As you may know, aside from being a hockey (and general sports) nut, I’m also a colossal nerd. I’m also a Daddy, and my son has naturally taken to some of my favorite hobbies, like computer games. This article from InventorSpot gives a few examples of games that can help educate without losing the fun factor. Mentioned are school classics (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, The Oregon Trail) and some extremely popular games in the real world (Sim City (2k is still my favorite), Age of Empires II). I’d add Number Munchers in as well. What other games might you use to sneak in some educational value?
Educational Games That Don't Suck
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Thanks for posting this. I’m a firm believer in educational games. All hope is not lost.
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unfortunately i think the list of Educational Games That Don’t Suck is a lot smaller than the list of Educational Games That DO Suck.
I was a fan of Number Munchers and Oregon Trail in my younger years…so those are definite favorites of mine. Later in college I picked up a copy of Typing of the Dead and finally learned how to touch type like a normal person. It was the one game that successfully got me to type faster. So that definitely is one of my personal favorites.
In General though most are not so good. Started a company to look into making fun educational games (for iphone/ipod touch)…wrote a blog post in general about problems with educational gaming.
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I’m pretty solidly impressed with my son’s Leapster and the games they have for that. Educational, but fun enough that he doesn’t seem to notice. ;) I think, also, there’s a lot of value in games that aren’t specifically ‘edutainment’ but can teach nonetheless, like Civilization, SimCity, and so on.
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