Students can explore Earth through free online games.
Whether you want to provide your students with extra practice, independent learning time or just fun, there are many free earth science games available on the Internet. While playing the games, students will discover Earth's layers, take a trip on the carbon cycle, voyage to the depths of the ocean and take center stage at a weather quiz show.
This is Your Life
Engaging Science provides six free online science games, one that focuses on earth science, "This is Your Life." The interactive game sets the stage of a game show with a robot for a host. A player must use clues to guess which layer of the earth a mystery guest behind the curtain is. Once a player figures out who all of the mystery guests are, she must stack them (the layers of the earth) in order from oldest to youngest.
The Carbon Cycle Game
From Windows to the Universe, "The Carbon Cycle Game" sends players in fourth through ninth grade out on a trip through the carbon cycle. At each stage, they must choose an arrow to determine which path they will take along the cycle. There are stops along the way with quiz questions, and each of the six reservoirs available to visit features a fact. A teachers' area provides standards information, assessment, learning outcomes and more.
Journey to Deep Sea Vents
"Journey to Deep Sea Vents" is a free earth science game on the American Museum of Natural History children's science website, Ology. The game sends players down through the ocean to explore until they get to a deep-sea vent where they will hunt for living organisms. A player clicks on specimens near the deep-sea vent for a closer view and a hint. He then decides if they are living and if so adds them to his specimen collection. Once nine specimens are collected, the player is awarded a prize of an Ology desktop image for their computer.
The Weather Game
The Center for Educational Technologies provides K4 Earth Science Modules, part of Exploring the Environment for teachers, where "The Weather Game" is one of four free earth science games students can play. Students compete in a multilevel game show with Jimmy Bowtie as their host. In the first round, they receive five points for each correct answer to questions such as "wind is..." There are three levels, with points values increasing at each level. A student who successfully completes all three rounds of "The Weather Game" becomes a bowtie master. Online stories, hand-on activities and topic overviews are available to go with the game.
Tags: earth science, free earth, free earth science, Weather Game, Carbon Cycle Game