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This is a great idea for a collaborative project - collecting games to play at primary school. Email your own game ideas and browse the activities already submitted. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Cross+Curricular

A superb, vast, 'must try' ESL games site. Find a grammar and vocabulary games, tools and printables for any English language lesson. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English+As+An+Additional+Language

A good crossword spelling game. Work out where the letters go in multiple positions. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

Educational games site from the Australian Broadcasting Network. They include puzzle/quiz, sport, action, adventure and others. I played the Wallace and Grommit games under "Puzzle/Quiz" which was very entertaining.

Very easy to understand guide thanks to an infographic. If you aren't convinced about the benefit of games in the classroom then this has good information for you, too.

A superb place to find games and questions for the whole of the maths curriculum. Join for free to track progress or just play the games. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

Make simple maze games with this useful resource. Add your own textures and pictures into your games. Discovered via @tishylishy. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

A great typing game where player must shoot letters to complete the level. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

These interactive whiteboard games are a great way to review units of study in the classroom. All are based on popular TV shows and are fun and engaging for the whole class. Download the templates, customize them to your own needs, and you will be ready to play these great games on an interactive whiteboard or LCD projector.

by Marc Prensky Our children today are being socialized in a way that is vastly different from their parents. The numbers are overwhelming: over 10,000 hours playing videogames, over 200,000 emails and instant messages sent and received; over 10,000 hours talking on digital cell phones; over 20,000 hours watching TV (a high percentage fast speed MTV), over 500,000 commercials seen-all before the kids leave college. And, maybe, at the very most, 5,000 hours of book reading. These are today's ―Digital Native‖ students. 1 In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part I, I discussed how the differences between our Digital Native students and their Digital Immigrant teachers lie at the root of a great many of today's educational problems. I suggested that Digital Natives' brains are likely physically different as a result of the digital input they received growing up. And I submitted that learning via digital games is one good way to reach Digital Natives in their ―native language.‖ Here I present evidence for why I think this is so. It comes from neurobiology, social psychology, and from studies done on children using games for learning.

by Marc Prensky Our children today are being socialized in a way that is vastly different from their parents. The numbers are overwhelming: over 10,000 hours playing videogames, over 200,000 emails and instant messages sent and received; over 10,000 hours talking on digital cell phones; over 20,000 hours watching TV (a high percentage fast speed MTV), over 500,000 commercials seen-all before the kids leave college. And, maybe, at the very most, 5,000 hours of book reading. These are today's ―Digital Native‖ students. 1 In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part I, I discussed how the differences between our Digital Native students and their Digital Immigrant teachers lie at the root of a great many of today's educational problems. I suggested that Digital Natives' brains are likely physically different as a result of the digital input they received growing up. And I submitted that learning via digital games is one good way to reach Digital Natives in their ―native language.‖ Here I present evidence for why I think this is so. It comes from neurobiology, social psychology, and from studies done on children using games for learning.

Hi. I wrote a paper about digital natives as part of an anthropology assignment for a doctoral course. Researchers from around the world have empirically proven that Prensky's theories are false. Additionally, while neuroscience has shown that brains do change as a result of neuroplasticity, to argue that it is generational is also a false claim. Though cognitive theory shows that learners bring their prior experiences to the interpretation of new educational opportunities - impacting attention and interpretation - all generations have had this occur. There is merit to the point that we should take learner's prior experience into consideration when designing instruction; however, Prensky's digital native claims may have done more to create tension between students and teachers than to provide instructional support. If you would like any of the scholarly studies, I have a published reference list at http://brholland.com/reference-list. Beth

A fun Tetris-like matching shapes maths game. Line up three of the same shapes to score points. Play full screen at http://www.fuelthebrain.com/Game/swfs/IceBlocker.swf http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

"A fully customisable board game to print and use in your class. Edit the cards, squares, prices of square and money denotations."

VocabularySpellingCity is a fun way to learn spelling and vocabulary words by playing engaging learning games using any word list. The most popular activities are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary games, available to Premium Members. The most popular word lists are Sound Alikes, Compound Words, Hunger Games and SAT Words. This is a free app!

"With its open-ended nature and robust creation tools, Minecraft has been used to create some amazing things. And as one teacher learned, those very same elements that make the game so compelling also make it a great educational tool.

Using Minecraft to solve problems as a class and learn how to work together.

Some good learning angles with this multiplayer Hamelin. Have used it myself :-)

"In "MathBlaster.com," kids play math games to earn merits, including this one in which they wrangle an alien slug by solving math problems. Today's kids now have an opportunity to hone their math skills .. by entering a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) called "MathBlaster.com.""

Fun way to learn maths would earning points to join the Intergalactic Space Patrol.

lessons games can teach us about engagement and about learning itself

"While gamification is gaining ground in business, marketing, corporate management, health insurance,ecology and wellness initiatives, its application in education is still an emerging trend. This article presents a study of the published empirical research on the application of gamification to education.The study is limited to papers that discuss explicitly the effects of use of game elements in specificeducational contexts. It employs a systematic mapping design. Accordingly, a categorical structure forclassifying the research results is proposed based on the extracted topics discussed in the reviewed papers. The categories include gamification design principles, game mechanics, context of applyinggamification, consisting of type of application, educational level, and academic subject,implementation and evaluation. By mapping the published work to the classification criteria andanalyzing them, the study highlights the directions of the currently conducted empirical research onapplying gamification to education. It also indicates some major obstacles and needs, such as the needfor a proper technological support, the need for controlled studies demonstrating reliable positive ornegative results of using specific game elements in particular educational contexts, etc. Although mostof the reviewed papers report promising results, more substantial empirical research is needed todetermine whether both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of the learners can be influenced bygamification"