initiative at Uppsala University's Department of Game Design researches the ways in which games can become vehicles of change and ignite processes of transformation. To learn more, visit about the Transformative Play Initiative: https://www.speldesign.uu.se/research/games-and-society-lab/transformative-play/Transformative-Play-Initiative/ For more general information about our Games & Society Lab, visit: https://www.speldesign.uu.se/research/games-and-society-lab/

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Learn 2 Play - Introduction to Edu Games

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Learn 2 Play - Introduction to Edu Games

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Basic Game Design e-Course

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Learn-2-Play

Welcome to Learn-2-Play an online course that introduces educational game design basics to youth workers, youth leaders and educators. This is a free asynchronous course, which means that you can take it at your own pace.

Start the course now

This e-course has been developed under an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project named Learn-2-Play & is absolutely free.

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Learn-2-Play Educational Game Design E-Course

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Learn-2-Play is an online course that introduces educational game design basics to youth workers, youth leaders and educators. This is a free asynchronous course, which means that you can take it at your own pace and handle assignments in the most convenient time for you.