In recent years, playing video games has stopped being seen as an idle pastime. Although many are made for nothing more than fun and entertainment, a surprising number of them are made with education in mind. Video gaming is a robust activity that stimulates the mind and leads to greater focus, social skills, and hand-eye coordination.
Can Video Games actually make you smarter?
Video games can improve cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and spatial reasoning, according to research. However, the extent to which video games can make someone “smarter” is debated and may depend on the specific game and individual factors.
These following online video games however do not only provide a source of entertainment but can also make you or your child smarter. Spending hours a day focused on a video game does not mean that someone is not improving their cognitive abilities anymore. If you want to make sure your child is playing games that will enhance the mind and increase their IQ, check out the list below.
Logic Master 1
Featuring adorable hand-drawn graphics, Logic Master 1 is a brain teaser game that provides a multitude of puzzles that rely on memory and critical thinking skills to master each level. Developed by Weez Beez, this game features sound effects and graphics that are sure to distract your kid from the fact that they are completing increasingly tricky puzzles.
WordWhizzle Search
WordWhizzle Search has over 1,700 levels of fun and captivating word search puzzles that are sure to keep your mind focused. Word-search puzzles are known to help with reasoning and necessary logic skills while extending your vocabulary at the same time. If your kid is studying for a standardized test, a few word searches are an excellent tool for a break.
Additionally, your eyes focus on the words you are looking for in the search and can teach kids how to look for fine details and not get distracted by the overall picture. The onslaught of information with letters all over the screen can allow kids to improve their visual skills.
Sudoku
Sudoku is a fun game that can be found on many different websites. It often has multiple levels of puzzles to choose from, ranging in intensity from easy to extremely difficult. It works by presenting a series of grids, divided into nine squares. Each square is a three by three grid. At the end of the puzzle, every box is filled with a single number.
Within the square, you can only use each digit once. The same rule applies to the horizontal line and the vertical line. Easier puzzles have many numbers already filled in, and as you turn up the difficulty, there are fewer and fewer numbers to begin the puzzle with. Your brain starts to process these numbers and help you fill in the blanks.
I Love Hue
This vibrant color puzzle prompts you to rearrange all of the colors in the grid according to the chromatic theme of the individual level. For people who have some kind of color-blindness, playing games like this might help them realize that. However, children typically have keen vision and can tell the difference between shades of color with ease.
This game is so calming that you will not even notice that you have been playing and leveling up your creativity and logic skills at the same time. For a parent, there is nothing better than a type of education that your children can truly get lost in and enjoy so much that they even forget that they are still learning.
94 Seconds
This game is available to play in six different languages. 94 Seconds tests your ability to make educated guesses and helps you improve your powers of both deduction and reasoning. This game will give you three contextual clues: a letter, a word, and a category. You try to guess the right answer as quickly as you can since you only have 94 seconds to make that guess.
This game helps your brain make logical connections and leaps of deduction by training you to quickly analyze the information in front of you and then start drawing conclusions. Our brains naturally perform this function in many cases, but kids especially need to start making those connections so that they can do so later in life.
Solitaire
Previously a card game, many mobile phones, and websites have options to play this classic game. After being dealt a series of cards face down, each column has a single card on top that is face up. You can only move a card if it is the next sequential number below the card you are putting it on top of and if it is the opposite color.
Therefore you could move a red five onto a black six, but not onto a red six or a black four. Some solitaire games offer slight variations on these original rules, but the goal is to have every card facing up. Once all of the cards have been moved, you can draw a card from the remaining deck. Ideally, all of the cards will be revealed as you play in order to win.
Quiz Clash
This is a game that all of your kids can play together, or they can play with their friends. You can use this game to challenge multiple people to a battle of the brain while still picking up a few new facts along the way. Fight your way onto the international leaderboard, if you can, and enjoy seeing your name spotlighted.
If you have any interesting questions for them to incorporate into their quiz game, you can even submit them to the developers. If your questions are selected, you will even be paid a small amount by the developer. If your child is able to see their questions in the game, it will promote critical thinking and demonstrate that life rewards intelligence.
Skillz – Logic Brain Games
Logic puzzles have been shown to increase our IQs by up to four points and help preserve cognitive function if they are solved regularly. Card games like Solitaire have existed for many years to do the same thing that video games now do in increasingly creative ways.
Skillz Logic Brain Games is a game that requires strong attention to detail, and it will keep your brain limber and active. You might even see that your child is enjoying themselves so much that you want to play it too so that you can keep up with them, and your kids do not start running mental circles around you as they get older.
The game incorporates different kinds of skills, depending on the level. In one, you might need to remember the placement of certain symbols before they disappear. In another, you might need to identify the colors of words, which might not be so difficult if the words were not spelling the names of different colors.
Hex
Boasting literally never-ending gameplay with infinite levels, Hex is a mind puzzle that will challenge you to complete an endless number of shapes by rotating puzzle pieces on a board. You know that your child will never run out of levels or eventually beat the game since there is an infinite number of combinations available.
The replayability is not the only thing that Hex has going for it. Since it does not involve words or numbers, it focuses on spatial processing, which most adults lack. The connections that the mind draws to allow the pieces to come together and form a recognizable shape are precious for growing minds.
Other Video Games that Make you Smarter
Video games are often seen as a form of entertainment and waste of time, but they can also have educational benefits. Many video games require fast reaction times, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, which can enhance cognitive abilities and improve academic performance. Moreover, some video games are based on historical events, such as Assassins Creed and Age of Empires, which can provide a rich and immersive learning experience for players, that no classroom or textbook would be able to provide. They can explore different cultures, civilizations, and historical figures and gain a deeper understanding of the past.
Action video games that are often frowned upon, such as multiplayer first-person shooter games like Call of Duty, PUBG, Battlefield or Apex Legends offer other skills that are important in the real world. These skills include strategic planning, communication skills and teamwork.
Another example of a video game with amazing educational value is Minecraft. This game allows players to create and modify their own virtual worlds using blocks of different materials. Minecraft can foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation, as well as teach concepts such as geometry, physics, and engineering. Video games are therefore not only fun, but also educational in nature, and are a great way to offer a variety of learning opportunities for players of all ages.
Ensure a Healthy Amount of Video Gaming
Like any other activity, video games can also have negative effects if they are played excessively or become an addiction. Some of the downsides of playing too much video games include reduced physical activity, poor sleep quality, increased aggression, lower academic performance, and isolation from family and friends. Therefore, it is important to find a balance between enjoying and leaning from video games and engaging in other aspects of life.
One way to achieve this balance is to use a parental control tool, such as Limit Launcher, that can limit the amount of time that children can access video games. Parental control tools allow parents manage their children’s gaming and other online activities. They can help parents set limits for games and social media, as well as screen time limits. By using parental control tools, parents can ensure that their children benefit from all the educational and recreational values of video games, without running the risk of getting addicted and affecting their mental health negatively.
Conclusion
If you have been worried that your kids are wasting time with video games, think again. Gamers can benefit from different fun games in many different ways, as long as the gaming doesn’t turn into an unhealth habit. Limit Launcher allows you to control your kids’ video gaming. You can even set time limits for how long they can spend playing. However, knowing that they are playing games to make them smarter might encourage you to let them keep playing a little longer.
