Students can experience some of the fun of the National Museum for Photography, Film and Television without having to travel to its home in Bradford. The Magic Factory - the museum’s website, which uses engaging games to teach basic science concepts - is addictive and has an exemplary purpose.
Glowbug will guide children through the five games, which demonstrate optical illusions, reflection, refraction and the visible light spectrum. Each game comes with a set of instructions, and players start with easy ones before moving on to the more difficult.
The secondbest thing about the site is the prizes. Instead of getting a cheesy “well done” or sound-effect, children can download real prizes when they have completed the games successfully. These include a sheet of optical illusions and instructions on how to make a periscope.
If you can drag yourself away from the games, you can download the activity sheets based on each of the games.
You’ll need to download a Shockwave plugin to play, and a reasonably fast computer to really enjoy the games, which can be found at www.magic-factory.co.uk
Yolanda Brooks
