One of the benefits of teaching on a collegiate level is that "fun" can frequently go out the window (as one of my professors routinely told a class full of students regarding the silent films the class watched, "I don't care if you like the film, that's not the point."); still, most of us don't want to bore the pants off students and try reasonably hard to make things interesting. It seems "fun" of the educational variety is even more important at the elementary and secondary levels, where I vaguely recall masses of activities designed to get us "engaged" and "interested."
In light of "serious games" and "edutainment" discussions, I'm always interested to see what regular retail games are listed as good "educational" titles. College@Home has a pretty thorough list covering a variety of topics; some of the titles are expected (Civilization, Carmen Sandiego) to some slightly more interesting titles (Spore, Age of Mythology, a lot of regular retail sims). Makes me glad I just get to take the fun out of learning for undergraduates — I'm not sure I'd want to herd kids through Roller Coaster Tycoon.
Virtual Learning: 25 Best Sims and Games For the Classroom
[College@Home via Water Cooler Games]