Games in the Classroom

Schools today look very different than they used to. Gone are the days of boring “sit and get” classrooms where kids just listened to lectures and scribbled notes. Today’s educators are constantly innovating, looking for new and engaging ideas, and adding more and more technology to the classroom.

One of the best ways to foster an interactive and fun learning environment in your classroom is to incorporate games into your curriculum. Here at Planerium, we believe that every student benefits from high quality, academically focused games. That’s why we have lots of educational games to offer our customers!

Top Benefits to Playing Games in the Classroom

• Students are highly motivated by playing games – a healthy dose of competitiveness is a good thing!
• Classroom behavior improves. Students look forward to playing games at the end of their lesson.
• Games are excellent rewards for their effort and attention!
• Gameplay activates different learning styles: visual, tactile, and auditory learners all benefit from playing games.
• Gameplay in the classroom promotes cooperation among students and helps teach social skills.
• Students feel ownership and personal responsibility for their own learning while playing games.
• Games give kids immediate reinforcement – they can easily correct errors or gaps in understanding as they carry on their play.
• Many games (especially ours at Planerium) are easy to transport, set up, and use.
• Students feel successful and get a confidence boost from playing with their peers.
• Games are a fun way to review and reinforce concepts that have already been taught.
• They are especially great for practicing new vocabulary in a foreign language or a language arts class.
• Many games can be played with little to no supervision from the teacher. They are great to use at work stations as students complete independent or small group activities.

Games are a highly effective way to differentiate and break up the routine of a long school day.

How Planerium helps you add Engaging, interactive games to your classroom

We are big believers that the best learning happens when students are engaged in new, interactive, and varied experiences. This is why I combined my classroom and museum design experience to create attractive, interactive, and unique games that can be used by teachers all around the world. Here are some of our favorites:

• Memory Games, plus a blog post explaining why every teacher should use them!
• Puzzle Games
• Crosswords

How do you use games in the classroom?

Leave us a comment with your favorite tips and tricks to using games in the classroom. How often do you play games with students? And be sure to stop by our shop for even more interactive classroom resources!