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‘Let kids learn while having fun’. It sounds like a pipe dream for every parent, doesn’t it? In fact, most online games nowadays are no longer only amusing — they are educational and engaging! However, many parents are concerned about the quality of different games and the potential addiction caused by playing games, ignoring the fact that some STEAM online games are actually beneficial to children’s growth.
Never mind the downsides of STEAM games anymore! Big Bang Academy introduces kids to the benefits of playing his STEAM online games and suggests the top 10 STEAM games kids can play to pass the time.
As the name suggests, online STEAM games are games that are related to STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Kids can learn concrete knowledge about these areas of learning while playing!
Science explains nearly everything in our daily lives. So kids can learn scientific knowledge in almost all STEAM games. For instance, by playing a game about operating an animal farm, kids will be able to learn about Biology and Ecology since they have to be familiar with the characteristics of different animals and biomes.
Technology is obviously going to be a vital part of our future. Through playing STEAM games, children can learn basic programming skills and arithmetic logic as well as recognize the importance and power of technology by immersing themselves in games .Some games require the little players to create commands for the games to execute.
Engineering is a crucial element that makes sure that our society functions properly. For example, the construction of buildings like schools and bridges involves countless efforts of engineers. As there are many STEAM games about city building and architecture available these days, kids can thus be equipped with key engineering knowledge by enjoying them.
The importance of artistic sense should not be neglected despite that more and more emphasis is being placed on Science and Technology nowadays. By playing STEAM games in which creation is needed, kids can nurture their creativity and artistic skills.
Mathematics is more than just a subject in schools; instead, it is everywhere in our daily lives. Letting kids learn mathematics doesn’t only improve their academic performances, but also helps boost their numeral analytical skills. For example, STEAM games that involve numbers allow kids to learn mathematical skills like counting and measuring.
Now you know STEAM online games teach kids knowledge about Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. However, there are more benefits than just knowledge in these fields of study!
STEAM games always require trial and error for players to solve their problems. Players may have to discover the problem themselves. Experiencing this process again and again, kids will be able to think like a scientist. What does it mean? The children will approach difficulty by starting to ask a question, formulating hypotheses, conducting experiments, then observing the results and presenting them. Since then, kids will no longer be scared of facing failure as they will understand that it is a part of the way to success if they have their scientific mindsets developed.
Online STEAM games often require players to digest information quickly and respond to those pieces of information by formulating corresponding strategies to solve problems or to get the better of others. When children think about games quickly, it improves both short-term and long-term memory and speeds up brain processing. Besides, the missions or tasks in games help kids learn to stay focused and concentrated when they are trying to achieve some goals.
Some STEAM games require the player to perform multiple activities at the same time, so the player must build a house while defending against enemy attacks. Kids will know how to manage multiple tasks at the same time by being extremely observant and even master multitasking.
One key feature of online STEAM games is yet to be discussed - multiplayer gaming. Kids are always asked to collaborate with other players to get a task done together. This kind of experience will help kids foster team working skills and enhance self-confidence.
STEM jobs such as scientists, architects and data engineers demand strong analytical skills. Meanwhile, online STEAM games allow kids to obtain just that! STEAM games don’t only teach kids hard skills like scientific knowledge and data analytical skills, but also equip them with soft skills like perseverance and a can-do attitude, which are also highly sought-after attributes in the job market.
Ref: internetmatters
You may ask now: even if there are many benefits provided by STEAM games, how can I choose the best ones from the sea of available alternatives? Big Bang Academy is here to recommend the 10 best STEAM games online!
Big Bang Academy is the only STEM.org accredited education organisation in Hong Kong, the Big Bang STEAM Curriculum is undoubtedly one of the best STEAM games you can find in the town! The Curriculum, which is designed by Cambridge education experts, provides subscribers 2 Science and English workbooks, 2 Experiment Kits and access to our e-learning platform, Big Bang Lab every month. One of the most fantastic features of the curriculum is that in Big Bang Lab, apart from all the animated teaching videos, there are numerous interactive gamification elements included to ensure that your kids will never get bored with learning STEAM!
Furthermore, the curriculum is so comprehensive that in a year, six STEAM subjects including Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Engineering, Ecology and Astronomy will all be covered. The all-in-one learning package makes the curriculum stand out from all the other alternatives, eliminating the need for parents to look for different choices just to allow their kids to enjoy the same exposure to science knowledge.
Moreover, your kids can be immersed in an engaging and exciting story every two months while learning scientific knowledge, and this is how we make learning as compelling as a movie, as fun as a theme park and as educational as a classroom!
The STEAM curriculum kit is currently suitable for kids aged between 3 and 8. Subscribe to our curriculum kit and enjoy the 60% off discount for first-month subscription now!
National Geographic Kids is a gaming website created by National Geographic. There are five types of STEAM games you can find in the website, which are namely quizzes, personality quizzes, puzzles, action and funny fill-in, while there are countless choices for kids in each category. One major feature of the games is that they are all in bite size and it only takes a few minutes for kids to complete each of them!
Pretty much needless to say, the games aim to teach kids knowledge about Ecology and Biology. Taking the lynx quiz as an example, kids can learn facts such as that Eurasian lynxes usually live in forests, in an easy-to-follow manner.
Smithsonian provides a variety of free online STEM games, and almost all kids are eligible to play them as they cater for the needs of kids ranging from kindergarten children to middle school students.
The theme of these games is usually related to animals or nature, so what kids can learn from them is very likely to be related to Biology and Ecology. Let one of the games, Showbiz Safari, be an example. It allows players to act like a movie director and pick the animal actors according to their traits, teaching kids life science like features and habitats of different animals, in an interactive way.
Everyone should have learnt the game, Minecraft, but not so many know there is an education edition of the game. The play style is no different from the original version of the game - roleplaying in the sandbox world, but there are some pre-designed curriculums for kids to choose from. As an illustration, students can learn Mathematics knowledge such as shapes with the blocks in the game.
On top of being a STEAM game, Minecraft Education Edition also serves as a teaching platform for teachers to provide online interactions with students in the virtual world. In other words, it is like a metaverse classroom for kids to learn STEAM knowledge!
Scrap Mechanic is another sandbox game that encourages creative engineering. In this multiplayer online STEAM game, kids can learn basic robotics and engineering by trying to build vehicles or houses with different raw materials.
Having a play style that is so similar to Minecraft, Scrap Mechanic focuses more on machine mechanisms; therefore, it might be a better choice if your kids are keen on building robots!
Being suitable for students in grades 3 to 6, Planeteers allows players to get immersed in an Earth-resembling world with different habitats and animals. Players will be entering the world as an explorer, trying to collect elements and make discoveries by completing quizzes, coding tasks or crafting activities.
It is not only Ecology that kids can learn by exploring different types of biomes and species, but also essential technological and computing skills since there are many mini coding tasks in the game. In short, Planeteers is an intriguing game for kids who are interested in coding as well as Ecology!
Blokify is a STEAM game combining Arts and Technology with the help of state-of-the-art 3D printing technology. Kids can build whatever they want in the modelling software and then export their works to get their designs 3D printed!
Through experiencing 3D printing first-hand, kids will be able to understand how this groundbreaking technology works. Kids can have their creativity fully utilised when they are designing their own toys as well!
Kodable is the perfect place for little programmers to get their first tastes on real-life programming. Offering different games for kids aged between 4 and 10, Kodable lets children learn programming languages, including drag-and-drop programming and even Javascript and Swift programming, step-by-step.
In addition to being extremely educational and inspiring, the STEAM games developed by real teachers are super engaging and appealing as well! One of the rewarding games is that kids can design their own games by modifying the properties of the codes, how fantastic!
Scratch is a coding application designed for young children, with a visualisation of the coding language that allows kids to understand the computing logic more easily. It is so trustworthy that almost all schools at all levels (kindergarten, primary or even secondary) are using this game to educate their students!
Kids can code whatever they want with the coding languages available in this STEAM game! Hence, they can enhance their creative thinking. Also, by dissolving bugs observed, computational thinking and problem-solving skills can be promoted.
You can describe Roblox as a STEAM game while you can also call it a community! With different content creators contributing to the community, there are countless STEAM games that suit kids of all ages available now.
Kids can learn STEAM knowledge either by trying to design a game or playing a game. Just, for instance, kids learn basic Physics like what will happen when two cars crash into each other by playing a racing game.
Written By
Big Bang Academy
Big Bang Academy is an accredited science EdTech startup. Founded in early 2020, we started with a workshop of 15 students and a dream. Ever since, we have grown to serve 3,000+ students in both a lesson setting and our very own online education platform, Big Bang Lab.