"Ride the Label"

While doing this blog I try not to play too many games from the same website but I just have to share this game with you all. After my last blog post, I continued to search the http://www.nourishinteractive.com/ website. I found a game all about reading and interpreting nutrition labels on foods which is something I have wanted to do with my students for a few years. This game was perfect for my purposes. In my PE classes I spend a good amount of time discussing and teaching my students about the food pyramid and about nutrition labels but I really think it is something that takes practice to get people in the habit of doing on their own. I would assign this game “Ride the Label” as homework for my students. I think that my younger students will need adult help in order to play this game but I think that my older elementary students would be able to do it on their own. The game starts off relatively easy but gets a little harder in each level. Players are asked to make food selections and compare nutritional information by reading the labels for each food. I really see the value in this game and think that too often people don’t pay any attention to food labels when purchasing foods at the grocery store. I would hope that by playing this game, my students would be more aware of nutrition labels and would also encourage their parents to be as well. I love this game!

(This game was copyrighted 2008-2011 by Nourish Interactive.)

"Pyramid Panic"

Today I played a game called “Pyramid Panic” from http://www.nourishinteractive.com/. Nourish Interactive is a website that offers lots of information and games to teach children about nutrition. Their slogan boasts that it is “the fun way to learn about nutrition”. I have told you all before that I am absolutely horrible at all video games and today I learned the valuable lesson that I should not play any sort of video game in front of my fiancé lest I truly embarrass myself. He has played video games probably every day of his life and thought it was hilarious that my little chef was getting trampled by donuts and other fatty foods in this game. I really found this game fun and very motivating. I had to jump and race around the fatty foods that chased me in this game in order to gather up the healthy food to make a balanced meal. I would encourage my students to play this game because I think they would have a lot of fun and because it reinforces what we learn about the five food groups. I think this game goes the extra mile in nutrition education because it provides the player with “fun facts” about the five food groups and it also reminds the player that they need to take an activity break after 20 minutes of playing games. I would like to check out some other games and informational pages on this website because I think they are very geared towards children and I would like to see what else they have to offer.

(This game was copyrighted 2008-2011 by Nourish Interactive.)

"I Heard Hurdle Race"

"I Heard Hurdle Race" The “I Heard Hurdle Race” from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website offers a game where the player answers true or false questions to clear hurdles to win the race. I played this game two times. The first time I answered them all and won the race!!! I played again; this time answering questions incorrectly to see what happens if the player doesn’t know the answers. The second time I played there were a few repeat questions but overall there were enough questions so the player could play multiple times and continue to learn each time. I liked this game because it asked good questions about exercise and then gave a good explanation for each answer. I think that students could learn a lot from this game about good exercise practices and I would definitely recommend it to my students. I think it is very important to discuss healthy exercise and physical activity practices so that children can apply what they know for the rest of their lives. I would recommend that my students play this game during free time, as a station activity in PE, or even as a whole group activity which could lead to peer discussions about each subject after a question is presented to them from the game.

Mission Nutrition

Today I played a game called Mission Nutrition from the KidsHealth website. I think this game is really great for children learning about nutritious foods. The game premise is for the player to make a healthy snack after school. I like the little extra touches of this game like allowing the player to click on the answering machine to hear a message from “mom” encouraging the player to find a healthy snack after school. The player is presented with various challenges to make the best food choice between different types of drinks and foods. What I like about this game is that it is simple to navigate and that it is full of nutritional information. When a player clicks on the correct answer they are often asked follow up questions and provided with extra information about their choice. When the player clicks on the incorrect food/drink item an explanation is given to them about why that is not the best choice and there is no penalty for wrong answers. I do think that this game is pretty limited in that there are only a few challenges in the game. I think the game could be improved if it were expanded to at least six or seven challenges. There are lots of other food items present in the cabinets, in the refrigerator, and there are many more cabinets to have more food items for additional challenges. I would definitely have my students play this game. Right now I am teaching a unit on healthy food choices and the food pyramid to my Pre-kindergarten through second grade students and we could use it as a warm-up or as a review in my classes. I would not recommend this game to my younger students though without an adult help. It involves a lot of reading and some difficult words so I would recommend that parents play this game with their children and use it as a way to engage your child in discussions about healthy foods. (This game was copyrighted 1995-2011 by The Nemours Foundation.)

POWER PLAY

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/powerplay.html

Today I was trying out a few simulation games my teacher had found for us. Simulation games (according to Wikipedia) are games that allow players to simulate real or fictional life situations. The most popular example of this type of game is The Sims game where people build mini worlds for their characters. I tried an educational game today called “Power Play” that challenges players to build a machine that will harness energy. It is a really simple game with straightforward directions and easy choices. A player could technically drag and drop over and over until they got the right combination. When I was playing it took me a couple of tries to get the right pieces because I didn’t realize each machine part changed sizes. I had been looking at it to see if the angle was correct or if the piece was the right size when that didn’t matter at all. Once I figured that out I could click and drag the correct icons without any mistakes. I liked this game for educational purposes for a number of reasons. First, like I stated earlier it is very straightforward. Second, I like that students can learn from their mistakes and continue on without being penalized. Third, I like the explanations they give at the end of each level. They explain how the energy was harnessed for each challenge in a way that all users could understand. I think this game could be used for most elementary aged students that are learning about energy. I highly recommend this simulation science game!

Squigly's Games for Kids

On day one of my class on Gaming and Media Design for learning my teacher challenged us to find some educational games simply by going to a search engine. I went to Google and typed in “Interactive Games for Kids” and ended up with numerous websites that offer games for all ages. As a PE teacher, my objective is to find educational health and physical activity games that I could use in my classroom. I started by clicking on a website that is called “Squigly’s Playhouse” with tons of games for kids. I initially wasn’t sure I would find many games that could be considered educational although there were hundreds of games offered just on this one website. I checked out a few of the sports games and was somewhat right in my initial opinion and somewhat wrong. The first game I played was called “Just a Volley” which I hoped would have some educational aspects related to our unit on striking or to rules involved in actual games of volleyball. The computer completely destroyed me in the game. The score was 15+ to 0 which just put me to shame. My parents did not buy us video games when we were kids and I haven’t played more than a handful in my life. Although this game was addicting, it unfortunately did not have much educational value. I would like to see the game at least stick to true volleyball scoring rules or limit each player to hitting the ball just once in order to get it over the net. I was not impressed with this game and will not use it in my classroom. The second game I played was called “Putt It In.” This game was a simulation game of miniature golf. There were a few aspects of this game that I liked. First, even as a complete novice in gaming I was able to do pretty well in this game using my knowledge of the angles that are required for making successful putts. It required coordination and strategy by being sensitive to the amount of power used and angle needed for putting the ball. I might have my students play this game during our Striking with Long Handled Implements Unit. We work on putting and often are limited with the types of obstacles we can create in the gym. I think this game would be good practice for my students in the cognitive aspects of putting in golf. I’m pleasantly surprised that I found a game that I could use with my students! http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com/Games/index.html (This game is copyrighted 2008-2011 by Barb Willner.)