I intended to spend this week posting about what I have learned at ISTE, but I came across this site last night, and could not wait to share it. It combines quite a few of the educational topics that are near and dear to my heart: creativity, self-designed learning, gamifying the classroom, and even programming for kids.
What is Gamekit? According to their site, “Each month, Gamekit will bring you a new game development challenge to stretch and build your creative muscles.”
The site has four warmups, currently, and I can’t wait to see what they add. My favorite one, so far, is “Mod a Board Game.” I’ve actually done an activity similar to this in my classroom, asking the kids to take an old board game they no longer play and to make it into a new game. You can use a lot of the tools from S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to do this.
Each warmup describes the steps, gives suggestions for how to “dive deeper”, and gives tips for educators. Under each warmup is an area for comments, where the community can give examples of how they completed the challenge.
In the “Design a Play Space” warmup, Gamekit has teamed up with Gamestar Mechanic to create a challenge – perfect for those aspiring video game designers.
I am really looking forward to seeing the evolution of Gamekit. I love this idea, and will be sharing it with the parents of my students to encourage some creative thinking during the summer months!