The Best Free Educational Games
The Internet has led to huge growth in games of all kinds, many of which are free and can be played online. Many of these games are intended to provide far more than just hours of fun. They are educational in the best sense of the word, guiding children to learn by doing, and making that learning fun so that children want to spend their free time engaged with the games.
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Math Games at My Addicting Games
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Go to the My Addicting Games website homepage. In the sidebar to the left, click on the caption "Educational." This will take you to the main education menu for Addicting Games. Here you can find many fast-paced action games where success depends on intellect as well as reflexes. One example is Extreme Maths, in which you ski down slopes, but only if you can answer the math facts questions presented to you. The facts cover arithmetic and pre-algebra skills, including concepts such as grouping and negative numbers. When you're done playing Extreme Maths, go back to the menu and see what other educational games you'd like. To practice fractions skill, for example, try Brain Racer Fractions.
Geography Games at Maps That Teach
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Practice geography skills at Maps That Teach, part of the Owl and Mouse Educational Materials website. From here, you can choose map puzzles or online interactive maps. The Map Puzzles page covers the whole world by continent or region. For each area, you will see an onscreen jigsaw puzzle; the challenge is to drag the nations into their correct places on the map. You can choose if you'd like the map to show borders or not. Starting with borders is a good way to learn; once you think you know the correct location of each nation, you can try using a blank map to challenge yourself. For a bigger challenge, choose to place national capitals on the map. This requires you to know both the location of each nation and the name of its capital city. The Online Interactive Map page lets you practice with each map before playing any games, just in case you need some brushing up. On this page, you choose a continent. Once the map loads, you hover your mouse cursor over various countries; the program will respond by telling you the name and capital of that country.
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Phonics Games at Starfall
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Practice reading skills at Starfall, a phonics website. From the site's main menu, choose from ABCs, Learn to Read or It's Fun to Read, depending on your reading level. The ABCs link takes you to animated songs and games that teach the sound of each letter, with emphasis on vowel sounds. Learn to Read gives you short stories to read and interact with, each one focused on a specific kind of word pattern such as "an," R-controlled vowels or the silent E. It's Fun to Read focuses on activities and games that require reading to complete assigned tasks. The Magic link, for example, asks you to build a magician and do magic tricks.
Vocabulary Games at The Kidz Page
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Look for the section "Educational Word Games" in the main menu at The Kidz Page. Word searches and puzzles are listed; click on the right arrow to scroll across and see more choices. Each word search expands vocabulary by providing words related to a single concept, such a humor. The word search for that topic includes words such as cackle, giggle, chuckle and guffaw. Print out word searches and puzzles at this site. If you tire of word games, go back to the main menu. There are also math and phonics games from which to choose.
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References
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