• 73% of Brits say they have used games to help home-school their kids during lockdown.
• 67% of those who have used games say it has had a positive effect on their children’s education.
• 64% of parents think that using games that families can play together (e.g. scrabble and blackjack as mentioned) are most effective.

With recent plans from the Government to reintroduce Reception and Year 6 back into schools, many children will have to remain at home to learn. This got OnBuy.com thinking about the best ways to help teach kids in a fun way.

As a result, OnBuy.com launched a study to discover the best games your children can play to learn while at home. OnBuy spoke to Leon Hady, an expert headteacher, who commented:

 “I would highly recommend the use of games to engage students and encourage them to ‘see’ subjects and subject materials in a different way. Games specifically made to educate, and non-directly educationally focused games, provide a worthy bridge to traditional education.”

With that information, suggesting games are a great way to educate your kids from home, Onebuy.com can provide examples of free games and ideas to give your kids a full curriculum experience, supported by a survey completed by 1,143 parents.

Maths: With maths, why not try Maths-Games.org, which looks to provide a wide variety of games. When it comes to the classics, a quick game of blackjack will help the counting… Up to 21 at least!

Science: At times, a tricky subject area but Wow Science seems to have a great selection of free science related resources that your kids will be sure to love!

Geography: For budding Geographer the game Animal Jam looks as if it could be a lot of fun, and the online game is child friendly and has tons of info about Zoology! 

History: When it comes to knowing the difference between Churchill and Caesar we think that BBC Bitesize’s section for History may be the best option, as it provides a wealth of information with activities to try at the end!

Music: For music, OnBuy.com found that Classics for Kids is a great resource with useful insight into musical notes and terms. If you’re looking for something more fun then you can’t go wrong with some karaoke fun.

Art: Art has always been a subject for freedom, and as a result OnBuy.com’s suggestion is something relaxed and fun like playing ‘Simon draws.’. Alternatively, get your kids to draw their favourite TV characters as a fun break from the more focused learning.

English: A suggestion for teaching children English is to introduce scrabble! A great game for spelling, but with a competitive edge. An online option if the kids aren’t keen on board games is an app called Endless Alphabet, which will help kids with their vocab!

Parents Survey:

To support this curriculum, OnBuy.com surveyed parents to get their opinions on using games in home-schooling:

• 73% of the parents we asked said they had used games to try and help home-school their kids.
• Of those that did incorporate games into learning, 67% of those said it had a positive effect on their child’s learning.
• 44% of parents said the main benefit was that their child/children were more invested in learning than previously.
• 64% of parents think that using games that families can play together (e.g. scrabble and blackjack as mentioned) are most effective.
• 6% said they didn’t want their children to play games for education and wanted them to stick to traditional forms of education.

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash