Online Science Games for Children

The National Science Teachers' Association recognizes as one of its official positions the important role technology plays in children learning science concepts. Online science games provide a means for children to explore science related topics at their own pace in an interactive way. Where are all these beneficial games? The following websites offer online science games for children.

Science News for Kids directs its website toward children between the ages of 9 and 14 years old. The toolbar at the top of the homepage makes the site easy to navigate. Game Zone is the second option in from the left. The ability to run Java applets is required to play the games. If using a Mac, open up a web browser other than Safari for optimal performance. When children are done playing, they can browse articles, do puzzles, try experiments and visit the science fair zone for project ideas.

Discovery Kids' games are noted alphabetically at the bottom of the homepage. Not all the available games are science related, but here are several games pertaining to science subjects. Build Your Own Volcano by adjusting gas and viscosity settings. Then, test the volcano's powerfulness. Build Your Own Coaster because this coaster's track is incomplete. Drag course options from the sidebar onto the track to create a complete loop. The coaster moves along the finished track while the fear-o-meter goes up and down indicating level of scariness. Chomp Game has five levels. Level 1 is a word search. Chomp each letter that appears in the monkey's mouth and move on to level 2, a maze. Try getting out of the maze without eating rocks and bricks, but also before the monkey closes the gate. Level 3 solve five addition and subtraction problems before advancing on to level 4. Hand-eye coordination is essential to keep the beans and peas away. Level 5 answer the bridge keeper's true/false questions. Mummify Tut is quick and basic, but it is necessary to play the next game. Make a Mummy and learn about embalming and organs. There is also reference to hieroglyphics. The interesting graphics make up for the lack of sound. Tut's Matching Game is played like Memory, make pairs. There are three levels - easy, medium and difficult.

NASA developed the website for students of all ages. Wild Weather Adventure has easy, medium and hard questions to answer. The map helps with geography questions. The goal is to explore Earth via the weather research blimp. Beat the Heat by unscrambling words before the temperature on the thermometer rises too high. The vocabulary words are grouped by concepts pertaining to conduction, convection and radiation. Recipe for an Ecosphere using terms related to air, water, life and land are hidden in this word search. To select a word, use the mouse to drag the cursor across the word. Unscramble the Clouds by moving the puzzle pieces around to form a picture. The name of the cloud appears when the puzzle is correctly constructed. Information on each type of cloud is given.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a biomedical research facility interested in providing children with online biology activities. Plant-Parts Salad is played by matching a picture with the correct description of words like leaf, root, flower, stem and fruit. Classifying Critters requires children to decide which picture goes with the picture shown. For example, if a picture of a dog appears along with four choices (owl, lizard, turtle and cat), cat is the answer. Both dogs and cats are mammals.

At Animal Planet, games are located under the subheading 'cool interactive'. Journey to Namib and learn about life in the Namib Desert by dragging one of the displayed creatures into the circle. Click on body parts for additional information. Track an Elephant herd as they move through Mali. Track the herd via a GPS collar. After answering several questions about elephants, get a closer look at the herd's progression on the map.

KidsHealth is a family friendly website with a special section just for kids. Mission Nutrition is a virtual kitchen for the picture that best answers the question. Additional information or a follow up question will appear. Spelling Bee Game is played by typing out the correct spelling of the word pronounced. Time for Bed?
Who needs more sleep? Answer sleep-related questions and get further explanations about who needs how much sleep and why.

The Environmental Protection Agency's page for kids offers games on topics for different age groups. Air Quality color codes days based on the quality of the air. Learn how easy or difficult it is for some people to breathe. Green is good, purple bad with colors in between. Identify Laboratory Devices by selecting the picture that best answers the question. If answered correctly, the name of the device appears along with a description. Interactive Water Cycle illustrates the water cycle is displayed. Click on R for rain, W for water storage, V for vapor and C for clouds. The computer talks about the cycle at each stage. What's Wrong with this Picture? Click on the item in the picture that is bad for the environment and learn why.

BBC has online science games about animals, prehistoric life, human body & mind and space. Mac users need to download Firefox to play games. Senses Challenge by answering each question presented using one or more of the five senses. Survival Zone is the place to learn how to differentiate between friendly and dangerous animal behaviors in the wild. Skeleton Jigsaw shows a shadow of an animal. Click and drag bones into place. Interactive Body has six categories - organs, muscles, skeleton, senses, nervous system and puberty. Solar System Jigsaw falls into place when using the mouse to correctly place the planets in order.

Online science games help children learn because skills needed to understand science concepts are addressed. Children read, listen, move, observe, make decisions and recognize patterns. Children learn by doing and what better way than to entice them with something familiar to many youngsters today - technology.