23 Educational Game Ideas for All Ages in 2024
With so much of our lives happening behind a screen, it’s time to bring back educational games. Whether simple thought exercises, board games or interactive electronic games, they’re a great way to boost knowledge and keep your brain sharp at all ages. Plus, as a parent, educational games are a great way to bond with your young child while also setting them up for success.
In a study by The University of Toronto, the school explains how game-based learning works because it invokes an emotional connection and offers immediate feedback. Essentially, it’s a natural competitive instinct that makes you want to do better and as a result, learn more.
Educational games can boost creativity and increase engagement and focus while also improving their memory.
So what is considered an educational game and what is an example of an educational game? Any game that is designed to help people learn about a certain subject or improve a skill. Examples include things like Pictionary or Monopoly, but there are lots of modern versions too. Read on for the best educational games for all ages.
Jump to Section
- Educational Games for Toddlers
- Educational Games for Kids
- Educational Games for Teens and Students
- Educational Games for Adults
Educational Games for Toddlers
1. Bubbling Art and Science
For young kids, they can only grasp so much as their little brains are still growing and learning the basics. Practice fine motor skills and a mini-science lesson with this educational game-turned-art project.
Fill a bucket with soapy water or bubble mix and lay down several pieces of construction paper (colored paper for double the fun!). Practice blowing bubbles and try to land them on the paper. As the bubbles pop, they will leave colorful circles for your child to turn into smiling faces or just work on coloring within the lines.
2. Candy Color Sorting
Once your child is familiar with the basic colors, you can level up your educational games for toddlers with this candy color-sorting activity. Choose their favorite candy whether it be M&Ms or fruit snacks and have them sort the candies into piles for each color.
This game is pretty basic, but it works on fine motor skills and quick thinking.
3. Simon Says
Nothing brings out a kid’s competitive spirit like a massive game of Simon Says. This is a fun educational game for kids birthday parties or even small group hang-outs. As “Simon”, you can make this game as easy or challenging as you see fit depending on your child’s age.
4. Puzzles
There are so many fun, interactive puzzles out there that make stellar educational games for toddlers. Incorporating fun textures and colors makes even a simple puzzle more engaging. This classic activity improves your child’s patience, cognitive skills and fine motor skills as they fit the pieces together.
5. Hot and Cold
Teach your little one patience and perseverance by playing hot and cold. Hide a favorite toy or object and call out hotter or colder as he or she seeks their beloved teddy or blanket. This also reinforces object permanence, so your little one can start to grasp that just because they can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Educational Games for Kids
6. Fruit and Veggie Guessing Game
Engage your child’s senses with this fun educational game you can play at home. Blindfold them and hand them a fruit or vegetable of your choice. Based only on their sense of touch, they must guess what they are holding. Eliminating the sense of smell makes this game even more challenging. If it’s too easy, slice the veggies so they’re more difficult to guess. Then, wash up the veggies and use them for kids lunch ideas.
7. Outdoor Biologist 20 Questions
Any time in nature is going to be enriching for young kids, but when you pair it with educational games, it becomes twice as fun. Find a peaceful and comfortable area outside and let your child choose an item, without telling you what it is. You then have 20 yes or no questions to ask them to try and guess what they’re thinking of.
This is a great way for them to learn all about leaves, bark, animal families and other useful nature facts.
8. Natural Treasure Hunt
Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? Turn yours into an educational game for kids by requesting they seek items throughout a walk or hike together. Think of simple items like a pine cone, a red rock, a green leaf and other items that are abundant.
9. Word Search Puzzles
It’s easy to customize this educational game for kids based on age and ability level. With so many free templates online or the ability to make your own, a classic word search is always fun for kids to practice their spelling and reading skills.
10. Obstacle Course
Get your kids moving with an age-appropriate obstacle course. There are so many props that can work for this educational game for kids, from street chalk to little cones. Set it up in your backyard, living room or a nearby park.
This challenges their balance and focus as they run, weave, duck and jump their way around and over obstacles.
11. I Spy
I Spy books and puzzles can keep kids occupied for hours and are a captivating educational game for kids. You can play it live or without a book, for younger kids to make it easier. For older, more advanced kids, the books feature complex images that require a lot of focus to find the symbol.
Educational Games for Teens and Students
12. Running Dictation
Everyone remembers a good old-fashioned round of Telephone, but this running dictation educational game for teens goes a step further. Prepare for the game by printing out several lines of a story and pasting them around the classroom.
Students work in pairs to run back and forth memorizing as much of each passage as they’re able to and rehearsing it back to their partner, who must finish writing it down before they can swap as the other student tries to memorize the lines.
You can do this with multiple stations and once students have written down all the sentences, they must then arrange them in the correct order. The winner is the pair who does this the fastest.
13. Direct Me Drawing
Have your students pair up for this educational game for teens with a piece of paper on each person’s back. The student who is drawing will create the design based solely on what their partner tells them. The goal is to describe a set picture in such detail that your partner perfectly re-creates it. This highlights the importance of being specific and how things can so easily be misconstrued.
14. 3D Salt Maps
When kiddos get to the age where they start learning about geography, topography usually closely follows. As part of a multi-day or week assignment, assign each student in the class one of the 50 states in the U.S. and instruct them to create a 3D salt map for a memorable educational game.
Eventually, students can give presentations about what they learned, along with an optional poster board. Painting the dried topography map is also encouraged.
15. Anagrams
There are tons of ways to customize this educational game for students and teens, making it seasonal, themed or extra-challenging. Anagrams are always fun, serving up jumbled letters that must be put in the correct order. To up the difficulty, jumble entire phrases.
16. Alphabet Memorization Game
This educational game for kids and students is perfect for starting off the year and getting to know everyone’s names.
Have the class sit in a circle and play one of two ways: students can say their name along with an item that starts with the same letter or students must go in alphabetical order and say “B is for banana, C is for caterpillar” etc.
After one student goes, the next student must accurately repeat every name and letter combination from before. It’s harder than you think to memorize that many names and words, which makes this a useful team building game for getting to know new people.
16. Apples to Apples
This educational game for high school students turns out to be one of the most fun games to play with friends or family. With one person selected as the judge (change each round) players must select from one of their cards a word or phrase that best matches the theme card for that round. This involves wit and creativity and kids love to show their sense of humor with this game.
Educational Games for Adults
18. Wordle
If you haven’t joined the Wordle craze yet, you’re missing out. Each day The New York Times releases a new word of the day that must be guessed based on the process of elimination. The word is always five letters and with each guess you receive feedback on whether a letter is correct and in the correct spot, correct but in the wrong spot or altogether incorrect.
It’s a quick educational game for adults that you can do over your morning coffee. Sign up to save your scores and compete with friends.
19. Sudoku
This classic educational game for adults can be done anytime, anywhere. Your local newspaper might even feature sudoku in their weekly edition, otherwise, you can find a book of sudokus or download an app. This is a great way to keep your mind sharp, practicing both math and logic.
20. Dominoes
This classic game never goes out of style and is an engaging and educational game for adults. Your math and quick-thinking skills are challenged with even the cheapest plastic dominoes. The better you and your opponent get, the more you have to think one or two moves ahead to prevail.
21. DuoLingo
Keep your mind sharp by learning a new language with Duolingo. This on-the-go app makes learning accessible wherever you are. Plus, the learning process features a variety of interactive games and levels that you unlock as you learn more.
22. Spelling Bee
The New York Times has another great educational game for adults, the Spelling Bee. You’ll be given seven letters, along with one “golden” letter and you are tasked with creating as many word combinations as possible using only the letters provided. You must include the golden letter, but you don’t have to use all the other letters provided. The lengthier the word, the more points you score.
23. Nibble App
A new app called Nibble aims to replace “doomscrolling” with micro-learning as it is an educational game for adults platform. Learn micro-lessons about a whole bunch of topics from art to history, math and more.
You should never stop learning and with so many accessible and down-right fun educational games for all ages, you don’t have to. Some of these games are so engaging you don’t even realize you’re learning.
They can be the perfect activity for a birthday party or day at a kid’s camp, replacing face painting ideas with interactive learning and competition. That’s not to say anything negative about artistic outlets, however! They are just as important as learning math, reading and critical thinking skills.
Start incorporating some of these fun educational games into your daily routine, even just for five or ten minutes and you’ll notice a difference in memory, focus and other key skills.
For even more fun game ideas, check out other experiences happening on Classpop!
