What is Edutainment?

You may have heard of edutainment and wonder how education and entertainment coexist. What is edutainment, and how does it work? Why is it important for the classroom? Exploring edutainment and everything it offers will help you understand its benefits and how to integrate it into your classroom or home learning. 

Edutainment Overview 

Edutainment began as an experimental method of teaching which encouraged teachers to try new ways of drawing students into the lessons through entertainment. Edutainment is a form of educational instruction explicitly designed to make learning a more enjoyable experience. Within the classroom, that could involve activities like games, toys, media, and other experiences such as gamification. The unique combination of fun and learning motivates students through the learning process to improve the educational experience and overall retention. 

The Benefits of Edutainment 

There are many benefits to including edutainment in the classroom regularly. Edutainment often involves multiple senses, engages learners, and piques their interest, which can be short due to age and maturity. Educators adding entertainment to the classroom experience helps grab students’ attention and focus. Edutainment is also very effective at helping students get the most out of the learning experience. If they are engaged and motivated with higher retention, it is worth any extra effort involved in providing the edutainment experiences. 

Edutainment Games, Toys, & More

Bringing games, toys, and other interesting entertainment into the classroom draws students into the lesson in a new way and positively affects learning outcomes. 

Traditional Games for Edutainment 

Teachers can introduce games and puzzles into the classroom to work on and improve:

• Dexterity 
• Creative thinking
• Spatial relations
• Memorization 
• Logical thinking 
• Attention span 

Games to consider include, but are not limited to: 

• Jigsaw puzzles
• Chess
• Checkers
• Scrabble 
• Risk 

Online Games for Edutainment

Many online games provide students with a safe, entertaining, and educational environment. Fortunately, teachers have access to many online programs that allow students to review their spelling words, do math drills, practice geography, or learn programming. These websites are an excellent supplement to core lessons or work well for independent learning when students have free time. 

LEGO for Edutainment 

One of the most famous toys, the LEGO brick, is a popular construction toy that children and adults love. Students can build models like famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower or design their own creations. LEGO works well for many subject areas, adding a hands-on or interactive element to fine arts, robotics, engineering, history, or architecture lessons. Projects will help encourage creativity, motor skills, engineering, spatial recognition, and logic and reasoning. 

Edutainment Experiences 

Experiential learning helps students make connections and enjoy the learning process in an even more kinesthetic way. A field trip is the quintessential edutainment experience, as it moves students from the classroom to an immersive experience. Whether it is a children’s science museum or a living history museum, there is much to learn and absorb in a new way.

Physical education is an easier way to keep learning in school but it is still interactive. It can be something other than a PE class to get kids up and moving and learning too. Other teachers can encourage teamwork, communication, coordination, and other valuable skills through sports or other movement games. 

Edutainment Media 

Educational television shows and films are specifically created to entertain and educate viewers. One popular and highly recognized educational program, Sesame Street, has been used in classrooms for decades. Teachers can use documentaries, historical dramas, and literary adaptations to complement social studies and literature classes. Educational programming is a powerful way to reach visual and auditory learners and teach them about famous people or events in a different way. 

Gamification in Edutainment

Gamification is another form of edutainment and may work particularly well for students with a competitive spirit. Gamification aims to engage the player through gameplay elements like teamwork, competition, and scoring points. It is popular in classrooms because it can be used to self-motivate or foster friendly competition, promote fun, and reward learning during each step of the process. Gamification, such as educational software or a teacher-created game, comes in many forms.

Spanish Immersion Early Learning Programs 

When looking for an engaging, interactive, and exciting learning environment for your child, Casa de Corazón in MN and Shorewood, WI, offers everything your child needs. Our intercultural immersion program provides a socially responsible place for your child to explore and grow safely. Request a tour today and see what makes us unique.