For many years I observed how children are taught in the classroom and how they play in a gaming environment. Learning takes place in both settings. Yet the former is formal and the latter is fun. It seems that I have now made it my life mission to discover a way to bring the fun in science without the formality of it.

For the past 10 years I have been searching for this elusive way and I’ve come to realise that the answer does not lie with us as teachers but with the kids themselves. Having children of my own now has exposed me to more toys and games than even my kids could wish for!

What has struck me is that there is a consistent set of ingredients that run through Dora the Explorer, Pokemon, Skylanders and so on. Here is a list of, what I call must-have ‘ingredients’:

1. Characters – kids love fun, colourful, endearing (and not so endearing) creatures. They can relate to them being silly, funny even some scary ones for the older Key Stage 2 and 3 ages.
2. Story – adults and children alike love a good story. Our imaginations seem to be bolstered with fiction that is brought to life either visually or in our own heads. This is vital for engagement with the audience.
3. Puzzles – there is something to solve. Kids have an objective and a series of tasks to achieve that objective. The payoff of doing so brings me to the next ingredient…
4. Rewards – whether it is the ‘winning’ against an opponent or going up a level on a console game, points awarded and prizes won, whatever it is that payoff is there is that vital ingredient that keeps children playing again and again.

I’m sure others might be able to add to this list. But for a long while I didn’t realise that I was creating teacher-led resources that were created with the intention of learning first rather than child-led games where playing first was priority. That realisation has only occurred  to me recently  which has helped me refocus whilst creating new science games.

Observing children when they play is vital because I learned that children begin to make up their own rules whilst at the same time knowing they are breaking the actual rules of the game. An adult might feel compelled to interfere and tell them not to do it for science games yet it is far more interesting to see children play games their own way. It becomes theirs not ours. Their own choice. It’s an empowering feeling to break rules and make them your own even as adults. Although most of us begin to ‘go with the flow’, ‘not rock the boat’, ‘keep to status-quo’ etc. There are those of us who just want to try something new and that connects with our inner child. It’s not a bad thing at all.

So learning from children playing games has helped me refocus on experimenting a little with game design and creating new science games that aim to be fun first, hopefully – well that is my life mission after all.

Therefore, 2016 will see a new kind of focus on science games. And what better way to begin the year than involve children directly to create the characters of a new game.  Full STEAM Ahead will be launched as an experiment in its own right to bring the building blocks of the universe as characters themselves. Puzzles in the form of creating new ‘Modes’ of play. Stories that involve camaraderie team of 12 year olds out to explore the universe and discover these characters and winning in ways that includes prizes and from participating in the project. It is going to be an interesting year of learning for us all but, most importantly, it will be fun too.