- Input and output devices: a KS2 computing gameComputers and information
- The internet and networks: routers, servers and the webComputers and information
- Search engines: how results are chosen and rankedComputers and information
For parents and teachers
These computing games bring together related learning across Years 4 to 6. Start with a familiar skill, then try the next challenge when your child is ready. A school may teach these ideas in a different order; use the curriculum statements below to choose a suitable game.
This is a browsing theme created for families. The statements below are quoted from the National Curriculum in England. Every game has its own explanation and free printable. Talk through a question together before playing independently, and use the printable to return to a tricky idea away from the screen.
Lower Key Stage 2
Year 4: Input and output devices: a KS2 computing game
Subject content: “use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output”
Computers work with information. Input is information sent into a computer, for example words typed on a keyboard, sound from a microphone or movement picked up by a sensor. The computer processes it, then sends information back out as output, for example text on a screen, sound from speakers, a page from a printer or movement from a motor.
This game asks children to sort devices into input and output devices, and checks the idea that a computer processes information between the two. Devices that do both jobs, like a tablet’s touch screen, are asked about separately, so every sorting question has one right answer. The topic links to programming, where pupils use “various forms of input and output”, such as key presses, sensors, sounds and lights.
Play Input and output devices: a KS2 computing game · Free printable
Upper Key Stage 2
Year 5: The internet and networks: routers, servers and the web
Subject content: “understand computer networks, including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the World Wide Web, and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration”
A network is a group of computers and devices connected so they can share information. The internet is the biggest network in the world: a network of networks joining billions of devices. Servers store information such as webpages, clients are the devices we use, cables and Wi-Fi carry the data, and routers make sure it reaches the right place.
The World Wide Web, invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, is one service that runs on the internet; email and video calls are others. This game checks the key words and ideas from the Key Stage 2 statement, including how data travels in packets and how networks help people communicate and work together.
Play The internet and networks: routers, servers and the web · Free printable
Year 6: Search engines: how results are chosen and ranked
Subject content: “use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content”
A search engine is a program that finds webpages for you. It cannot read the whole web every time you search, so it builds an index in advance, using programs that crawl from page to page. When you type keywords or a question, it searches its index, picks matching pages and ranks them, putting the ones it thinks are most useful at the top.
The National Curriculum asks pupils to use search technologies effectively, understand how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning about what they find. This game covers all three: choosing good keywords, how indexes and ranking work, adverts in results, and simple ways to check whether information can be trusted.
Play Search engines: how results are chosen and ranked · Free printable