16 Fun Video Games That Actually Teach Strategy

It’s true that video games are a ton of fun, but they can also be highly educational for kids, too. In fact, a study cited by Masala.com says that playing video games can actually boost creativity in young people.

Even anti-screen parents who swear off electronics like these video games for helping teach kids strategy. They are the best fun educational video games.

Yes, it sounds like the likely college for cartoon supervillains, but “Big Brain Academy” has been challenging kids with its crafty puzzles since 2005. 

The game claims to measure the player’s “brain mass” with its skills tests, but that’s likely just a way to keep the gameplay fun — while also teaching a system of rewards for making the right choices. This should serve the young ones well as they develop and mature.

If there are two things kids love, it’s animals and outer space. Professor Astro Cat takes players to the far reaches of the cosmos with the interactive app, “Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System.” It teaches kids about the sun, the planets and how celestial bodies revolve around and are attracted to one another — but requires users to make choices to unlock this info.

Popular Science heaped praise on the game as it goes beyond a “mere” educational primer and pushes players to make their own rockets and even explore the inside of the sun beside Astro Cat — without having to pack SPF 1 Trillion sunscreen.

Some games are so educational they all but brag about it in their titles. Nevermind that Oryctolagus cuniculus, better known as the bunny, couldn’t read even with the best of spectacles, “Reader Rabbit” has been helping kids learn their letters and numbers since 1983. 

The Washington Post even said the game served as a great stepping stone from learning at home to learning in the classroom. 

“Lightbot” is deceptively simple: The player navigates a cute little robot through a maze to turn on a series of lights (just like when Mom and Dad have to stumble through the house during a power outage). The site MakeUsOf.com says that this rather rudimentary repetition actually lays the groundwork for life skills such as sequencing and understanding procedures. 

Taken to a wonderful extreme, the strategic skills honed in “Lightbot” can even be used in software coding later on! Cool, eh?