Questionaut
A few weeks ago I was looking for free online games that my students could play for review for the upcoming standardized tests. I stumbled on a BBC game called Questionaut that was specifically made for 5th grade aged students. Initially I was drawn the the beautiful artwork and the concept/story of the game. The main character has to retrieve his friend's hat which was blown away. He travels in a balloon upwards through 8 levels. Each level is themed (reading/writing, math, or science) and you have to answer enough questions correctly to have enough air to travel to the next level. In order to get the questions to appear you have to figure out what things to click on first. For example there is one level where you have to plug in the battery, make a connection, and screw in the light bulb.
We played this in class and th students ABSOLUTELY loved it! They all wanted the web address so they could play it at home. Besides being a beautiful game, the questions were very well written. I just had to explain to the students that some words would be spelled differently and that the funny symbol was pounds and the p was pence, but the math would be the same. Even though the questions were written to standards of another country it was surprising that not only did the reading, writing, and math match up, but so did the science! There were many questions about science we had learned this year as well as some they had learned the previous years. It was great review. I've also noticed (from playing it several times) that they have a large database of questions so that you don't get the same ones, they may even change the questions daily.
Another bonus is the amazing music. My students loved it and wanted it in the background as they wrote. The music is soothing, yet upbeat enough that it doesn't put them to sleep. The musician is Floex, and he has some music on iTunes, but not the music from the game. I've emailed BBC about this to see if I would be able to purchase it. Otherwise I have to continue to play the game at work so we can listen to it in class.
The game is from Amanita-Design, which has some other beautiful games/artwork on their website. Honestly, I find myself enjoying Questionaut enough to play it often myself.
We played this in class and th students ABSOLUTELY loved it! They all wanted the web address so they could play it at home. Besides being a beautiful game, the questions were very well written. I just had to explain to the students that some words would be spelled differently and that the funny symbol was pounds and the p was pence, but the math would be the same. Even though the questions were written to standards of another country it was surprising that not only did the reading, writing, and math match up, but so did the science! There were many questions about science we had learned this year as well as some they had learned the previous years. It was great review. I've also noticed (from playing it several times) that they have a large database of questions so that you don't get the same ones, they may even change the questions daily.
Another bonus is the amazing music. My students loved it and wanted it in the background as they wrote. The music is soothing, yet upbeat enough that it doesn't put them to sleep. The musician is Floex, and he has some music on iTunes, but not the music from the game. I've emailed BBC about this to see if I would be able to purchase it. Otherwise I have to continue to play the game at work so we can listen to it in class.
The game is from Amanita-Design, which has some other beautiful games/artwork on their website. Honestly, I find myself enjoying Questionaut enough to play it often myself.