In 2017, Deakin University Science Education academics applied for and won a prestigious National Science Week grant – to host the Family Science Games Night at each of our campuses (Warrnambool, Waurn Ponds, and Burwood) during National Science Week. Led by Dr John Cripps Clark with Dr Peta White, Dr George Aranda, and Dr Joe Ferguson (and in some years Dr Adam Cardilini – from the SEBE Faculty) we organised and ran these events for local communities… especially those who loved playing science board games.
In our first year we purchased various board games that related to aspects of science. The pandemic series featured as did some resource management games and ecology focussed games. We also purchased multiple copies of some easy to use games: Organ Attack and Go Extinct. Families who attended our evening were gifted a game to take home. IN subsequent years we carefully managed the games to ensure they stayed “playable” (without losing components) so that we could continue to host the event without requiring funding.
You can see the list of games we purchased and maintained here.
Our favourites are decribed here
- Go Extinct! – Designed by evolutionary biologist Dr. Ariel Marcy, this strategic game transforms players into zoologists collecting animals that share evolutionary relationships. Navigate a beautifully illustrated evolutionary tree and discover fascinating facts about various species.
- Organ Attack! – This comically illustrated card game teaches human anatomy as players strategically deploy ailments against opponents’ organs while defending their own with immunity cards. Educational and entertaining, it’s perfect for ages 10 and up.
- Australian Menagerie – Celebrate Australia’s unique wildlife by collecting animal cards for coastal, forest, and semi-arid habitats in your nature reserve. Protect your animals from environmental threats while learning about conservation challenges.
- Science Bingo Games – Experience traditional bingo with scientific twists! Choose from Bird Bingo, Dinosaur Bingo, Ocean Bingo, and even Poo Bingo – all featuring vibrant scientific imagery that makes learning fun.
We also featured a wide range of games for different interests and age groups:
- Early childhood games: Balance Beams, Science Flash Cards, Circuit Maze, Laser Maze, Dino Snap, and more
- Mathematics games: Right Triangle, Magic Heptagon, Ten Lines, and others
- Challenging games: Cranium, Pandemic, The Manhattan Project, Ark Nova, the Pandemic series, and others
In recent years we collaborated with third year Bachelor of Science students – taking the Community Science Project SLE352 unit. They supported the planning, delivery, and wrap up of the events located at Burwood. Thanks to these students we have been able to host this event every year since.
We didn’t host the event during the covid years.
We found that playing science games at the Family Games Night provided a great way to explore science concepts in fun hands-on play, develop critical thinking and strategic skills, connect with other science-minded families, and to spend quality time together in an engaging environment. We received many great comments from our communities. They appreciated the opportunity to focus on science and to have some fun with their children. Many also enjoyed attending campuses where they coudl introduce their children to universities.
We occasionally included special features, such as bingo focused rooms playing various commercial, science related bingo games. Favourites include Poo Bingo, Ocean Bingo, and Bug Bingo. making board games is quite an interesting consideration and we ran some sessions to inspire game makers with details about how to get going to map out gaming adventures. We hosted Virtual Reality (VR) showcase events where headsets transported users to far away lands. At our final session we included a role playing session where players generated future scenarios.
Thanks to all families who ventured out across the years. Thanks also to our local primary schools – who shared our invitations with their communities. Science games are a great way to enjoy an evening while learning!