3 Fun Games to use in the Classroom

3
Fun Games
to use
In the
classroom

Computer Games have the potential to transform a learning environment into a fun, engaging and interactive one.
By playing games students can develop skills in decision making, problem solving, literacy, numeracy, hand eye co-ordination, identifying, categorising, improving memory, creativity and many more.
Games can also be used as a stimulus to engage students in other activities.
Here are a few examples:

Shidonni
2. Moshi Monsters
3. Trackmania Nations
Forever

Shidonni
http://www2.shidonni.com/

Shidonni is an online game which is fun, engaging and allows students to be creative. The site provides digital drawing tools where you can create your own characters which then come to life. You can even create the world in which they live and the food they eat. The number of drawing tools are increased as the student participates in games and completes challenges.
It also allows students to send pictures and messages to friends they have added, send a character around the world and create an online book using their own characters.

Create Worlds
Shidonni is represented as a galaxy and provides you with up to
three worlds to draw your own environment and characters. There is an upgraded version Shidonni Pro which provides more options.
Here are some examples of
worlds students could
create and units they could
be integrated in.

My World Task
Task: Create a virtual world which represents your own.
Students can draw:

their favourite place,
Where they live
themselves, family members,
friends and pets.
fill the fridge up with their favourite food. The teacher could create a world for students from the class. Students can send a picture of themselves to the teacher. This would create a world with all the students represented.
Students could also share pictures of themselves with each other in the class. This is a great task for the beginning of the school year.

Cultural Traditions
Task: Design a world based on a country.
The class might all be working on the same country or culture or each student could choose their own.
They may even wish to research their own cultural heritage.
This task would be a great accompaniment to a research task.
Items to include:

a flagpole and draw the flag of the country
a famous landmark
Housing, plant life and animal life
people in appropriate dress
food native to the county to put in the fridge

Underwater World
Task: Create an Underwater World.
Some suggestions:

Provide a list of specific creatures for students to create
Each student is responsible for one creature which they have to research and compile information about its living environment, its life cycle and food it eats. Students then draw and create a world for their creature.
Students can send their sea creature to each other in the class to create a collection of creatures.
Transform their virtual world into a 3D version by making a model using modelling clay, shells and cellophane.
Design their own sea creature by combining parts of several creatures.
Look at the use of camouflage and have students draw animals which are hard to see within their environment.

Going Back in Time
Task: Create a world based on a period of time in history.
Again this could coincide with a research assignment or unit of work. You may focus on one period of time or students could choose their own. The world can include buildings relevant to the era and people wearing the relevant clothes. Here are some suggestions: Ancient Rome Ancient Greece Ancient Egypt Stone Age Medieval Dinosaurs Shakespearean time

A Novel Idea
Task: Create a world based on a novel you have read.
This task may be used with a novel the entire class is working on or
students could choose their own.
Students can draw the characters of the book and the world in which they live.
This task can then be continued with the virtual book available in the game. Students could write an alternative ending to the novel or write a book review.
By allowing students to transform their reading into a visual form, students will gain a better understanding of the book and allow the teacher to check for understanding, plus it is a lot of fun.

Create a book in the game

Contemplate the Future
Task: Create a world which could exist in the future.
You could pose the following questions: What will we live in? What will we be wearing? Will there be animals? What food will we be eating? What has happened to the environment?

Solar System
Task: Create a world based on Outer Space.
Some Suggestions:

What does life look like on a different planet?
Draw planets from our solar system or students

could work in groups focussing on one planet

What else can be found in outer space
Students can write their facts in the book

Living Environments
Task: Design a world based on a living environment, such as dessert, rainforest, bushland, beach or swamp. Explore the landform,
plant life,
animal life within these environments.

Fantasy World
Task: Create a Fantasy World with creatures and places which do not exist.
This world is only limited by the students’ imagination. Creatures may include robots, monsters, alien life forms or dragons.
This could then lead into a storytelling unit using the digital book within the game.

PASSPORT:
Ask students to send one of their characters away using the passport feature. The passport will indicate countries the character has visited. This could lead into a research assignment.

Moshi Monsters
Moshi Monsters is a Web 2.0 site where students register and
adopt a monster. The site is monitored and is promoted as fun,
safe and educational. It is a social networking site which also
incorporates elements of a Virtual World.
There are several components to this site which make it a
viable educational activity. Participants must follow safety
guidelines and learn how to interact in a virtual world
safely.
The graphics are excellent with interesting
monsters.
http://www.moshimonsters.com/

The game provides many different activities for students to explore and learn from such as:

Internet safety: learning how to use a social networking site safely
Using appropriate language in messages
Knowledge of currency - called ‘Rox’ , how to earn it and spend it.
Reward and motivation - As students increase their participation they can work through levels and are awarded a virtual trophy for each level and are given a set of shelves to display them on.
Numeracy, literacy and general knowledge: participants can earn currency for their monster if they complete puzzles. These puzzles vary from maths sums, word meanings, spelling, word search, identify flags etc.
Ownership – students own their monster and look after it by designing its room and feeding it.

Tasks
related to
Moshi
Monsters

Art

Design your own monster
Make a 3-D representation of your pet monster using papier-mâché or clay
Make monster masks
Design your own monster world
Use a monster in a game or animation using scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/
Create a stop motion animation using a cut out of a monster and move the body parts
Design a poster advertising a Monster Ball
Design a building or shop for a Monster world
Design a poster for a Monster Restaurant
Design their own monster room

Numeracy

Create math questions using terminology and places from the game.

Eg. I had a guitar which I bought for 94 rox, I went to Dodgy Dealz on Sludge Street and decided to sell it for 40% of the price I paid for it. How much money did I get for the guitar?

Set up a monster shop where students use ‘rox’ to buy and sell items
Keep a tally of the results achieved in the daily puzzles and challenges, display the data in a spreadsheet and convert into different types of graphs or plot results on a graph.
Document the amount of currency earned and items which are bought or sold

Literacy

Design a Scavenger hunt for students to find items within the Moshi Monster World or students can design their own
Write a blog from the monster’s point of view, use screen shots of the game to help
Write a story about their monster make decisions about its personality
Write descriptions about their monster
Ask students to write a set of directions and test if students can follow them
Write a Menu for a Monster Restaurant
Students can design their own word games similar to the puzzles in the game
Write a news article for the ‘Daily Growl’.

Social Science

There is a puzzle in the game which requires students to identify country flags, this can be used to help students learn about other countries
Students can design their own town, What will their town need?
Draw a map of their town
Look at maps from real towns and compare
Design a flag for their town

http://www.trackmania.com/
Trackmania
Nations
Forever

Trackmania Nations Forever is a free download racing game. It offers many tracks and levels of difficulty. Students can play against each other and on the internet.
The game also offers an editor component where students can design and build their own track, paint their car and save a replay of their races and edit the video.
Here are some suggestions of ways to use it in the classrooms:

Record timesof races and plot on a graph
Document medals achieved from races
Calculate the speed of cars using the time and distance
Write a blog as though they are a famous race car driver
Design their car and do a screenshot – make a 3D model of their car or draw it.
Design and build a track
Ask students to race each others
tracks and give feedback

Videos
Creating videos using games is referred
to as Machinima.
This game offers great potential in this area.
Students can save their replay, edit the video and change camera angles within the game. The video can then be converted to an .avi file. This allows students to edit the file in any other video editor such as Windows Movie maker and add music, sound or voices.
Go to this link to see examples of Trackmania videos.
http://www.tm-tube.com/

Tasks using Videos

Make a Music Video
Do a race several times and add all races to the video editor

Go to this link for an example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UcQmJwTnBg

AnalyseTrackmania Videos found on the internet
Add voices by acting as commentators a discuss the race
Add voices by acting as the driver of the car and discuss what is happening
Use students use their blog and create a video documenting the achievements of them as a race car driver, present as a documentary.

Created by S. Hendy 2009