Summer is in full swing—and let’s be real, by now you might be getting kind of sick of it. Isn’t it time to send the kids back to school yet? Aren’t their spongey little brains getting soft and useless in this oppressive heat? Haven’t we already been to the beach, like, three times this week. Relax. Just because there’s a little sun doesn’t mean they need to be out in it 24/7.
There are a few video game summer sales, but they don’t all include educational games.
The School’s Out Summer Sale is coming up on July 23, does. It includes eight critically acclaimed, award-winning games that are meant to keep kids using their brains during the summer downtime. They’re all available for iOS and Android, and they’re from people who care about making games smart enough for kids and adults to enjoy.
The sale runs from July 23-29. Included are two of our favorite educational games.
The Counting Kingdom is a math game where the math problems you do are actually magic spells. Doing math destroys the monsters that are menacing your castle walls. I reviewed this game last year, and it’s honestly one of the best math experiences I’ve had. It keeps math a fun, positive experience—not like the timed math tests of my youth. Jenna Hoffstein, the game’s creator, worked with kids to make sure that they enjoyed the game, and that really paid off. Kids actually want to play The Counting Kingdom.
Destroying monsters with math and magic!
Another game included in the sale is Slice Fractions, also a math game. It serves as an introduction to the concept of fractions; players have to match up equal amounts of lava and ice to clear the path for a wooly mammoth. It’s a low-pressure way to get kids started thinking about these concepts that are pretty abstract and high level in theory.
Best of all, they the concepts them fun, not terrifying. If your math classes were anything like mine, you know the dreaded Math Freeze that sets in when you start to think you’re—gasp—bad at math. The perception of math as a difficult subject that only the really smart people are good at is really damaging for kids. These games help blast that idea to smithereens.
It’s not just math games included in the summer sale, though!
Backyard Engineers by Filament Games has players build catapults—and teaches physics concepts. Word Mess by Masala Games uses word clouds to help players practice word recognition and vocabulary. And Tin Pan Rhythm by Tin Pan is a music game where you create musical phrases and beats.
The full list of games is available here, on the School’s Out Sale website.
These games will be discounted for only a week, so give them a try!
