Six Great Online Games for Summer Learning

Whenever I am feeling reasonably confident that I am an expert on the educational resources on the Internet, boom! someone sends me a link to a completely new website or idea that I have never heard of... it's so humbling.  

Today, Karen Robinson forwarded this article from the Mind/Shift website,  highlighting six games from PBS Learning Media involving such cool topics roller coasters, sugar, and secret missions...perfect summertime fare.  In some cases, you might need to set up an account on PBS, but that is easily accomplished:

• Amusement Park Physics (grades 9-12... but I suspect younger kids will be able to enjoy!)

Thinkfinity has some Bright Ideas for Summer

One of the many wonderful techie resources we use at Holy Trinity is readwritethink, which is a part of the Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity website.  The link to the website can be found here:

While this is a great resource for teachers, this website has a number of Bright Ideas to fight the summer slide for parents and kids:

I was particularly intrigued by four of their suggested projects, because they use some of the interactive literacy resources we love at HTS.

Oh How I Love BrainPop

As a technology teacher, one of my all-time favorite sites is BrainPop.  BrainPop, BrainPop Jr and Brainpop Espanol offer hundreds of animated educational videos for children on a wide range of subjects.  Brainpop was the brainchild of an immunologist and pediatrician named Avraham Kadar, as a creative way to explain difficult concepts to young children.   Let me assure you, he has succeeded!

In the BrainPop movies, Tim and his robot side-kick Moby narrate the movies:

And in the BrainPop Jr. movies, a little girl named Annie narrates with Moby:

Many of the HTS teachers use these videos in the classroom, and our students LOVE them.

The link to BrainPop can be found here:

The link to BrainPop Jr. can be found here:

The link to BrainPop Espanol can be found here:

Our students never seem to get enough time to explore the subject areas that most fascinate them in the school setting, so this would be a great website to suggest on one of those summer days when the heat index is 110... like this week!

There are dozens of free videos each week, or you can sign up for a free trial, so your child can explore the website for a few days.  The home subscription for BrainPop Jr. is about $9 a month, and for BrainPop $10 a month.  I subscribed to BrainPop for a couple of years for my own children, as they were captivated by the site... let me assure you, it was money very well spent!

 I should mention that BrainPop also offers a variety of fascinating games and activities.

Send your kids to Virtual Summer Camp with Common Sense Media

Before we get to the part about the nifty Virtual Summer Camp...

I believe that every parent needs to know about the resources at Common Sense Media.  I wrote about this organization last summer, but in case you are new to the blog, Common Sense helps parents sift through the vast sea of websites, apps, computer games, television shows, movies and books to identify which are appropriate for children at every age group - and why.  I have found that it is a handy resource when one of my own children is begging to buy a game or watch a movie that is not even close to age-appropriate... I'll just pull up the review and tick off the reasons why they'll need to make another choice.  It also helps parents navigate the world of Social Media once their kids hit the 'tween and teen years.  Check out the website on http://www.commonsensemedia.org/   I suggest you subscribe to the weekly parent newsletter.

Common Sense Media has a new learning ratings initiative that will evaluate the learning potential of websites video games, and mobile apps. As part of this new initiative, the creative geniuses of this organization have created a Virtual Summer Camp Guide, as they thought: What better way to orient skills than around camp themes?  I couldn't agree more. This guide has 50+ recommendations with the highest Learning Ratings for kids age 2-17.  The themes include: outdoor exploration, arts and crafts, scavenger hunt, campfire friends, and more.  There are also great tips and activities that you can use to support your kids as they sharpen their skills.

Download the Summer Learning Guide here.

If you find any particularly amazing games, please let me know by commenting below: