30 Educational Games Your Middle Schooler Will Love

Games are an important part of our homeschool routine here at The Waldock Way. We love learning through gameschooling! Educational games can help keep your middle schoolers engaged and excited about learning.

You can use games to teach just about every subject! There are board games and card games kids can play independently or with the whole family. Apps and virtual games can be used to add learning opportunities to screen time too. 

Keep reading to discover my favorite educational games your middle schooler will love. Plus, grab some great new resources for gameschooling in your homeschool at every grade level!

Using Games For Learning In Your Homeschool

Games have been a big part of our family long before we even considered homeschooling. Playing games together is an excellent way to spend quality time fostering a family connection. In the beginning, playing games together was just something we did for fun.

At first, I did not truly see games as a resource for learning in our homeschool. Then, we hit a roadblock with math facts. Emily just could not memorize her math facts and it was becoming a source of stress for both of us. 

Then, Kevin suggested we take a break from homeschool lessons and just enjoy the holidays together. So, we took Thanksgiving off and we played lots of games together. Kevin’s favorite game is Yahtzee so we played that a lot! 

Guess what? When we started back with lessons, Emily knew all her math facts! We all knew if was the result of all those Yahtzee games we played together. 

That’s when we realized that games weren’t just lots of fun, they were going to be an integral part of our homeschool too. That’s the day we became gameschoolers. 

You can use games for learning in your homeschool too. Grab my essential Guide to Gameschooling to help you get ideas and discover resources that will put you on the path to success with gameschooling in your homeschool. 

18 Educational Games Your Middle Schooler Will Love

When we think about adding games to our lesson plans, often we’re talking about playing games with elementary-age homeschoolers. But what about middle schoolers? Fortunately, there are lots of awesome educational games your middle schooler will love too!

      

 

Math Games for Middle Schoolers

Sudoku is a simple math game that’s great for middle schoolers. There are lots of versions to challenge your homeschoolers no matter what level of math they’re ready for this year. Plus, you can grab a Sudoku app to play on your phone or tablet when you’re on the go. If you’re looking for a game Sumoku is a great option too!

Prime Climb is fast becoming one of our favorite math games to play as a family. It’s a mathematical version of Monopoly and it’s fun in every way! Players have to earn as many segments and units as they can by solving simple math equations. 

One of the games I grabbed just for middle school math is Math Tac Toe. The simple rules of this math game mean you can start playing right away, but players soon consider more subtle and complex strategies. Middle schoolers will learn to calculate and choose the best options to complete the pattern or make 3 in a row.

Adsumudi is another one of our favorite math games for middle schoolers. This game gives your middle schoolers the opportunity to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division all in one great game. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to play!

The OG in our gameschooling math cabinet is Yahtzee! This game has taught Emily so much and it’s still just as fun to play as it was years ago. Yahtzee is great for kids of all ages, but it’s still fun for middle schoolers too.

A new game we’ve come to love is Blobby’s Pizza. This math game is simple enough to play with elementary students, but complex enough that middle schoolers will still learn a lot too. Can you make pizza for monsters and compare fractions faster than the other players?

      

 

Language Arts Games for Middle Schoolers

Apples to Apples is a classic family game that’s great for helping kids build vocabulary skills while learning about all kinds of trivial facts. Plus, it’s tons of fun to play! 

If you’re looking for a game that’s easy to learn and fun for middle schoolers and their parents too, check out A Little Wordy. In this game, you’ll work to guess your opponent’s secret word by looking at their letter tiles and clues. It’s a great way to test everyone’s word skills!

Scattergories is great for practicing handwriting skills and getting kids to think outside the box. We love playing this game together as a family. There are tons of expansion packs available online for even more gameplay related to your lessons too.

Another great game to help build vocabulary with your middle schoolers is Splurt. This game gives players a category and a letter. Can you think of a word or name that begins with that letter and fits the category?

Want to work on grammar with your middle schoolers? Try playing with these Metaphor Dice together. You can even use them as a writing tool and poetry prompt generator to help your middle schooler think and write figuratively based on the understanding that a metaphor is an equation between an idea and an object.

Try adding the Wordzee app to your middle schooler’s tablet or phone this year. It’s filled with opportunities for kids to practice strategy, spelling, and build their vocabulary as they challenge the computer or their friends to build words worth points.

      

 

Geography & History Games for Middle Schoolers

Carcassonne is a great game for kids and adults. It is a tile-placement game that asks players to place a tile within the Southern French landscape. With no reading involved, this map making strategy game is perfect for family game night. 

Ticket to Ride is one of our favorite history and geography games! There are versions to cover the United States and other big cities all over the world including London, Berlin, and San Francisco. It’s full of strategy and landmarks from all over the world.

Another game series we really love for middle school is the Trekking game bundle. Trekking Through History will take your middle schooler on an adventure through history that’s perfect for hands-on learning. Trekking Through the National Parks will show your homeschoolers the National Parks in a way that’s interactive and educational even if you can’t travel to every park in person. Finally, Trekking the World explores monuments and wonders all over the world from the Sphinx to the Eiffel Tower.  

Another game that’s perfect for middle school history is American Trivia. We love trivia games! They’re great when you want to check for retention, learn new facts, or just have some fun on a long car ride together. 

If you’re looking for a virtual geography game, try Geoguessr. This addicting game exposes kids to geography, cultures, and landmarks all over the world. Plus, it’s great for building problem solving skills and learning to read a map.

      

 

Science Games for Middle Schoolers

What if you could cure a deadly disease? Pandemic is a board game that gets kids to think about how they would fight four deadly diseases if they were scientists. Can you find the cure before humanity is extinguished in this cooperative game?

Another science board game we really like is Photosynthesis. It’s an environmental strategy game perfect for teaching your middle schoolers about botany, life cycles, and forests.

Looking for a fun new science game you can use in your chemistry lessons? Get ready to learn more about the periodic table with your middle schoolers in this new board game! Periodic is a game that doesn’t just help you memorize the periodic table, it explains the relationships between the elements too. 

Organ Attack is another fun little game we have added to our middle school gameschooling routine. This game features adorable organ stickers and hilarious gameplay to help your middle schoolers learn more about anatomy. Plus, it’s a great way to build STEM skills too!

Planted is a unique deck building game that has players building and growing their houseplants. Players must balance both the growth of individual plants and the progression of everything in their nursery.

The NASA App is an informative app all about space with articles and videos that will get your kids interested in outer space. Plus, it’s free!

      

 

Critical Thinking Games for Middle Schoolers

ThinkFun’s Minecraft Magnetic Puzzle Game is perfect for your middle school Minecraft fan. Minecraft is full of opportunities to solve puzzles and practice critical thinking. This magnetic board game version is perfect for carschooling too. 

Want to teach your kids about coding? Try the Hacker Cyber Security Coding Game. It’s filled with challenges that will require your middle schoolers to plan ahead, use logic, and apply programming principles. 

The Genius Star Game is one of our favorites! In this game, you’ll use logic, spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking to fill in the star-shaped board. 

Hive is a board game with a difference. There is no board. The pieces are added to the playing area thus creating the board. As more and more pieces are added the game becomes a fight to see who can be the first to capture the opposing Queen Bee.

These hands-on brain teasers from Foldology train your logical and spatial-reasoning skills while you’re having fun. Solving one feels so good, you’ll keep reaching for the next one.

Middle schoolers unravel hidden words using their language arts knowledge and critical thinking skills with ThinkFun’s Word A Round game. The instructions are easy to follow and this fun game also comes recommended by MENSA, so it’s the perfect addition to your gameschooling resources for middle school. 

More Resources For Gameschooling In Your Homeschool

Want to learn more about how to use gameschooling in your homeschool this year? Check out my Guide to Gameschooling and get even more resources for your game cabinet from the articles below.

We are always looking for more fun games to play together here at the Waldock house! Share your favorite games to play with your middle schoolers in the comments. I can’t wait to check them out with Emily this year!