The Xbox 360 was originally released on May 12th, 2005, and since December 2011, they have sold over 58 million consoles! Although I’m personally surprised they haven’t released a new version, I was impressed with their Kinect addition (even though it is clear they are just jumping on the Wii Motion bandwagon). As I started to do my research, I became really impressed with the number of educational games offered by Xbox! Enjoy!

1. National Geographic Challenge – This is a great game to learn more about the world. Up to four players can play at a time, and the game comes with 4,000 questions. The game offers additional questions to download. This title even comes with 60 minutes of HD video. Every social studies class would have a blast with this game!!

2. Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader – 5,000 questions in 28 categories make this game a hit in every classroom. And it even has some of Jeff Foxworthy’s wisecracks! The only thing I wished it had was the ability to change and save the characters.

3. Trivial Pursuit – This game is terrific. My favorite part is that it keeps track of your performance over time, which is great for a classroom setting. It doesn’t offer online play (yet), but it does offer downloaded content from the Internet. Overall, this is a terrific addition to your educational game collection.

4. UDraw Tablet and UDraw Studio – The moment I found these drawing tablets for all three consoles I became reinvested in this entire project. As we move to the digital age, I feel like kids are not drawing as much as they once did; however, as tablets make their way into our homes as input devices, I think children’s imaginations are going to be inspired to draw again. This drawing tablet and software/game will turn your Xbox into a graphic design platform where you can edit, print and share your drawings. A must have.

5. Sesame Street – Once Upon a Monster – This game is intended for younger players, but is a great way to use the Kinect device in a storybook setting. This would be a great compliment to learning literary devices (plot, characters, setting, action, etc.) The game also embraces diversity in its characters as well as teaches life lessons (as Sesame Street is known to do). Extra players can enter and leave the game at any time, which allows the main player to continue on.