Harmony Game Room is a free app for iOS and Android from National University that includes a growing collection of games, tools, and other resources to help children in prekindergarten through grade 6 develop social-emotional learning (SEL) skills while they play.
Designed to be used alone or with Harmony’s SEL curriculum, Harmony Game Room brings important lessons to life in any learning environment. Children learn communication skills, develop empathy and pro-social behaviors, and build stronger relationships with their peers—all conveniently accessible from their mobile device.
Key features include Quick Connection Cards with hundreds of activities and conversation prompts; TheCommonalities Game, where students get to know their body; Battle the Bully Bot Game, which teaches positive ways to handle tough situations; The WISES Game, where students walk in someone else’s shoes; Bloopers and Boosters, interactive stories that help teach children to communicate effectively; and Relaxation Stations, activities to help practice focus and breathing.
The idea behind Ready Maker is to get everyone into coding—young students and beginners alike—by using gaming as an entry point. Since playing games appeals to many students, building one is a fun way to learn coding without focusing on the nitty-gritty of the code itself.
Two nonprofits, Experience Camps and Connected Camps, and University of California, Irvine have joined forces to create a Minecraft server that connects and supports students who have experienced loss. Children who join ExperienceCraft can build, chat, play, and share with one another across a wide variety of in-game activities. But those who participate have all had one unfortunate experience that ties them together.
Students in grades 4 and above can go on a behind-the-scenes virtual tour from NASA’s Johnson Space Center and explore the Callisto technology experiment that is heading to the Moon during the Artemis mission.