Online Kids Games Can Benefit Dyslexic Kids

Having a child diagnosed with dyslexia can be a traumatic experience for parents. If you are one of them, you have trawled through the internet hundreds of times and talked to teachers and therapists for ways to help your child overcome the condition. But wading through traditional dyslexia programs and treatments can be a bit overwhelming at times. And most kids tire of them after a while. 

That, of course, does not mean your child’s unique educational needs should be ignored – there are plenty of alternative options to help kids with dyslexia cope with it without being pigeon-holed. And the newest kid on the block, as far as dyslexia therapy is concerned, is kids games online. Yes, you read it right.

What Are the Benefits of Kids Games Online?

This may come as a surprise. Computer games have long been blamed for being a bad influence on kids, but recent studies find that they actually have a beneficial effect on those with dyslexia. In fact, it has been discovered that playing online kids’ games for a few hours daily could be more effective in treating dyslexia than months of conventional classroom teaching.

Dyslexic kids who played computer games for 12 hours saw a significant improvement in their reading speed and ability to concentrate. This is a significant finding because dyslexic kids read very slowly and constantly struggle with reading comprehension.

These results far exceed those achieved by dyslexic kids enrolled in highly grueling treatment programs. Kids are certainly going to love these findings!

Italian researchers say that action-based online games hold kids’ visual attention and enable them to extract more information from the environment. This allows kids to perform better on tests, probably because their minds are more focused after playing the game.

However, it is too soon to say whether online computer games are directly responsible for improving dyslexia in kids or how long the results might last. It is also unclear whether playing online games is a better treatment approach for dyslexia than conventional ones. In other words, playing online kids’ games without any kind of supervision or control is not advisable. Also, parents are cautioned against using online games as a DIY therapy for their child’s dyslexia, though it is perfectly alright to use it along with conventional therapies.

But if there ever was a therapy that dyslexic kids would definitely love, online kids’ games would be it!

Indoor Games for Preschoolers

Preschoolers can be a hard-to-please bunch, especially when forced to keep themselves occupied indoors. Factors like rain, snow, etc., constrain movements of these little ones, forcing them to stay cooped up inside. Often, parents of preschoolers and teachers dealing with them are seen struggling with the challenge of keeping them engaged for long periods of time. If you are one of them, here’s hope! We offer 3 interesting preschool games to keep the little ones engaged inside for hours on end.

Preschoolers are steady on their feet. It is during this year that they begin to discover the joys of jumping, skipping, hopping, and running, and our fun kids’ games ideas make the best of this. Use these games for someone’s birthday bash or if it’s a rainy/snowy day or anytime you find yourself with a bunch of enthusiastic preschoolers. It is quite possible that you will be reminded of your own childhood and be tempted to be a part of these fun indoor preschool games.

• Touchy Feely Preschool Games – If you expect your preschooler to stay indoors, occupy herself with meaningful tasks, and not make as much as a peep, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Let go off such unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, a little chaos (that is still under control) can be a good idea. Our first indoor preschool game suggestion can get a little chaotic, but it is a wonderful sensory experience for your little one. Fill a few bowls with textured objects. There is no limit to what you can put in those bowls. Usually, peeled grapes, peeled tomatoes/plums, salt, etc., are good ideas. Blindfold your preschooler and let her touch the contents of each bowl. The idea is to get her to describe what she feels and then guess what it could be
• Hop Skip Preschool Games – While games of all kinds are equally loved by preschoolers, ones involving jumping, running, and squealing get the maximum number of votes. In-Out is one such game that has generous dollops of these attributes. Make your living room the game area by removing all unsafe objects like furniture with sharp edges, things that one could trip on, etc. Use a long ribbon or rope and place it on the floor. Ask the preschoolers (the more the merrier) to stand on one side of the ribbon/rope. Name one side of the rope In and the other side Out. Whenever you scream ‘In’, the kids are supposed to jump over to the side labeled In and when you sound ‘Out’, they have to jump back to the side labeled Out. As kids get familiar with this game, quicken your pace as you call out In and Out. Don’t just alternate between In and Out. You can even call three Outs or two Ins in a row to confuse the kids. The kid that jumps over to the wrong side loses his chance to play. The winner is the one who survives the confusion till the end
• Dance Freeze Preschool Games – This fun kids’ game will also require some space. Once again, clear a room off furniture with sharp edges and other knick knacks that block movement or might make the kids trip. Use a computer or a music player and play your preschooler’s favorite songs in high volume. Get them to dance or jump to their heart’s content until the music stops as you hit pause. When the music stops, kids have to freeze in whatever position that they are in and hold it for 5 seconds. Then, play the music again. The winner is the one who can hold these positions the longest.

Why Online Educational Games are a Boon for Parents

Getting kids to sit down to complete homework is nothing short of a Herculean task for many parents. Imagine getting the little ones to spend some more time on practicing what was already taught in the classroom! For many parents, evenings are spent chasing the kids around the house to get them to sit in one place for some study time. It’s never a problem sitting down in front of the idiot box or the computer screen, but when books are involved, it’s an entirely different story. 

Fret not, there’s a solution to all these woes! Online educational games are gradually becoming the new-age parent’s best friend. Why, you wonder? Read on to know about the magical advantages that these online games offer parents.

Advantages of Online Educational Games

1. Ideal Mix of Fun and Learning

This is probably the most obvious and popular feature that parents has parents gunning for these games. There are a plethora of educational games online, and almost all of them strike a healthy balance between being enjoyable and instructive. With exciting visuals and challenging levels, kids are motivated to do their best to progress in the game, using all their classroom lessons in the process. Many times, the little ones do not even realize that they sharpening skills in a variety of subjects and topics as they play these games! 

2. Practice Perfect

If you think that homework completed correctly and on time is enough to get your kids to master a topic, think again. It takes regular practice and revision for kids to feel confident about any topic. But getting them to spend additional practice time after completing homework can be a nightmare! Online educational games come to the rescue here. There are several kinds of games to be found online. Depending on the topic in question and the grade your kids are in, pick a game and encourage them to play it. Kids will get the practice they need and you’ll be a smiling, content parent. 

3. Productively Occupied

It’s almost impossible to keep kids gleefully engaged in productive activities. If the activities are fun, they’re seldom productive, and if they’re productive, kids mostly find them boring. With online educational games, the task of keeping kids productively occupied has become relatively easy! Since most kids enjoy gaming time, they’ll be more than happy to spend free time playing these games, and as parents, you’ll be satisfied knowing that even though your child is busy playing, the learning doesn’t stop!

4. Safety First

There are many kinds of games online, and not all of them are safe for kids. But if the games have educational content, more often than not they have good safety measures in place. So if your kids are sitting down to play educational games, chances of untoward incidents related to cybercrimes are greatly reduced. But always do take the time out to check the websites that your kids frequent. You can never be too safe!

5. Bonding Time

What could be better than participating in fun activities that your kids enjoy the most? Show the little ones that there’s more to you than homework, healthy eating, and exercise! As you spend time with kids playing educational games online, you not only have fun and bond with your kids but also encourage them to choose and play games that offer educational value. 

With all the advantages that educational games offer, they are certainly a boon for parents! Browse through some online games immediately and get your kids hooked on them!

Educational Games vs. Traditional Learning – The Differences

Can educational games ever replace traditional teaching methods? Probably not. But they can certainly be an effective and more practical approach to learning and help offset the limitations of classroom teaching methodologies. Research suggests that while online kids’ games might not be as effective as traditional learning, those based on Game-based Learning (GBL) approaches motivate students and help them learn better. So before you impound your child’s Xbox, learn how it makes learning material more accessible and education more relevant . And also why gaming literacy is now considered to be important enough for schools to incorporate it in their curriculum.

Educational Games-based Learning – Why it Works

Try and deconstruct the fun in any good computer or video game – it all boils down to the same thing -the integrated learning process that is as subtle as it is effective. A player can only progress in an educational game when he masters certain skills or logic – while he is actively engaged with beating the game his mind is experiencing the pleasure of figuring out a new system. This is true even if the game is considered to be pure ‘entertainment’ such as Angry Birds. Classroom learning, on the other hand, often feels dull and passive – that’s because kids are being engaged or challenged as much as they should be. Learning is synonymous with acquiring the skills and thought processes required to handle and respond to a variety of situations but most forms of traditional learning are little more than rote memorization.

On the other hand, a well-designed educational game for kids targets specific learning goals to motivate highly-engaged learners to apply the problem-solving skills to real world problems. In fact, the same factors that contribute to the success of Call of Duty are also the ones that help create ideal learning environments for students.

Online Educational Games for Kids – The Top Benefits 

These are some of the top reasons why your child should play virtual educational games:

1. Online Educational Games can retain kids’ notoriously short attention spans far longer than classroom teaching sessions. 
2. Most computer games apply relevant educational principles to foster important skills such as motor skills, cognitive strategy, verbal information and intellectual skills. 
3. Kids’ educational games online have a proven record of increasing students’ motivational levels and making them master skills far more quickly than traditional teaching methodologies.
4. Computer games are particularly skilled in promoting a positive attitude among players towards the topic they engage with thus increasing their knowledge about it. 

Educational Games for Kids – The Final Analysis 

Children’s learning games have a number of well-documented and proven benefits – however, this does not mean that classroom learning and traditional teaching methodologies are redundant and should be done away with. Computer games can never replace teachers but they can be used to complement classroom learning when used along with text books and web-based learning to provide a well-balanced education to your child. The support and encouragement of your child’s teacher are crucial for making educational game-based learning a success.

Should your Preschooler play Online Games?

Kids and games go together like cheese and crackers but most parents aren’t exactly enthusiastic about their kids’ gaming habits. Many find it worrisome that kids are picking up gaming at an increasingly younger age. And since online games tend to be blamed for everything, from identity theft to anti-social behavior, it is natural for parents to be upset when their 4 year old gets hooked to preschool games online. 

While it is easy to overlook or dismiss the educational value of games, a lot of research conclusively shows that good online games for preschool are designed to boost your child’s learning potential through effective pedagogical principles. 

Online Games and your Preschooler – The Benefits 

Here are some of the top ones:

1. Problem solving skills: Many free online preschool games impart problem solving skills to players – skills that help your child find his place in the world of digital information. While there are hundreds of explicitly educational online games for preschool, even the most primitive shooting games teach players to process huge amounts of data and think logically and clearly. This is definitely more useful than blindly memorizing facts and formula in a classroom setting or passively absorbing content from various media. 

2. Social interaction: One fact about free online preschool games, or ANY online games for that matter, is that they encourage kids to be socially active and participate in thriving online communities. The stereotype of the pallid unsociable teen playing computer games in his room is just that – a stereotype, and one that’s as hopelessly outdated as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Online games for preschool today have vibrant online and offline communities that revolve around the game. Members get a chance to interact with fellow players around something they share a mutual passion for. In a word, online kids’ games are social. 

3. Positive reinforcement: One of the most important things your child learns through online games is that it is OK to fail a few times until you get it right. Preschool games online encourage players to come up with innovative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking to notch up points and move up levels or defeat their opponents – basically, do whatever it takes to win the game. A traditional classroom setting does not offer this kind of flexibility or freedom to learners – kids are sometimes too afraid to take risks because failure often means humiliation among the peer group. 

And that’s not all. Online games for preschoolers have loads of other obvious and not-so-obvious benefits. Do you know of any that haven’t been listed above?

Learning to Spell with Online English Games

The concept of spellings makes a grand entrance into the lives of kids as soon as they begin to read small words. Kids are initiated into the various rules of spellings once they are familiar with the alphabet and have upgraded themselves to recognize a string of letters as words. Most kids are seen struggling with spellings initially. Also, some kids take to the concept more easily than others. What aides their spelling skills? Do online English games help? As the study deepens, we find out that the process that was believed to help kids learn to spell better and quicker has undergone massive changes in the last two decades. The repetitive task of writing words over and over again neither interests kids nor does it help them memorize words and spellings. As far as learning how to spell is concerned, ‘rote’ has been sidelined.

English Games Familiarize Kids with Word Structure & Improve Spellings

The rote method of memorizing (which was the most favored method till recent times) has come under the scanner. Psychologists have found out that it is the child’s knowledge of spoken as well as written word structures that goes a long way in helping her learn to spell correctly. As kids have fun with words, they get familiar with their structures and ultimately, learn to spell well. This is where English games step in. These online kids’ games help make learning words a fun and interactive process for them. As kids immerse themselves in fun English games, words and structures get indelibly imprinted on their minds, thus helping them ace their spelling skills.

Online English Games Spoil You for Choice

The variety of English games and reading games available online is vast. Games that involve guessing mystery words with missing letters, filling in the blanks with correct letters to form words, unscrambling jumbled words, etc., are educational challenges that engage kids with word structures and help them with their spellings. As these online games allow kids to have fun, the lessons learned through them are better retained by kids.

So, if your kids are in grades kindergarten and above, get them introduced to the many fun English games available online. From alphabet soups and easy spelling puzzles for the lower grades to timed missing letter games and interactive, choice-based games for the higher grades, teachers and parents looking to help their kids become better spellers are spoilt for choice. Apart from helping kids with their spellings, these online English and reading games also help them with their vocabulary, grammar, reading as well as with their writing skills.

Rules of Spellings Made Easy with English Games for Kids

Younger kids like kindergarteners and first graders are often found spelling words according to how they sound to them. At this stage, kids try to match the sounds to the letter that are, to them, the representatives of those sounds. It is, thus, very important for kids of this age group to be introduced to interactive English games that help them understand the rules of spellings and how phonetic matching is not always applicable. Online English games can certainly make spelling champions out of your kids and thus, help them further their reading and writing skills. Make these games a part of the kids’ learning curriculum today!