Machine Learning For Game Design

How Do ABCya Games Help Kids Learn?

Photo Courtesy: @ABCyaGames/Twitter

Kids from kindergarten through grade six and beyond can use ABCya's interactive games and videos to learn math, spelling, social studies, typing skills and more. The games can be played using a computer or mobile device with internet connection, and new content is added every month.

ABCya (pronounced like A-B-See-ya!) is designed to help teachers and parents alike in providing children with a fun and exciting learning experience. If you're curious about whether ABCya is right for a kid in your life, this is what you need to know.

What Is ABCya's Mission?

ABCya was founded in 2004 by a pair of married schoolteachers right when they were starting their careers. They decided to create the website after discovering that other free game sites were, in the words of co-founder Alan Tortolani, "a never-ending labyrinth of sites for kids loaded with violence, difficult navigation and inappropriate ads!" He and his wife, Lisa, wanted to make educational resources that were free for other teachers and parents yet also fun for kids.

Photo Courtesy: @ABCyaGames/Twitter

They were soon wildly successful, with teachers across the country using the website in their classrooms. ABCya eventually launched a mobile app version of the site as well as standalone versions of their games, including Math BINGO, which topped the iTunes store's educational games category when it came out in 2011. Since then, ABCya has remained committed to creating games that are educational, easy to navigate and appropriate for children. The website itself even earned Kidsafe's COPPA-certified seal of approval, meaning it meets various privacy and online safety standards outlined by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), a federal privacy law.

Does ABCya Support Common Core Standards?

The ABCya website can be browsed by theme, subject, genre and grade, with the latter designed around Common Core standards. Fifth-grade students can play High-Stakes Heist to practice the use of brackets, parentheses and braces and other kinds of algebraic thinking or Parts of Speech Quest to work on conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. Meanwhile, second-graders can review their understanding of science with games like Hydro Logic and States of Matter or identify misspelled words in Submarine Spelling Practice, Earth Day Word Search or Pancake Panic: Homophones.

Photo Courtesy: @ABCyaGames/Twitter

However, ABCya doesn't focus on just Common Core Standards alone. While writing, language arts, science, math and multiplication are likely to be favorite subjects for teachers preparing students for standardized tests, the website also sorts its games into art and music, social studies and typing games. Robot Islands even teaches basic programming skills, while the Step Right Up! series includes Spanish and Italian vocabulary games.

On top of that, all games are designed with a mix of bright colors and fun characters to keep children engaged. From Joe Lost to Danger Dame to Flappy Dragon, ABCya aims to offer children a genuinely entertaining experience even as it helps them build the skills they need.

What Else Does ABCya Offer?

While video games make up a large portion of the ABCya website, it also offers a wide selection of illustrated books that children can read. Although they tend to be brief, many come with full audio narration. You can also print out ABCya-themed coloring sheets that depict scenes and characters from their games, like Rivette the Time Traveler. If you have common crafting materials available, you can even watch videos to guide you through fun arts projects. These can be as simple as a 3D cube or as complex as an origami kitten or papier-mache pinata.

Photo Courtesy: @ABCyaGames/Twitter

Lastly, parents and teacher can find game recommendations and news, tips on incorporating ABCya into lesson plans, advice on keeping kids entertained and more on the ABCya blog. Just click on "Parents and Teachers" in the top-center of the homepage followed by "Blog." And if you're curious about the technical requirements for playing ABCya games or want to know more about using the mobile app, you can learn more here.