Media Item: PBS Kids Health Games

Title:

PBS Kids Healthy Habit Games 

Bibliographic/Website Information:

http://pbskids.org/games/healthy-habits/

Weekly Requirement:

Media Item

Summary: The PBS Kids Healthy Habits website includes games that teach children how to live a healthy lifestyle. The games feature characters from PBS Kids shows such as Sesame Street, Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and many others. The games address a number of health topics such as exercise, nutrition, parts of the body, and various illnesses such as viruses and asthma. The games incorporate math and language skills as well as basic concepts such as color and shapes.

Quantitative Reading Level:

Not identified, however the games are geared towards younger elementary school children.

Qualitative Reading Level:

The website itself is organized simply with easy links to each game. The qualitative level varies between the games since some of them are more complex than others. A number of the games require background information, such as Woofster’s Delicious Dish that requires the player to have some prior knowledge of the four food groups. The language complexity various between games as well. Games like Color Me Hungry involve the characters explain health concepts more detail, in this case the health benefits of various foods, while other games like Zoe’s Dance Moves which requires basic selecting and clicking do not explain the health benefits of the game. All of the games are in cartoon form.

Content Area: 

Biology - Health

Math

Maine Common Core Area Standard:

 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). (Illustrations cartoon images)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.4
Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text. (text being games)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. (Text being the games)

 

Curricular Suggestions:

Many of the games such as the Hungry Games and Color Me Hungry can be used for lower elementary concepts such as patterns, numbers and colors. Other games such as Virus Hunt can be used between second and fourth grade to teach about reading maps and understanding the compass rose directions of North, South, East, and West. Sully the Cell can be used for second and third grade science class to explain different organs in the body. All of the games are excellent for teachers to suggest during free choice time or indoor recess as well