There are so many great kids’ websites, and probably no better time to explore them. Here’s a good starting list of some tried and true educational sites that parents and grandparents everywhere should be aware of.
Kids can play online games, watch video clips of children’s TV shows, and get free printables.
Also, don’t forget: your library card offers you even more online resources, for both kids and adults.
With online games, video clips of some great children’s TV shows, and even printables, these will keep your kids entertained and learning.
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Fun, educational, and FREE kids’ websites
Discovery Place Stay-at-Home Science
Discovery Place, in Charlotte, is putting together a number of hands-on science activities for kids, including kitchen chemistry, a DIY catapult, an upcycled robot and more.
Architecture at Home
The architecture firm Foster + Partners has created templates that kids can print, cut out, and assemble to create their own cities and skyscrapers.
Museum of Life and Science
This Durham museum features “Bite-Sized Science.” Downloadable, printable at-home science activities perfect for the curious mind.
EdVenture Children’s Museum
South Carolina’s EdVenture.org is offering daily activities for children to try at home, including lessons dedicated to kid favorites like dinosaurs and cars. Videos walk parents and children through educational content and related crafts, like creating a dinosaur skeleton puzzle, designing a car, and more.
Harry Potter at Home
A new website for Harry Potter fans. It will include quizzes, magical craft videos, puzzles and more.
Code Monster
This is a really easy way for kids to learn coding through play. Two adjacent boxes show code and the result of the code. A “monster” helps guide kids to making changes to the code, and learning, through experimentation, how the code works.
Scratch
Another great introduction to coding for kids. Aimed at kids age 8-16, it gets them started creating stories, games and animations, has featured projects, and allows them to share their creations.
BrainPop
BrainPop is offering free access during school closures. This website has videos and activities for a ton of topics, including science, social studies, English, math, arts and music, engineering & technology, arts & music and more.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy has long been an important resource for homeschoolers and students who wanted to supplement their school classes, or get extra tutoring. It’s also been used by classroom teachers. Students practice at their own rate, and can build a deep understanding of a multitude of academic topics.
Scrap Coloring
Choose from a huge number of varied coloring pages, and digitally color them by choosing colors or patterns to fill sections of the drawing. When complete, the pictures can be shared or printed.
Magic Tricks for Kids
More than 70 videos to teach simple magic tricks to kids.
Chrome Music Lab
This website includes a number of interactive “Experiments” where you can learn about rhythm, melody, harmonics, arpeggios, chords and more. Directions are a little sparse, but by playing around a bit, kids should be able to figure it out and have lots of fun.
The KIDZ Page
This is a huge site full of all kinds of activities. With over five thousand pages of things to do, like jigsaw puzzles, word games, and online coloring pages, you’ll likely find an activity your child will enjoy.There’s even a holiday section so you can start celebrating seasonal holidays.
Fun Brain
Fun Brain is a go-to site for many families due to the wide age-range it serves and the number of activities it offers. Ideal for preschoolers through eighth grade, there are leveled educational games for math and reading, and even online books.
Audible
For as long as school is out Audible is streaming a large collection of children’s stories for free. You can listen on a desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. Stories are for kids from pre-school to teens, and also include a collection in five languages other than English.
Sesame Street
Obviously, this site is for the younger set. With all the characters you remember from childhood, this site has hundreds of video clips and games that help with the preschool skill sets of colors, numbers, letters, and emotional development.
PBS Kids
If your family is a fan of PBS kid’s shows, you don’t want to miss their website. Each of the popular shows, like Daniel Tiger and The Wild Kratts, has its own fun games and video clips hosted by your kid’s favorite PBS characters. Check out the sing-a-longs and videos, and play interactive games.
Children’s Museum of Atlanta
Children’s Museum of Atlanta is posting new hands-on activities on their blog every day, like making slime or design challenges with toothpicks and marshmallows.
Starfall
This awesome site has a large variety of educational activities and is well known among parents who are looking for quality online activities. Besides fun games for preschoolers, Starfall.com also offers a variety of reading activities for older kids through plays, nonfiction, and comics.
Scholastic
Produced by the book publishing company, Scholastic (think school book fairs!), this site caters to kids from preschool to high school graduation! All activities are broken into grade levels for easy access to pertinent themes and activities for your child’s developmental level.
Scholastic Learn at Home
Keep the learning going with these special cross-curricular journeys. Every day includes four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. Kids can do them on their own, with their families, or with their teachers. Just find your grade level and get started.
CoolMath
Because who doesn’t like math? Okay, not everyone, but CoolMath.com makes learning fun with its virtual “amusement park of math” activities. CoolMath.com was created for kids ages 13 and up and addresses grade level math skills.CoolMath4Kids.com was created for developmental ages three through twelve, while CoolMath-Games.com is for preschoolers.
Highlights for Kids
Remember this classic magazine found in pediatrician’s waiting rooms everywhere? For over sixty years, Highlights has been offering stories, crafts, games, poetry, and science experiments. Check them out now online!
How Stuff Works
Is your kid interested in knowing how, why, what, when, and where? How Stuff Works break down subjects into kid-friendly, easily understood explanations on everything from weather to cars to money. This site is also chock full of games and videos for interactive fun.
TIME for Kids
Time for Kids is an online magazine from parent company, Time Magazine. Covering current events in kid-appropriate tones and reading levels, Time for Kids is more of a website for reading than for interactive games. This is a great resource for discussing things going on in the world today and could be used to provide anxiety-reducing material during this national crisis.
Disney Jr.
This site is great for developing preschool skills like colors and shapes through memory games, matching games, and even coloring skills. All the Disney characters are on hand to host the games and videos.
National Geographic Kids
Another great adult magazine adapted for kids! Just like the topics covered in National Geographic which traditionally feature nature, cultures, other countries, and animals this site brings it down to a kid’s level with animal cameras, gorgeous photographs, and science experiments. Check out the “Little Kids” tab for preschoolers.
Bill Nye, the Science Guy!
And speaking of science, don’t miss Mr. Nye’s website where kids can create their own experiments at home using supplies you likely have on-hand. Check out all the fun where Bill Nye, the Science Guy explains, “It’s not magic…it’s science!”
BBC History for Kids
Check out the BBC History for Kids website where history is a journey and kids get to go on it. Fun facts lead to games and quizzes as kids learn about world history in kid-friendly ways,
Nick Jr.
If your kid’s a Nick Jr. fan, this site is fun for preschoolers for interaction with their favorite Nickelodeon characters as they learn preschool skills like numbers and shapes. Filled with printables, a printer is handy for tablework after they finish hanging out online. (Fair warning: this site has lots of ads)
Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids
Like the historic publication, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this version online is geared for kids and features science facts, weather information, events in history, and interactive puzzles and games. Your child can even track weather conditions in your area.
Learning Games for Kids
Although the name is fairly basic, this website features so many games that teach most every subject. There are games to address art, spelling, vocabulary, literature, history, math, social studies, and even keyboarding. A great comprehensive site for different ages.
4-H Stem Lab
Science experiments abound at this 4-H website, where everything is marked by grade level. Find activities for biology, chemistry, math, and even engineering. Secondary perks of these experiments are that they are step-by-step and also coded for level of messiness and the length of time needed to complete them.
