Are you a parent who is dreading the anguished cries from your child? “I’m bored!”During the long winter break, what can you expect from your children? Do you worry that your students will forget the skills you taught them in the last few months?
This winter, take action to reduce knowledge loss
If you’re a parent and you’re tired of visiting the museum, making holiday cookies, and going down the sledhill, why not try something new this winter? Create a videogame together. It can be a holiday assignment for teachers.
Yes, that’s right. This is how you can create and play a video game.
Making video games can be a fun way to keep your children learning during holidays or when they’re indoors in the winter. It also makes it easy to make them feel engaged and excited about learning. It has been shown that video game design can help kids develop critical science, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as valuable 21st century skills such problem solving and critical thinking. It is a great way of spending quality time with your child to help them learn.
Now that you are convinced, how can you start? Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) offers two options:
* Find your local Boys & Girls Clubs. Many of the more than 4,000 Clubs offer Club Tech, which encourages technology literacy and accessibility. Through a partnership between the AMD Foundation’s AMD Changing the Game initiative and the AMD Foundation, select Clubs offer Club Tech: Game Tech. This program is intended to teach videogame design.
* Visit BGCA’s youth website MyClubMyLife.com to download information that is appropriate for all ages. Navigate to Game Tech under the ARTS & TECH section for a copy of the course guide, which will direct you on how to implement Game Tech at home.
Game Tech offers a learning bonus that challenges children to create games with a social component. The games help players solve real-world problems like reducing poverty or saving energy. This means that your children will not only learn STEM skills but also become better citizens.
Most importantly, kids don’t know they’re learning anything when they create video games. They’ll continue to learn. Continue learning.
For more information about technology programs offered by Boys & Girls Clubs of America, visit www.bgca.orgYou can use the following: The following can be used: “Find a Club”Use this feature to find your local Club. Visit AMD Changing The Game for more information. www.amd.com/changingthegame.
