Engaging Your Kids with Gamified Online Learning: Tips and Tools 

The first thing that ever crosses someone’s mind when listening to the word “gaming” is probably video games. The truth, however, can hold more meaning and thought to it. The Oxford Dictionary describes gamification as “the application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of activity.” Therefore, it means integrating interactive activities and educational games for children to make the classroom more fun and engaging. Engaging Your Kids with Gamified Online Learning Whether it’s learning geometry or computer programming, applying gaming techniques in online education can offer a lot of benefits both for the students and the teachers. 

Today, it has become a popular medium for modern parents and teachers to increase the attention span of children and find their full potential. There are many online tools and interactive learning platforms that offer creative and educational games for children beyond traditional classrooms. Explore this blog to gain some key tips and online tools for gamified learning. 

Top Tips for Gamified Educational Learning 

Shuffling through ideas on how to make online studies more fun for your students? Here are some of the key tips and ideas for educational games for children: 

Set Learning Objectives:

The very first thing is to determine a clear and well-defined objective for the learning, as this will build the foundation for incorporating gamification into the overall experience. It will help craft game mechanics, understand challenges, and create rewards accordingly. Your learning objectives should be communicated to the students precisely while aligning well with the educational goals. 

Give Rewards:

Who doesn’t love prizes, after all? This is especially true in the case of children. To make your online classes one of the most interactive learning platforms for kids, provide them with rewards that can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. These could be given in the form of points, certificates, virtual badges, etc, on completion of their assignments or other activities. It could build positive behaviors and motivate kids to perform better. 

Apply Storytelling:

Learning can be fun even without traditional educational games for children, i.e., board games or puzzles. It can be in the form of captivating narratives to grip their interest and make them more involved. Storytelling goes beyond reading words in books. Educators can practice a storytelling approach to teach a diverse range of topics, be it science or history lessons. Using stories can allow children to learn about different perspectives, opinions, and cultures. Let everyone communicate and tell them to present their own details. Further, it can also be in the form of a poem, play, or rap battle. 

Trivia Games: 

Many children find it overwhelming to open in classrooms in front of everyone when challenged to remember some lesson or task. Even paper quizzes do not work well sometimes. This is when trivia games come as one of the best educational games for children to test their understanding and the depth of what they have learned from the lesson. You can perform trivia games at the beginning of the class to understand areas that need help or at the end of the class to get more questions and build engagement. 

Create Virtual Escape Rooms: 

You have known having escape room games between friends at home or school, but how about doing it virtually? The virtual escape room can be created using tools like Google Slides and Google Forms to conduct educational games for children online. Just like the traditional escape rooms, the online alternative will allow students to communicate, think through problems, and solve them based on what they have learned during the class. This will help cultivate collaboration and teamwork between students. 

Tools to Create Educational Games for Children 

Even if you do not have a gamified experience, some tools can unleash your creativity to build educational games for children online. Some of these popularly known tools are: 

Kahoot:

It is a well-known gamified educational tool that allows teachers to create their own quizzes and polls. The students on their devices then answer these questions in real-time, and teachers are able to track their tasks and give award points. 

ClassDojo: 

This tool facilitates reward systems and communication in the classroom to build positive behavior in them. It is an effective tool where educators can reward points to the students for their positive behavior or competition of tasks. The points can be displayed on the screen during classes. 

Quizlet Live:

As the name suggests, Quizlet is an online learning platform that offers interesting game-based quizzes. Up to 6 teams can participate and compete with each other to give correct answers. Every right answer can level the team forward by earning points. 

Conclusion 

The application of educational games for children to increase their learning power does not have to be a burden or an intimidating task. Simply having a few strategies and creativity under your belt is the way to make online classes more engaging. For more interesting educational games for children, visit Turito and learn about its impactful classes that are strategized to offer interactive learning experiences to kids. From the fun quizzes to the healthy contests and reward programs, they are one of the most interactive learning platforms to boost children’s knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions