On Thursday, November 6, 2025, members of the SciMaG project team participated and presented the results of the project at the 14th International Methodological Conference in Subotica, which was organized by the Faculty of Teacher Education in the Hungarian language, under the title “Creativity and Play”. The SciMaG project deals with educational games in the teaching of all levels of education, in the field of natural sciences.
We presented the SciMaG project and some of our activities at the Erasmus days in Rijeka on October 14th, 2025.
On October 13th, 2025, we presented the SciMaG project and some of our activities: Assemble and play Sudoku, assembling the box, optimization game and tiling puzzles at the manifestation Ja isitražujem @Delnice.
We presented our SciMaG games “Assemble and play Sudoku” and “Turtle plays Sudoku” at the 19th European Conference on Games Based Learning held in Levanger, Norway, from 1.10.2025 to 3.10.2025.
We are happy to present an article by V. Mikulić Crnković, M. Holenko Dlab, B. Crnković, and I. Traunkar (2025). Sudoku-Based Educational Games for Developing STEM Skills, published in Vol. 19 No. 2 (2025): The Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Games Based Learning, doi: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.19.2.4096.
In this article, we describe games Assemble and play Sudoku and Turtle plays Sudoku as an educational game, and we describe its implementation in classroom.
Over 2000 visitors on European Researchers’ Night in Rijeka held on September 26th 2025, and one of the stations was our SciMaG project presentations, where we presented some of our developed games and puzzles: Assemble and play Sudoku, Treasure hunt in the Pi rhythm, Discover Pi, and our Assemble the box puzzle.
On Saturday, 20 September 2025, we participated in a STEM picnic held in Viškovo, Croatia. We presented some of our SciMaG puzzles: tile the plane, tile the space.
On Monday, 14 April 2025, an activity took place at Hero Janez Hribar Primary School in Stari Trg pri Ložu as part of the Erasmus+ project SciMag.
We presented a science-based educational game titled The Bee Challenge to two groups of 4th-grade students. Through this playful and interactive activity, pupils explored the world of bees and the basics of beekeeping. The game was designed as an interdisciplinary experience: by solving mathematical challenges, students gradually arrived at scientific insights, thereby simultaneously developing mathematical and scientific skills, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the importance of bees for the natural environment and humanity.
On Friday, 18 April, we implemented another didactic game titled Season Detectives at the same school, this time intended for 3rd-grade pupils. Through solving questions, engaging in creative and movement-based challenges, riddles, rebuses, and crosswords, students reinforced their knowledge of seasonal characteristics (changes in nature, weather phenomena, etc.). At the same time, we encouraged creativity and fostered the development of functional knowledge and associative thinking.
From July 7 to July 11, 2025, we held a series of workshops for participants of the Budi++ workshops at the Center of Technical Culture Rijeka (CTK Rijeka). We presented SciMaG projects and played some of the SciMaG games, including Assemble and Play Sudoku, Treasure Hunt in Pi Rhythm, Tiling the Plane, and I Explore.
Participants played mathematical games and puzzles, and designed and created their unique puzzles.
Science can also be a game – a very fun one at that, especially when we get to know it through the didactic game “What’s on the menu?”.
On Friday, June 6, the students of the 5th grade of the Ankaran Elementary School left the traditional classroom and stepped into a real scientific training ground. Through the author’s didactic game “What’s on the menu?”, developed within the Erasmus project SciMaG, which was designed by Dr. Mojca Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Ph.D. Nataša Dolenc and Dr. Tadeja Volmut, students learned about food chains and the role of producers, consumers and interpreters in the ecosystem.
The didactic game, which combines elements of natural history, physical activity and creative thinking, led students through a dynamic learning scenario in which, in the roles of predator, herbivore and explainer, they discovered what was “on the menu” in the natural food web. With an innovative approach, the students not only deepened their understanding of photosynthesis and nutritional relationships, but also developed the skills of cooperation, rule-following and functional knowledge.
