I’m always fascinated by what you can find on the Internet. Some things are good and some things are not so good. And then some things are great, like these online educational resources for kids.
As a teacher and a mom, I’ve used these websites with my students and at home. Many of these sites are always free to use, and some are offering special programming or available at a free or reduced cost due to COVID-19.
So, if you’re looking for some entertaining and educational ways to keep your kids busy while social distancing with your family, this list might be exactly what you need. This list includes resources for a mix of ages, but many of the websites offer something for all. Check them all out!
Multiple Subjects
- TED-Ed offers lessons that will spark your child’s interest. Right now, Ted-Ed@Home features free high-quality and interactive video lessons for elementary through university level students.
- Brain Pop is an animated site for kids grades K-12 and includes topics like math, language arts, technology, social studies, science, health, and more. The videos are fun to watch and are sure to entertain.
- Quizlet is very popular and chances are, your kiddo will already know about it. Quizlet has free learning tools that help with studying almost any topic you can think of, using multiple ways to learn including flashcards, games, and more.
- Khan Academy is another website that might be familiar to your child. It offers free online courses, lessons, and practice. They even have suggested learning schedules for ages 2-18 to support homeschooling due to COVID-19.
- PBS Learning Media PBS Learning Media offers videos, lesson plans, and games for a wide range of subjects for students in Pre-K through high school. PBS Kids is definitely a favorite at my house!
- Scholastic Learning at Home has tons of free resources for projects to keep kids active academically. They offer easy to implement and free lesson plan ideas for grades Pre-K-9.
- ABC Mouse is an early learning program for ages 2-8 and features reading, art and colors, math, and science. My three-year-old just started using this program as a “treat” and absolutely loves it.
- I love Lakeshore Learning Materials! This website offers free writing prompts, lessons, activities, printable worksheets, craft ideas, and more.
- IXL offers personalized learning for K-12 in all major subject areas. I have personally used this program with high school students working on Algebra concepts and it has been great for practice.
- National Geographic Kids has games, videos, articles, and more on all topics found in the National Geographic Kids magazine. This website is beautiful and won’t disappoint.
- Starfall features language arts, music, and math activities for grades Pre-K-3. The website is cute and very interactive.
- ABCYa offers Pre-K-6 educational games for kids in the areas of math, letters, holiday, skills, and strategy.
- You can find free educational games, readings, and videos for students in grades K-8 on Fun Brain. This website does have advertisements, but kids will find the games are really fun to play, like Math Baseball, for example.
- Newsela offers students up-to-date and high-interest articles on various topics.
Math
- Math Fact Cafe offers parents and teachers free K-5 math worksheets and flashcards on counting, time, money, conversion problems, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more. If you’re looking for basic practice, this would be a good website to check out.
- ST Math is a Pre-K-8 visual instructional program that is currently free due to COVID-19. The puzzles and games will definitely hold the attention of a younger learner.
- XtraMath is another free program that helps kids master basic math skills.
- Math Games features entertaining games to help Pre-K-8 students with their math skills.
- Coolmath Games is popular among elementary and middle school students and offers thinking, strategy, and logic games.
English Language Arts
- Teach Your Monster to Read has free games for children who are learning to read, or kids who need a little bit more practice. It focuses on matching letters to sounds, blending, tricky words, and reading full sentences. My preschooler can’t wait to play these games!
- Highly recommended to me by a school Speech Pathologist, Vooks allows you to stream animated books that your child is sure to love.
- Squiggle Park is a skill building and reading comprehension website for ages 3-15+. They offer cute reading games that will hold your child’s interest.
- English Worksheet Land has Common Core aligned language arts worksheets for grades K-8 and available to print for free. Pretty much any ELA topic that your kids would need to practice can be found on this website.
- Storyline is a children’s literacy website that streams free videos featuring famous actors reading children’s books with illustrations. I love this website and have used this with my own preschooler.
- ReadWorks has free reading comprehension instruction and reading passages on virtually anything you can think of, for students grades K-12. This is another website I have used often in the past and highly recommend.
- Storybird is a program that helps kids become stronger writers using different creativity tools. On this website, kids have the option to share their work or simply use it for writing and reading practice.
- Readwritethink offers free materials for reading and language arts instruction. There are tons of great resources on this website and includes something for all reading levels.
Social Studies/Languages
- History for Kids is a free history network for kids that includes games, articles, videos, worksheets, and quizzes. The website is easy to navigate and has many topics that kids are sure to find interesting.
- Encantos Learning is another free resource right now. This website will teach social studies as well as a bilingual Spanish program for young learners. I am a huge fan of the Tiny Travelers section – so many fun activities for kids that will help them learn about the world.
- Duolingo helps kids learn a language (so many to choose from!) in a fun and interactive way. This website would make learning a new language a blast!
Science
- Mystery Doug features free short science videos that will inspire elementary level students to ask questions. Perfect for moments when you need something quick and educational to grab your kids’ attention.
- The Cincinnati Zoo is currently closed, but they have found a way to bring animals into the homes of students. The Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari videos feature a different animal each day and even includes an at home activity! My three-year-old and I have been loving this.
- Mystery Science is currently offering their K-5 science lessons at no cost to students and families. There are so many interesting science topics to choose from!
- Storytime from Space is part of The Global Space Education Foundation and provides free videos of astronauts reading children’s books from space. Such a cool concept and your child is sure to love it!
Extracurricular
- Check out Lunch Doodles with Mo, featuring Mo Willems, The Kennedy Center’s artist-in-residence, as he offers free art lessons online. His videos are fun to watch and would be sure to inspire the artist in your child.
- TypingClub is a free website that will help kids learn how to type.
- If you have Instagram and any dancers in your house, check out Tiler Peck’s page @tilerpeck. The Principal Dancer at New York City Ballet is offering free, live ballet lessons. My younger self is swooning.
- America’s Test Kitchen for Kids helps students explore the world of food and cooking in an online kitchen classroom. So many fun recipes and activities to discover. Bonus – cooking with your kids is beneficial in so many ways!
- SketchUp is offered for free right now and has 3D modeling and design for a wide range of drawing applications. And SketchUp is not just for kids – my husband has actually used this website to design and build furniture!
- GoNoodle has free movement and mindfulness videos for kids. Geared for a younger crew, the videos are sure to have your kids dancing along.
- Scratch is a free coding program for kids that lets them program their own interactive stories, games, and animations. Scratch is another website that has the option to share creations with other kids, or just create on their own.
- Kidville has a live stream with hundreds of classes ranging from art to music to dance! Fun for ALL!
- Go local with our list of streaming classes for kiddos from Seacoast businesses! There are so many ways to take dance, music and learn.