Here are some suggestions on how to create fun and engaging learning opportunities using games.

1. 3 Fun Games to use In the classroom

2. 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:

3. Shidonni 2. Moshi Monsters 3. Trackmania Nations Forever

4. Shidonni http://www2.shidonni.com/

5. 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.

6. 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.

8. Where they live

9. themselves, family members,

10. friends and pets.

11. 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.

13. a famous landmark

14. Housing, plant life and animal life

15. people in appropriate dress

17. 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.

18. Students can send their sea creature to each other in the class to create a collection of creatures.

19. Transform their virtual world into a 3D version by making a model using modelling clay, shells and cellophane.

20. Design their own sea creature by combining parts of several creatures.

22. 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.

23. Create a book in the game

24. 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?

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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/

32. Using appropriate language in messages

33. Knowledge of currency - called ‘Rox’ , how to earn it and spend it.

34. 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.

35. 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.

38. Make a 3-D representation of your pet monster using papier-mâché or clay

39. Make monster masks

40. Design your own monster world

41. Use a monster in a game or animation using scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/

42. Create a stop motion animation using a cut out of a monster and move the body parts

43. Design a poster advertising a Monster Ball

44. Design a building or shop for a Monster world

45. Design a poster for a Monster Restaurant

47. 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.

49. Write a blog from the monster’s point of view, use screen shots of the game to help

50. Write a story about their monster make decisions about its personality

51. Write descriptions about their monster

52. Ask students to write a set of directions and test if students can follow them

53. Write a Menu for a Monster Restaurant

54. Students can design their own word games similar to the puzzles in the game

56. Students can design their own town, What will their town need?

57. Draw a map of their town

58. Look at maps from real towns and compare

60. 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:

62. Document medals achieved from races

63. Calculate the speed of cars using the time and distance

64. Write a blog as though they are a famous race car driver

65. Design their car and do a screenshot – make a 3D model of their car or draw it.

66. Design and build a track

67. Ask students to race each others

71. Add voices by acting as commentators a discuss the race

72. Add voices by acting as the driver of the car and discuss what is happening

73. 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