Biology covers such a wide range of topics that incorporating interactive games into your learning process will allow you to focus specifically on one category at a time. Playing games is beneficial and will put your competitive skills to the test while learning simultaneously.
Since there are many types of games on the market, we broke it down into different segments to make it easier to pick your learning style. Read on to learn more about each game and how it can benefit your progress in learning biology.
- Board Games
- PC and Video Games
- Classroom Games
- Party Games
Board Games Reap Many Benefits
Playing board games is always a great way to get friends and family involved physically and mentally. Physical games can bring many different benefits, along with learning a new subject. Some of those advantages include:
- Using higher levels of brain function
- Being interactive with friends, families, and sometimes strangers
- Learning patience
- Setting goals
- Assists in reducing stress and limits multitasking
- Influences self confidence and creativity
Studying Biology while creating new skills will allow anyone to enjoy studying a new lesson.
Cytosis is a Cell Biology Game
The game Cytosis is the ultimate Biology learning game. This board will teach the player how to build enzymes, hormones, and receptors using body components such as:
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Lipids
- DNA
Cytosis uses science vocabulary, macromolecules, and organelles to engage the player’s mind.
This game is highly recommended for those looking to learn Biology on a more interactive level. It is perfect to play in class, after school, or at home with classmates. There are also many editions and bonus packs. Be sure to purchase those after you succeed at this one!
Periodic Teaches You the Elements
A game that encourages you to learn the elements while building your strategic skills, Periodic is great for Biology and Chemistry.
Rated for kids 10 and up, this science board game has the player’s move across the periodic table to perform tasks like:
- Activate periodic trends
- Collect elements
- Research element groups
Periodic is an excellent game to play prior to a big test or if you are just simply trying to learn the periodic table better.
Periodic is a Fast Paced Element Game
This game makes learning the periodic table fun as players move across the periodic table like a game board. You collect elements using periodic trends. Can be played by adults and kids over 10. All players play at once, which makes it very exciting and educational all at once. Periodic combines skill, luck, and strategy!
Escape E.V.I.L. is an Award Winning Science Game
This science inspired game is designed to ignite curiosity in all of the players and to encourage further learning within the field. The game is built with magic tricks to teach the students which chemicals to use to make these magic tricks come to life. It is then followed by trivia questions that challenge the players to know the correct answer in order to move forward on the board. Escape E.V.I.L. is a fun and educational STEM game that requires your full devotion to fun and learning!
Pandemic Will Teach You to Fight Diseases Together
Pandemic is a board game that gets everyone to work together to fight off a deadly virus. Each player gets assigned a title, and jointly the team attempts to stop the virus from hitting some of the largest cities all over the world.
This game teaches you the significance of outbreaks and how it takes a large team, such as the CDC, to put a stop to an epidemic and create a vaccine to keep the population alive. Pandemic can be played with up to four players and will encourage team building skills.
Virus is a Very Contagious Game
This game consists of only cards, making it a very simple on-the-go game to be played anytime and anywhere! Virus is a fast paced game that teaches you how to fight off a virus from your own body.
There are several illustrated cards consisting of:
- Organs
- Medicine
- Viruses
- Treatments
Each card has a level of significance that will help you win. The ultimate goal to have four different healthy organs. Virus is an easy to learn game that will keep you wanting to play more!
Photosynthesis Teaches the Life Cycle of Plants
This is rated one of the best environmental board games. A highly strategic game that leads you to taking trees through their life cycle, starting with seeding and watching them come into full bloom.
The key is to earn points as the leaves on the trees and plants collect energy from the sun. You will have to place your seeds in throughout locations to make sure they will grow efficiently. Photosynthesis is an excellent game to teach how to plant and shape a forest. This will show how plants grow and the benefits of the sun to our main source of oxygen.
Subatomic is an Atom Building Game
A board game that requires cards and tokens, Subatomic will teach the players how protons, neutrons, and electrons are formed. They will then use those cards to trade or buy more powerful cards that will construct elements, which is where the points come in.
The more elements created, the better chance you have of winning. Subatomic is recommended for players that have played deck building games before, or those that are willing and patient enough to learn.
Ecosystem Teaches How to Build Living Homes for Animals
A game that teaches all about ecology and animals, Ecosystem is a great game for those ready to learn how to care for all living creatures. The goal of this game is to create an ecosystem that is sustainable and diverse.
Cards are dealt and placed accordingly on your turn to slowly build a 4 x 5 grid of cards that contains your ecosystem. You are able to trade and pass cards however, this is a strategic game, so we recommend passing wisely! The best part about Ecosystem is that every time you play, you will create a new one-of-a-kind ecosystem of your choice.
Evolution Has Over 12,000 Species to Learn About
Every game has a different adventure and is geared to teach you about many different creatures that have crawled on this Earth. The point of this game is to thrive in an ecosystem where the food is scarce, and the predators are always searching for their prey.
You receive points for achieving tasks such as:
- Feeding your species
- Increasing their population
- Evolving them to ensure survival as a whole
This game is great to learn more about the animals that were on this planet before humans. After Evolution was created, more extension packs were formed, including:
- Climate
- Climate Conversion
- The Beginning
Planet Will Have You Wanting to Learn More About Earth
Planet is a strategic game that teaches mostly about how the Earth was created and then allows you to create your own. The game includes:
- Planet cores
- Continent tiles
- Animal cards
- Natural habitat objective cards
Throughout 12 turns, you will have the options to create a world of oceans, deserts, and mountains and see which landscape can adhere to each ecosystem.
You will have to exert your strategic and competitive skills to create the most populated planet. With a very cool set up and magnetic dice to play with, Planet is a great game for kids aged eight and up.
Virulence is Highly Infectious
Virulence is a game that requires bidding and engine building skills to win. Players essentially compete as the virus to collect as many viral cards to eventually take over the host cell and cause a sickness.
Each turn, a new card is revealed, allowing the player to bid to help improve their hand and make their virus the strongest and most deadly. As long as you avoid powerful vaccines and grow your virus the quickest, you will come out the most infectious!
Virulence helps teach the severity of viruses and how quickly they can spread throughout the body. Perfect for a new Biology student that is trying to understand sicknesses and their cures.
Peptide is a Protein Building Game
Using organelles and amino acids, the player is instructed to build peptide chains to learn more about Biology. Players will gather resources and will strive to match colored RNA cards with amino acid cards to make their chain. The player at the end who has the chain worth the most protein points wins that round!
As easy as it sounds, it takes way more luck than expected. Try out Peptide with classmates and friends and show up to class impressing your teacher with the new skills and knowledge you have learned from this game!
Science and Nature BrainBox is a Top Brain Challenge
A game that can be played solo or with friends, Science and Nature BrainBox is great for memory practice, quick responses, and trivia questions.
The objective of the game is to study the pictures and facts on a card for 10 seconds, flip the cards over to try and answer the trivia questions about that subject as quickly as possible. Known as the ten minute brain challenge, Science and Nature BrainBox can either be played daily or for longer periods of time occasionally.
Video Games Use Modern Technology
As most kids are more engaged with technology and online games, using science based video games is a great way to encourage learning in their preferred way.
Most video games give the player the option to play as a single player or as a multiplayer. Either way, they are highly interactive as it will require more than just physical skills. Remember that most video games can be purchased online or downloaded directly to the computer.
Immune Defense is a 2D Real Time Game
Within this video game, the player will learn practical knowledge on molecular cell biology by using immune components such as:
- Cells
- Signals
- Receptors
The player will fight against pathogens that are attempting to make a home while using a new form of technology and fighting against the most advanced natural defense system.
Some of the pathogens have invaders that will fight back. It is suggested to use your defenders wisely in order to defeat all of the invaders and create a safe home body to live in! Immune Defense is a very interactive video game that will engage your mind enough to make you ready to fight any pathogen that crosses your path.
Progenitor X Goes Into the Future
This is a narrative driven game that leads you into different scenarios of problem solving. The basis of this game is to help teach the player about new Biology subjects including:
- Cells
- Tissues
- Organs
- Stem cell research
It is a well rounded computer game that teaches many different aspects of Biology. However, the main goal of Progenitor X is to learn how to advance regenerative medicine and medical device engineering.
Tyto Online Creates a New Planet
As planet Earth has gone extinct with life, a new planet called Ovo has been found and is now in the process of creating a new population. As the character of Tyto, the player gets to take on the role of forging a new life on a distant planet.
Throughout the game, quests are completed that assist in teaching the best ways to form and establish new life on Ovo. Tyto Online is an excellent multiplayer game for middle school aged kids to learn about the best and safest way to create and save life.
Guardians of the Genome is a Virtual Reality Game
A game that truly makes you feel like you are submerged in it, Guardians of the Genome is a biology based game designed to help teach about DNA.
The virtual reality will place you inside of the nucleus and teach you how to put together the appropriate links to form new life. The player will have to differentiate between DNA bases and pairing to create the proper sequences. Guardians of the Genome is a fantastic virtual reality game for all ages and anyone ready to take on the task of creating new DNA strands.
Cell to Singularity is Just as Much Entertainment as it is Educational
A single player game that teaches the player how to evolve from a single cell to a cutting edge technological civilization.
Cell to Singularity is all about going back over 4.5 billion years ago to see how evolution began. As you conquer tasks you will unlock new chapters that will advance you into the next step of evolution. This game is geared to be entertaining while teaching the player about evolution at the same time.
Bacteria Combat is a Card Based Online Game
Bacteria Combat is an online battle game through playing the right cards. There are over 30 unique cards that consist of:
- Infectious bacteria
- Health boosting bacteria
- Antibiotic and immune cell cards
The battle is against pathogens and antibiotics with the goal to be a realistic game. Bacteria Combat was created by scientists to make it very similar to the human body. The best part about this game is that there are periodic tests throughout to help track your learning progress. Definitely a game worth buying for your kids!
Classroom Games are Great at School and at Home
Typical classroom games are an excellent way to share knowledge and lessons in a fun way. Classroom games usually involve the entire group. However, they can always be modified for less people if needed. As long as there is one person in charge, like the teacher or parent, these games will always go smoothly with a fun learning lesson too!
Jeopardy For More Than Three
You can always play the basic way of having three contestants who have to buzz in to answer in the form of a question, or you can design the game to be played for the whole class. There are many options for setting up this game, including having teams rather than individuals playing.
However you set it up, there should be at least five different Biology based categories and points that will keep the teams all battling to be on top. Have the students buzz in to answer. If they get the question correct, then points are assigned, and they take control of the board! If they do not get the question right, they must forfeit those points that were up for grabs, and another team now has a chance to steal them. Jeopardy is a great game to play with all ages and any school subject.
Taboo Will Make You Think
Taboo is a heavy thinking game even though it is very fast paced. There is an assortment of cards created with a main word on top that the student will try to get their team to guess. However, they are not allowed to say certain words that might help describe the top word.
The student will have to think out of the box on how to get their team to guess the correct word without stumbling. The team that guesses the most correct words within a minute gets a point for that round. You can always change this game up by making it a form of charades!
Bingo To Make the Time Go By
Bingo is a fairly easy game to get the students involved. Rather than just having numbers and BINGO letters, it can be fun to turn this game into a study guide.
Have the teacher or supervisor ask a question, and the answer will be on the bingo card. The student will have to place their token on the correct answer in hopes of getting five in a row to win that card. The more the student knows about Biology, the likelier the chance of winning!
Pictionary Biology Style
Pictionary is always a fun game to play with a creative group. A great way to turn this game into biology style is to simply have all of the pictures be something related to Biology. You could play this game each time a new subject is taught to make it more categorized, or you can have a free for all and allow the kids to draw anything they have learned about Biology.
The point of the game is for one student to draw a picture that is described to them. They will then be the only person allowed to draw while the rest of the group will have to guess what the picture is of! The first team to reach a certain amount of correct guessed points wins a prize!
Twenty Questions to Figure Out Who Am I?
There are many variations of Who Am I or What Am I but playing Twenty Questions is a fun and quick way to keep the game on a good pace. The purpose of the game is to have every student that is playing be assigned some sort of Biology topic. Once the student knows what their title is, they now have to try and guess someone else’s title within 20 questions. This happens while someone is trying to guess your title as well. This game is great to play with a smaller group as it can get confusing if more than one person ends up with the same title.
Party Games for Sleepovers and Birthdays
A lot of times parties end up having a theme. Why not make it a two in one and have it be a science based theme! Getting the neighborhood together to celebrate or to study in a fun way can always be a good chance to learn and have a good time. Many party games tend to be Do-It-Yourself, which makes it more satisfying when the kids enjoy all the hard work put into creating it!
Magnify Objects For a Better Look
A game geared to make the students look intensely at the photograph, Magnify Objects will help teach the kids playing what they are looking at without seeing the whole picture. Take around 10-15 objects and zoom in on the photograph to capture a magnified image. Next, draw a magnifying glass around each picture to make it look like the photo is zoomed in.
Have the students guess what each photo is of, and the player that gets the most items correct wins the game! This is a great way to get the students thinking and dissecting images to help then identify objects better.
Static Electricity Makes Your Hair Frizzy
Have the players pretend they are mad scientists and are preparing to create static energy! Give them each a balloon and an empty soda can, and have them blow up their balloon and rub it on their heads. Place the soda can on the flat surface and use the balloon to try and get the soda can to move.
Make it a race to see which kid can move their balloon the farthest! At the end of the game, encourage the kids to rub the balloons on their hair to see how static works more than just one material!
Test Tube Relay Race For a Team Battle
This is a cool game to get everyone at the party involved! The easiest way to play this game is to divide the players into two teams and have one person from each team race to the lab (or the kitchen) to fill a test tube with water.
To make the game more intense you can add color dye to encourage the student to learn how to interchange and mix the colors to create a more diverse test tube outcome.
After the students fill their test tube with their assigned water, the student should run back to the next member of the team and pass the test tube on for them to continue the race. The next person then empties the test tube with intentions to fill it with their assigned colors and water. The first team to fill each test tube and return back to the finish line wins the race! A great way to get everyone’s adrenaline up and everyone’s mind racing.
Biology Games Will Always Encourage Learning and Fun
Any sort of game will allow the players and supervisors to expand their knowledge when it comes to learning a new topic. Any of these can be played in a school setting or at home, which makes learning Biology even more desirable.
We recommend checking a few of these games out and making up some new ones with your creative and imaginative skills. Just remember that teaching Biology through board games, video games, classroom games, and party games will no doubt benefit all that are playing!
Since you’re here, why not check out the following article on free scientific animation videos.