Game-Making Tools for Schools
Playing games is a surefire way to engage students, but making games can be just as absorbing. Game design and development builds art, math, and coding skills, and offers students an outlet to show what they know. These game-making apps, games, and websites are great examples of this, balancing the fun of play with the challenge of coding and design. With these tools, students will embark on creative, energizing experiences that'll get them thinking in new, exciting ways. On this list, we've curated options for entry-level designers that ease kids into building stuff that's a blast to play. We've also made sure to include tools that help students create games that feel authentic and that help students obtain skills they can use when they level up to more pro-grade software.
Tynker teaches kids how to code from first principles through to real-life coding used to make games, virtual reality applications and websites or even control robotics and electronics. Hundreds of courses let kids choose their coding interests and build their skills through fun activities which lead to building real apps. Tynker assists new users in choosing their best starting point and has options for kids aged five and above. The courses and activities are accessible through iOS, Android and multi-platform web apps. A limited free trial lets kids try out Tynker's features with a subscription unlocking the total experience, which includes two coding lessons and activities as well as creative tools for graphics and sound. Tynker is used in more than 100,000 schools around the globe and offers standalone subscriptions for consumers in addition to its education products. Since launching in 2013, more than 60 million children have used the platform to create more than 120 million distinct applications. The company's mission is to ensure that all students graduating high school by 2033 are exposed to some level of formal coding education.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
Sketch Nation Create is a visual tool that lets users easily create games without any coding. Kids can create their own games or play games created by others. Kids can choose to create side-running, up-jumping, side-flying, traffic, lander, up-scrolling, platformer, match-2, or match-3 games. After choosing the type of game, kids choose to work in simple or advanced mode, depending on the number of levels they want to include.
Devices:
The Infinite Arcade by Tinybop is a video-game-design app. Kids can create, play, and modify their own arcade-style games. If they want someone else to play the game they designed, kids must share the device. As in many other Tinybop apps, kids are given the freedom to figure things out for themselves, though there are more parent-friendly instructions in several languages. Kids and adults alike can create their own games in The Infinite Arcade by Tinybop. More than simple arcade fun, this game creator is a powerful learning tool because kids define problems, develop possible solutions, test the game, and then come back to make improvements.
Devices: iPhone, iPad
Scratch Junior Coding App is an app designed by the MIT Media Lab, in collaboration with the DevTech Research Group at Tufts University, and compliments the Scratch programming Language that many school and students are familiar with. ScratchJr download is available for iPad and Android devices for free. Scratch Junior is an iPad app designed as an even earlier introduction to computer programming and multimedia creation. The interface and the graphics are excellent and the app is very easy to navigate. Split into two section of sample projects and personal creation. We recommend that the student samples the basic projects first to see how the coding is applied and use the Book icon to explore the instructions and interface.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
Loquiz is an app that enables the user to create team games using its unique platform. Suitable for professionals this application can create games for any occasion, anywhere. Created on the website the games can be indoor quizzes, outdoor quizzes, outdoors games, and much more. This application is ideal for teachers and schools who wish to create a cool location-based game. This application is free from in-app adverts and provides some subscriptions for a single teacher charged annually, a small school charged annually and the 'pay as you go' feature for intermittent users. The application is available for Apple iOS and Android devices for both mobile and tablet formats. The app is supported by a developer’s website that includes the user's platform for creating new games. It is noted that for this review we will be using a trial version of the platform which has some limitations.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
Minecraft Pocket Edition is a mobile version of the popular Minecraft PC version. Minecraft Pocket Edition is widely played and much loved multi platform virtual construction game is surprisingly unutilized as an educational tool. Minecraft Pocket Edition download is available for iOS (iPad and iPhone), Android, Windows Phone, and Amazon Fire tablets.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
Roblox is a gaming and social-network app aimed at young people aged 12+. The experience it provides leans heavily on communication skills and it can be a gateway for would-be game developers to start creating. It is available across many formats including iOS, Android, Amazon and Windows. An open, social network-based app for children that, while free to download, encourages players to spend as they play was likely to attract controversy and it has. This review of Roblox focuses on whether Roblox is safe for kids.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
Codea is is a software development tool that includes resources to teach kids to program in the Lua programming language. Kids familiar with programming can pick it up and pretty quickly start writing their own programs, like games or other graphics.
Devices: iPhone, iPad