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There are enough video games and PC games to leave kids mindlessly mesmerized for hours. Still, for all the idle-time game formats available, the potential for using games to engage students in active learning that promotes skills and concepts is huge. Software purchases are always an option, but there's always a newer, better version being released somewhere. Consider, then, the options you have for online games and puzzles. They're free, many are designed by educators, and they're as close as your Internet connection. Thanks to Jerry Blumengarten for his recommendations in this category. To see the previous edition of Games and Puzzles, please go to http://www.egroups.com/message/innovative-teaching/282.

• Afro-Americ@ Kid's Zone - http://www.afroam.org/children/children.html
  This site is dedicated to sharing African-American culture, traditions and history through many interactive activities. Click on the "All Fun and Games" link and be transported to some 17 interactive games all based on this theme. There are also more than a dozen brain teasers covering African facts and trivia, 16 myths and fables with illustrations, and a Discover Africa page that is still under construction but promises to be chocked full of information.
• Blocks: A Digital Building Toy - http://www.blockcorner.com/content.html
  This JAVA-based activity allows children to manipulate blocks on the computer screen to construct buildings without any of the classroom noise and disruption! This is not for preschoolers, though, Students must type in commands in order to make blocks, color them, and arrange them. I would highly recommend you look at the official guide before entering the block environment, as it wasn't intuitive for me at all. But once I looked over the simple starter instructions I was fine.
• FreeCampus - http://www.freecampus.co.uk/fun/game/
  This British site is brand new and still establishing itself. It has many learning options, but this games section is right on the money. The Fun Arcade and Dr. Brain's Word Games are ready to play (some require the Flash plugin). And the word games are not worksheet print outs, but actual interactive online activities in the format of wordfinds and crosswords - students can even check their answers! Angie's learning games are still to come.
• Javalovers - the Applet Showroom - http://www.javalovers.com/home.htm
  Intrigued by what you've seen JAVA do on different websites and wondering what might be available for instruction? Here's a great site to survey the possibilities! The word games include crosswords, word finds, wordfills, word mixes, pyramids and cryptographs. There's also a tangram, color by numbers, counting, attribute grouping, memory and word matching. And when the work's all done the Fun for Kids link offers another half a dozen activities that promote basic skills.
• Jumanji - http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/Jumanji/contest.html
  Sony pictures offers this Shockwaved simulation of the board game that started it all. Simply follow the directions, play the game, and see the implications for every fate-filled move right on your computer screen! There is a link back to a Sony movies game page, but it includes such fare as an Air Force One terrorist attack, so I would recommend sticking solely with Jumanji.
• Learning Kingdom Playground - http://www.learningkingdom.com/playground/
  You may have been aware of the Learning Kingdom for some of its daily offerings, but did you know they have a set of online activities which teach truly sophisticated concepts to kids? Animal names, squares of 2-digit numbers, and multiplication of two digit numbers by eleven are presented here using JAVA applets.
• Lego Games - http://www.lego.com/games/
  Transform your kids' love for Lego building blocks by having them transfer their hands-on designs into online construction and adventure. The new 3-d Lego building bricks are truly eye-catching, and the mazes and races can easily be translated back to Lego activities in your classroom. Some of the activities are based on the more sophisticated (and expensive) Technic kits, and three of them require a login name and password. But the free access that's available is more than worth your visit.
• Math Programming and Beyond - http://library.thinkquest.org/J002581/
  This ThinkQuest entry takes older students into an adventure involving algebra and visual basic programming. Students can save themselves alone or an entire fleet by completing algebraic and VB tasks. It is surprisingly quick-loading and it is offered in English and French.
• Maths File Game Show - http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/
  The BBC offers this offbeat Math game hosted by those wacky mathematician/celebrities Pythagoras and Hypatia! Students get to spin the wheel and participate in games on numbers, algebra, measurement and probability. There's also printable worksheets to accompany the online activities and a teacher support link to help you successfully integrate these games into your instruction.
• Online Eco-Games - http://www1.umn.edu/bellmuse/mnideals/watershed/watershed.html
  The University of Minnesota presents the Shockwave-based Watershed Game and Build a Prairie. In the Watershed Game (grades 4-8), students examine the many issues of managing a watershed and then get to see the impact of their decisions through this simulation. Build a Prairie (grades 4-8) students use QuickTime movies to see the prairie firsthand and learn about this delicate ecosystem. They actually can experience a prairie coming to life through the virtual reality animations used on this site.
• Photohunt in Yellowstone - http://www.photohunt.com/
  This simulation was an award winner in 1999: "Go on location to Yellowstone National Park in search of fame and fortune! You'll have a camera, a roll of film, and 12 chances to find your assignments". Whether you're studying geography, geology, National parks or wild life, this is a fabulous way to encounter part of our American heritage through this virtual field trip. And once students are done, they get to compete in a trivia quiz using a game-show style format. It's slow loading on a phone line connection but should do fine on a T1 or higher. Great stuff!
• US Patent Office Kids Games - http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/kidgames.html
  Studying inventors, inventions or simple machines? Here's a fun way to motivate your students to learn more! It's a collection of activities which are more dependent on content than flashy use of technology. There's a trivia game, a challenge to identify famous patents by their design, memory and matching games and true and false. But the best features are the Chicken and Egg and We Dare You links, which require more critical and creative thinking.
  

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