15 Online Learning Game Websites for Your Social Studies Class
Looking for ways to make social studies more interactive and engaging? There are a number of online learning games that can be a great addition to your social studies classroom! These games are great if you are teaching US history, world history, geography, civics, or economics. These games give students an opportunity to practice what they know, explore historical situations, make decisions, and build content
knowledge.
I'm always on the lookout for ways to use technology in a meaningful way in the classroom. While I don't think that technology should replace good teaching, the right game or simulation can be an excellent learning tool. The games listed here can be used as a warm-up, review activity, learning station, early finisher activity, assigned as homework, used during a remote learning day, or as a whole-class lesson.
Mission US - Interactive U.S. History
If you are looking for an engaging way to bring US history to life, Mission US is one of my favorite simulations. Students take on the role of a character living during a particular period of American history and make decisions that affect what happens next. This is so much more interactive than just reading about historical events, as students get to experience history from the perspective of a person who lived through them. I also love that these simulations incorporate historical vocabulary and primary source material. One thing to note is that there is still quite a bit of reading involved. I suggest using this in upper elementary or middle school, or play as a whole-class activity where the choices are read aloud.
Lizard Point - Geography Quizzes
If your students need to practice geography, Lizard Point is a great place to start. This site has hundreds of interactive quizzes covering countries, states, cities, capitals, physical features, flags, world leaders, and more. There are geography trivia quizzes and some content related to art and history too. The quizzes give immediate feedback and have a timed format so that it feels more like a game than a traditional quiz. This site is especially useful for early finishers, geography centers, or as a quick daily warm-up.
iCivics - Games for Civics and Government
One of the best-known sources for interactive civics education is iCivics. This site has games and other resources designed to help students understand government, citizenship, the Constitution, elections, the legal systesm, and civic participation. In the game "Do I Have a Right?", students run a law firm that specializes in constitutional rights. Students encounter scenarios that involve constitutional issues and have to determine how to respond. These games make abstract government concepts more concrete. I recommend using these games after introducing a new civics concept so that students can apply what they have learned in a simulated situation.
Engaging Congress - Explore Representative Government
This is a game-based format to introduce students to representative government and the work of Congress. What I like about Engaging Congress is that it includes the use of primary source documents. Instead of just memorizing facts about government, students are interacting with historical materials and exploring how representative government works. Have students play the game and then identify the primary sources they encountered. Use those primary sources as a starting point for a class discussion.
Free Rice - Trivia that Gives Back
My students always asked to play this game because it feels a little different than other games on the list. Free Rice is an educational trivia game in which students answer questions and earn rice donations for the United Nations World Food Programme. Every correct answer generates an equivalent of 10 grains of rice for the program. The site includes major subject areas so it is useful for general knowledge and review. This site also provides an opportunity to connect classroom learning with larger global issues such as hunger, poverty, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. One idea is to set a class goal for the number of correct answers students can collectively earn. Then discuss how a simple learning activity can connect to a real-world global issue.
The Simulation Lab - Learn by Making Decisions
This is a newer resource that takes the idea of educational games a step further. In The Simulation Lab, rather than simply answering trivia questions, students participate in a browser-based simulation where they make decisions, investigate evidence, and see consequences. The site currently has simulations for the Vietnam War, JFK Assassination, Timestamp, Build a City, and GeoDetective. In the Timestamp simulation, there are historical photographs and prints that ask students to identify when and where they belong. I suggest that, after completing a simulation, you ask students which decisions had the greatest impact and what evidence supports their conclusion.
Miss Information - Experiential Learning Games
The site Miss Information has a collection of educational learning activities that are designed to help students explore historical and social studies topics through interactive experiences. You'll find simulations, mock trials, mapping, and more. If you teach APUSH, there are lots of helpful resources.
WikiTrivia - Put History in Order
This is a great option for helping students grasp the concept of chronology. WikiTrivia gives students a fun way to practice historical chronology by asking them to put events in chronological order. This game's goal is to essentially put the world's knowledge in the correct sequence. This is a simple concept, but it can lead to great historical thinking because students have to estimate when something happened and compare it with other events they know. After playing the game, you could have your students choose three events from the game and research how they were connected. There is an option for a daily game or a free play version of the game that has different categories to choose from such as people, landmarks, leaders, history, and more.
Stop Disasters! - Build a Safer Community
This is a disaster preparedness simulation developed around natural hazards. In Stop Disasters!, Students are given a community and must make decisions about how to protect people and infrastructure from disasters. This isn't a traditional history game, but it was designed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. It is really useful for geography and thinking about communities, human-environment interaction, planning, resources, and risk. After your students play, one option is to have your students identify which investments they made and explain why they believed those choices would make the community safer.
Flagle - Can You Identify the Country?
This is basically the game of Wordle, but based on identifying a country's flag. The daily format of Flagle makes it easy to incorporate into a classroom routine. Instead of spending 30 minutes on a geography activity, you can use a quick round as a bell ringer or brain break. After your students have identified the country, one extension activity is to have them locate the country on a map, name its continent, and name its neighboring countries or capital.
History Detectives - Investigate the Past
This is a game from the BBC that allows students to investigate historical questions using evidence. In History Detectives, students travel to different historical settings and use historical inquiry skills to analyze the evidence. Topics include the Tudors, the English Civil Wars, the Industrial Revolution, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. History Detectives is a game that goes beyond memorization and is especially valuable for teaching historical thinking. One idea is to have your students keep an "evidence log" as they play. At the end, ask them to explain which piece of evidence was most important to solving the historical question.
TimeGuessr - Where and When?
This is a game that combines geography and history. TimeGuessr shows students a photograph. They must use visual clues to determine where and when the photograph was taken. You can zoom in on the photo and also on the map. The site has daily challenges, random games, as well as community-created games. This is a great site if you want to talk about how historians and geographers use evidence. What can a photograph tell us about a place? What clues might help us determine when it was taken? If you want to do this whole group, have your students write down three clues from the photograph that support their prediction. Then show the answer and discuss.
Seterra - Geography Practice Through Maps
This is another excellent option for geography practice. Seterra games focus on map-based quizzes and can help students learn countries, states, regions, and other geographic locations. This is particularly useful when students need repeated patice with geographic locations. I suggest choosing a different region each week and have students practice identifying its countries. At the end of the week, see how much their accuracy improved. Or turn this into a game with teams that work together and compete against each other.
MapTap - A Daily Geography Challenge
This is a fun game that is set up to be played daily. In MapTap, players are asked to identify locations on a globe. They have to try and get as close to the actual location on the globe as possible by zooming in. For example, they might be asked to locate New York City, and will need to locate, zoom, and click on the globe as close to that location as possible. Each day is 5 new locations. At the end of the game, information pops up about each location they were asked to find.
GeoHistory - Explore History Through Maps
GeoHistory is another site that combines history and geography to help students explore places and borders that have changed over time. Students can explore historical maps and see how countries, territories, and borders have changed. This is a great way for students to visualize how the political map of the world looked at different points in history. You could give students a historical event or time period and have them explore the map before and after the event. Then ask students to identify what changed and then explain why those geographic changes occurred.
What I love about these games is that you don't have to spend an entire class period doing them. You can use these as an exit ticket or warm-up, for early finishers, or just as a quick brain break. And with more schools moving away from devices, you could always do these whole group and select a few students to come up to the computer and serve as the computer navigator.
What did I miss? Do you have additional favorite online learning games? Add them to the comments!
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