Using unit studies in your homeschool is a fun way for your kids to have a say in what they are learning. Sure you can buy a unit study but I prefer to put my own together with free or cheap resources. Here is what we used for our gaming unit study last month.
I do unit studies for Science and Social Studies but you can also include Language Arts, Math, Handwriting and more into any unit study.
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Gaming Unit Study Resources
Here are the resources I chose to use and a few that we didn’t get to.
Documentaries
My kids are interested in different types of gaming so the way we did it was my daughter watched the Minecraft one and my son the Xbox one. Since the Minecraft one is so long, my son also had his pick of the Super Mario Bros 3, Tetris or NES ones. We didn’t end up watching the Roblox one.
The Story of the Xbox (Youtube)
The Story of Super Marios Bros 3 (Youtube)
The Story of Tetris (Youtube)
Nintendo Entertainment System (YouTube)
The Story of Minecraft (Youtube)
The Complete History of Roblox (Youtube)
The Future of Gaming (Netflix)
Resources from Twinkl
*NOTE: Twinkl is an amazing resource. I am linking to the Canadian version but you might be able to find these on other countries Twinkl websites too. Twinkl’s resources are mostly premium however you can get premium resources for free in a few different ways. You can sign up for the newsletter and get at least one email a month with a link to pick a premium resource for free. Your choice what it is. They also have regular free days where you can download as much as you want during 24 hours. The newsletter will alert you to those days. If you don’t mind paying for resources, the price is SO low. It’s definitely worth the premium membership.
History of Gaming Pack – we used some materials from this plus my kids knowledge to create a timeline on a long piece of paper. We did decade by decade and drew or wrote important events, accomplishments, releases and problems that happened during gaming.
Design Your Own Gaming Console – after learning about the history of consoles we designed our own.
Health Gaming Tips – We brainstormed tips for healthing gaming and wrote them on this sheet. After learning about in what ways gaming is good or not good for you and cyber safety they knew the answers they needed.
Gaming Top 5s – My kids liked reflecting on the games they like with this.
Gaming Challenge – We didn’t end up having time for this one but this is a fun way to incorporate actual gaming in.
Gaming in the Future – we watched a documentary about gaming in the future (see below) and then created our idea of where gaming might go in the future.
Angles Rules Gaming Worksheet – if you want to incorporate math into your gaming unit study, you can try this.
Gaming Writing Frame – I printed off one for each kid and then at the end of the study they had to write something they learned, or anything about gaming.
Books to Buy or Get from Library
The High Score and Lowdown on Video Games – we didn’t have this but it looks great.
Gamer Girls – didn’t have this one either but would be good to use as a morning basket thing where you read a bit about a person each day.
What is Nintendo – I bought this but it ended up falling through. I love this series though.
Escape from a Video Game Series – this would make a good read aloud choice.
Can You Become a Pro Gamer? – we read this last year but it fits. This is a choose your own adventure type book. My review.
You Wouldn’t Want To Live Without Gaming – Part of a cool series, it discusses gaming history and pros and cons of gaming. My review.
Other Resources:
Guess the Video Game by It’s Music (YouTube) – we actually had done this last year for music class but I thought it would be a good idea for a gaming study as well. Most of them play the music for a few seconds before saying what game its from. I couldn’t believe how many my son named.
Video Game Wordsearch (free)
Minecraft Workbooks – This could be a way to incorporate math and handwriting if your children love Minecraft. (Not necessarily cheap)
Minecraft Printables – these are designed for the younger crowd. A good way in include your younger minecraft players in your unit study.
See Also:
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