On this lovely ‘Humpday’, are you looking for some lightweight tech tools to aid your classroom management or just to insert some fun? Take a look at our quick list of 3 fun edu-tech tools below. Let us never forget the power of FUN in our students’ learning. Sparkle Box School (2021) lists 12 reasons why fun learning is important in a post entitled “Fun Learning For Kids: Why Is It Important?” The quotes below highlight 3 of the reasons why fun learning is important which we think our 3 recommended digital tools below will help facilitate.
1. It helps children to learn easily.
2. It helps in better retention of knowledge/skills.
3. Teaching in a fun way will strengthen the educator-student bond.
Sparkle Box School (2021)
- Bouncy Balls – https://bouncyballs.org/
This digital tool allows you to measure and manage classroom noise of visualize music. This tool is sure to excite and delight your students. A collection of colourful balls, shudder, shimmy and shake according to the noise level in your classroom. You are able to adjust the noise sensitivity and change the balls to emoji, bubbles or eyeballs! Sure to bring a smile to you and your students’ faces, I recommend you give this tool a try.
2. Wheel of names – https://wheelofnames.com/
This simple and effective randomizer has many many applications. From selecting names randomly for activities in class to brain break activities, this tool is very helpful. With the ability to add in excess of 60 entries, it will be more that appropriate for most class rolls. Many customization features such as adding images, changing colours and removing chosen results really make this free tool a gem of a find. Have a look at the video below which gives 10 great ideas for using this tool.
3. Classtools.net Soundboard – www.classtools.net/soundboard/
A simple 1 page tool which is a part of the larger Classtools.net website is a nifty little platform which can be used to add entertaining sound effects to your lessons, class debates, discussions and more. Sounds of a round of applause for a correct answer, or a ticking clock when time is running out, are sure to liven up classroom activities!
Let’s not forget to add a little FUN educators! Thankfully digital tools and tech can help us do so even more! As Sparkle Box School (2021) says “Honestly, who doesn’t like fun? This is a no-brainer for most people; having fun while learning allows you to be more engaged with what you are doing, which leads to better retention and some bonus nostalgia from past times when things seemed more straightforward (and it was fun all the time).
References
Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/RAtKWVlfdf4?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink
Sparkle Box School (2021). Fun learning for kids: Why is it important? Fun Learning For Kids: Why Is It Important? – Sparklebox.school. (2021). Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://sparklebox.school/blog/importance-of-fun-learning/
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