Game creation

Creating an educational game was quite thrilling process. Our game topic was “ Astronomy in Early Childhood Education: Solar System and outer space”. Therefore our game name was going to be a “SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUTER SPACE”.

The first thing that we did was figuring out who the game was intended for. We agreed that we are going to create a game for preschool children between the ages of 3-7. Also we decided what the game components are going to be. We found that the game components will be a programmable educational robot (Bee-Bot or Qobo), 5 x 5 game board, 18 game cards (pictures of solar system and astronomical objects).

After that we figured out the game rules and sample questions to use in the game. The game rules are:

1. Game cards are placed face down on the table.

2. The game board has a starting point and the same objects as are shown on cards.

3. First player takes the top card and programs the robot to move on the game board to the same object, which is shown on the card.

4. Teacher asks a question about the object. When the answer is correct, the player can collect the card.

5. Now it’s the turn of the second player. Action is the same.

6. The winner is the one who has collected more cards.

Game questions examples are:

• What planet do we live on?

• How many planets are in our solar system?

• Is the Sun a planet or a star?

• How long does it take Earth to revolve around the Sun?

• Which is the largest planet in our solar system?

• Which planet is the smallest?

• Which planet is the closest to the Sun?

• Which planet has the most moons?

• Which planet is the hottest in our solar system?

• Which planet is the coolest in our solar system? etc.

The game board (Figure 1) and cards (Figure 2) were done by using computer program.