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Your Child Earns Every Badge. Is the Skill Growing? How to Pick a Learning Game That Teaches

Your child will play a learning game for an hour. But is it teaching anything? See what this infographic says about focus and flow. Learn why points are not the skill. Then pick a game that builds one.

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Infographic: The Power and Practice of Game-Based Learning. Sections: Beyond Traditional Instruction; A Rising Educational Standard; The Science of Engagement, showing flow as concentration, skill balance, challenge, peak immersion and no outside distractions; a statistic panel on thinking skills; Core Benefits: more student engagement and stronger motivation; Parent and Educator Action Plan: curriculum integration, supplemental learning, and students designing their own games. Learning Success logo.
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Infographic: The Power and Practice of Game-Based Learning. Sections: Beyond Traditional Instruction; A Rising Educational Standard; The Science of Engagement, showing flow as concentration, skill balance, challenge, peak immersion and no outside distractions; a statistic panel on thinking skills; Core Benefits: more student engagement and stronger motivation; Parent and Educator Action Plan: curriculum integration, supplemental learning, and students designing their own games. Learning Success logo.

Your child sits with a learning game for an hour. No fuss, no tears. Then the homework comes out, and the fight starts. So you wonder what the game is teaching. Or if it is only keeping the peace. That is a fair question, and you are not the only parent asking it.

Common questions from parents

Are learning games good for kids?
Good ones help when the game practices a real skill. A math game where your child solves problems is math practice. A game that mostly hands out points is not. Use games alongside your child’s reading and math instruction, not in place of it.
Do brain-training games make kids smarter?
The gains are narrower than the name suggests. A large review looked at these claims (Simons et al., 2016). People got better at the game they trained on. It found little evidence of gains on distant tasks or in everyday thinking. If you want better reading, practice reading.
Are points and badges bad for my child?
Not always. A prize might help a child get started. But Deci, Koestner and Ryan (1999) looked at 128 experiments. Prizes tied to a task made people choose it less on their own. This was strongest for tasks they already liked. Keep the focus on the skill, and praise the effort.
What is flow in learning?
Flow is the word the infographic uses for deep focus. The child is so caught up in the task that time slips by. We see it most when the task is a little hard but doable, with quick results. You notice it when your child does not want to stop.
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Your child loves a learning game. Is it building a skill or handing out badges? Here is how to tell, and why brain games rarely help.

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What does this infographic say about learning games?

The infographic makes a few points. Here they are in plain words.

  • A good game holds attention. It keeps a child on the task in front of them.
  • The challenge fits the player. Not too easy, not too hard. The infographic calls this deep focus “flow.”
  • Games lift interest. Kids join in more and want to keep going.
  • Rewards keep kids moving. Some come from inside, like pride. Some come from outside, like points.
  • Games go beside teaching. Use them to practice hard ideas and add variety. Kids also like to design games of their own.

One panel gives a share of learners whose thinking skills improved. We could not trace that number to a study. So we do not use it. The image also says games boost schoolwork in general. That goes further than the studies do. Below, we say it a narrower way.

A points system makes a child feel like they’re learning. Real mastery makes them feel capable.

Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert

Why does a good game hold a child’s focus?

Psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci (2000) name three needs behind a child’s drive. Feeling in charge. Feeling capable. Feeling connected. Feeling capable grows best from the right level of challenge, plus quick feedback. A well-made game is built around both. Your child tries, sees the result, and tries again a little higher.

Points and badges are a different thing. Sailer and Homner (2020) pooled studies of game features in lessons. The features helped, but the gains were not big. Huang and colleagues (2023) looked at the three needs. Game features did not help students feel more capable than plain lessons did.

We see the third need at home all the time. A child gets a hard word right and looks up. The face they want to see is yours. No badge gives them that.

Prizes also have a catch. Deci, Koestner and Ryan (1999) looked at 128 experiments. Prizes tied to doing a task made people choose it less on their own. This showed up most for tasks they already liked. Praise did not do that. So a prize might help a child get started. It is a poor reason to keep going.

Key takeaways

  1. Right level, quick feedback: A good game stays a little hard and shows the result right away.
  2. Points are not the skill: Badges keep a child clicking. The skill is what makes them feel capable.
  3. Practice the real thing: Pick games where your child reads or does math, beside real teaching.

How do I pick a learning game that builds a real skill?

Start with one question. What does the game make your child practice? If it is math facts, it is math practice. If it is sounding out words, it is reading practice. That is the kind of game worth the time.

Some games promise to make kids smarter in general. That is the “brain training” pitch. The best-known review of those claims is by Simons and colleagues (2016). People got better at the game they trained on. Gains on other tasks were a different story. Here is why brain games rarely help reading or focus.

Use these checks before your child starts a new game:

  • It practices the real skill. A reading game has your child read. A math game has your child do math.
  • The level moves with your child. Too easy gets boring. Too hard brings tears.
  • Mistakes show right away. Your child sees what went wrong and tries again.
  • The fun is in the doing. Be wary when the prize matters more than the task.
  • Your child gets to make things. Inventing the rules for a spelling race is practice too.

Learning games work alongside your child’s reading and math instruction, not in place of it. Sit in for a round now and then. Ask your child to show you how they won.

Try this tonight. Watch your child play for five minutes. Then ask, “What did you have to know to win that round?” If the answer is the skill, keep the game. If the answer is “nothing,” find a better one. Teachers have their own test for a real learning game. Here is what teachers know about educational games.

“There is little evidence that training enhances performance on distantly related tasks or that training improves everyday cognitive performance.” Simons et al., 2016, Psychological Science in the Public Interest

The best learning game is the real skill, in a shape your child wants to play.

Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert

You don’t need a credential to be your child’s first teacher. You already are one. Too much of learning still counts points instead of skills. You saw what holds your child’s focus. Trust that. Get the free Focus Foundations PDF for simple ways to build focus at home.

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References

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.
  • Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627-668.
  • Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 32, 77-112.
  • Huang, R., et al. (2023). Gamification enhances student intrinsic motivation, perceptions of autonomy and relatedness, but minimal impact on competency: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Educational Technology Research & Development.
  • Simons, D. J., et al. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103-186.
· Learning Success expert Writes about the learning brain for parents who want plain answers. Every article is grounded in current neuroscience and classroom practice.

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