The Parent Guide to Kids’ Online Educational Resources

Published - 01 February 2021, Monday
  • kj

Now more than ever, parents need reliable at-home resources to help during social distancing. To help you find the right tools for your children, we have an extensive list of reputable, crowdsourced websites that you can access at home, and many are offering free services right now.

These resources are organized by subject so that you can easily find what you’re looking for. No two kids are the same, so this is a great way to create an at-home program catered to your child’s needs. For a breakdown of each site’s features, or to read consumer reviews of each service, check out the complete Community Guide to Kids’ Online Educational Resources from our friends at Sitejabber.

Online Learning

General Learning

ABCmouse

Reviews

Best for: Those with young children under 8 that are looking for a variety of subjects and activities. ABCmouse is offering free subscriptions right now, with access to thousands of activities that are organized on a “learning path” that becomes more challenging or complex with each level.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 2nd

 

Adventure Academy

Reviews

Best for: Those with children ages 8 to 13 looking for a variety of educational resources in Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

Age Range: Grades 3rd - 8th

 

All Kids Network

Reviews

Best for: Those looking for printable worksheets in a variety of subjects. All Kids Network offers thousands of options in many subjects, including Math, Reading, Writing, and Art.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 5th

 

BrainPOP

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. BrainPOP has an expansive offering of resources, including core classes in Science, Math, English, and Reading, as well as Health and SEL, Art, Music, Engineering, Technology, and more.

Age Range: Grades K - 8th  (Grades 9-12 coming soon)

 

Curiosity Stream

Reviews

Best for: Parents looking for affordable access to educational documentaries.

Age Range: All ages

 

Funbrain

Reviews

Best for: Indoor breaks or free time with an educational spin. Funbrain is a free site with hundreds of games, comics, videos, and reading material appropriate for children from Pre-K to 8th grade.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 8th

 

Highlights Kids

Reviews

Best for: Another good resource for productive “free time” for younger children. Highlights Kids has jokes, quizzes, games, recipes, crafts, science questions, and more.

Age Range: Grades 1st - 6th

 

Jumpstart Academy Home

Reviews

Best for: Parents with young children who need entertaining learning tools. Learning is done through games, activities, and worksheets.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 6th

 

Khan Academy

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization that provides free educational resources for anyone around the world with internet access.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 12th

 

National Geographic Kids

Reviews

Best for: Productive free time or as a supplement to geography and science-based studies. National Geographic Kids offers free games, quizzes, videos, and science facts for anyone to access

Age Range: All ages, but mostly geared towards younger children

 

Outschool

Reviews

Best for:  Small-group video classes in a variety of subjects. Outschool provides free or inexpensive live courses for children and teens of all ages.

Age Range: Grades K-12

 

PBS Kids

Reviews

Best for: Productive breaks or free time with videos from popular PBS Kids shows.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 3rd

 

Scholastic Learn At Home

Reviews

Best for: Daily supplemental readings and activities from all subjects to keep kids entertained. Scholastic Learn At Home has a variety of subjects, from Health and Science to fun topics like pop culture and food.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 9th

 

Super Teacher Worksheets

Reviews

Best for: Those looking for a break from technology to use printable worksheets at home. Super Teacher Worksheets is available for parents and educators.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 6th

 

Testing Mom

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. Testing Mom can supplement your child’s homeschooling in nearly any subject, with 100,000+ practice questions for students in Pre-K to 8th Grade.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 8th

 

Reading & Writing

Brave Writer

Reviews

Best for: A writing program to help refine your child’s writing skills. Brave Writer has programs available for kids ages 5-18 that incorporate original thought, mechanics, literature, and projects.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

Classroom Cereal

Reviews

Best for: Grammar practice. Classroom Cereal is for middle school-aged kids to practice grammar skills through free, printable short stories.

Age Range: Middle school-aged students (around 6th - 8th)

 

National Novel Writing Month — Young Writers Program

Reviews

Best for: Aspiring young writers. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) is a nonprofit organization to help users write novels through progress tracking, setting milestones, and connecting with a community of writers.

Age Range: All ages, but geared towards middle and high school-aged students

 

Night Zookeeper

Reviews

Best for: Interactive writing lessons for younger children. Night Zookeeper has writing tools and lessons to help supplement your child’s writing class.

Age Range: Grades K - 8th

 

Quill

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. Quill has free online writing tools for students K-12.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

Reading Eggs

Reviews

Best for: Anyone with younger children who need or want reading practice. Children learn to read through games, songs, rewards, and exploration through the website.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 8th

 

Storybird

Reviews

Best for: Creative writing help for students of any age. Storybird has a library of artwork from around the world for kids to use to inspire creative writing and short stories.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

Math

Bedtime Math

Reviews

Best for: Getting younger children excited about math. Bedtime Math has a few resources for parents, including two free apps for phones or tablets and non-screen math activities for at home.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 4th

 

CoolMath4Kids

Reviews

Best for: Math-filled downtime. Arcade-style website CoolMath4Kids features a variety of math games for young children.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 6th

 

Mangahigh

Reviews

Best for: Extra math practice. Mangahigh has both school and at-home programs for students to practice their math skills.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

Math Games

Reviews

Best for: Math study help for younger children. Math Games offers hundreds of games and worksheets in all core math topics for free online.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 8th

 

Mathseeds

Reviews

Best for: Keeping younger children entertained while learning core math subjects. Children learn through games with interactive characters, songs, and reward-based challenges.

Age Range: Grades Pre-K - 4th

 

Zearn Math

Reviews

Best for: Anyone looking for an in-depth math program for children ages 5-12.

Age Range: Grades K - 5th

 

Science

ASU’s Ask A Biologist

Reviews

Best for: Supplementing your child’s biology class, or productive free time. Arizona State’s Ask A Biologist section gives parents, teachers, and students free access to stories, galleries, puzzles, activities, and podcasts covering an array of biology topics.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

Edheads

Reviews

Best for: Parents looking for science games to supplement their children’s STEM classes. Edheads covers different topics of science, from anatomy to technology with fun, interactive games.

Age Range: Grades 2nd - 12th

 

Mystery Science

Reviews

Best for: Ready-made science lessons for younger children.

Age Range: Grades K-5

 

Science Bob

Reviews

Best for: Science experiments.

Age Range: Grades K - 8th

 

Programming & IT

Scratch

Reviews

Best for: Introducing children to programming. The MIT Media Lab created Scratch, a block-based visual programming language and website where kids can create online projects.

Age Range: Grades 3rd - 12th

 

Culinary

Raddish Kids

Reviews

Best for: Teaching kids how to cook at home. Raddish Kids is a monthly “cooking class” subscription that includes three recipe guides, a kitchen experiment or craft, three culinary skill lessons, and a grocery list in each box.

Age Range: Grades K - 9th+

 

Food Network — Cooking With Kids

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. The Food Network’s Cooking With Kids section is free to use and has hundreds of family-friendly recipes that are easy to follow at home.

Age Range: All ages

 

Music

Chrome Music Lab

Reviews

Best for: Anyone with young children. This program allows kids to learn music at home through virtual experiments and by connecting music to science, art, math, and more.

Age Range: All ages, but mostly geared towards younger children

 

Visual Arts

The Kennedy Center

Reviews

Best for: Age-appropriate art lessons. The Kennedy Center has a library of free lessons and allows users to filter by age, arts subject, related topics and lesson length.

Age Range: Grades K - 12th

 

World Languages

Duolingo

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. Duolingo features quick games to help you learn a new language or brush up on your skills. This program is available in 36 languages with free access from a mobile device or computer.

Age Range:

  • 13+ for Duolingo
  • 4+ for Duolingo Kids app

 

Habbi Habbi

Reviews

Best for: Interactive, screen-free learning of a second language. Habbi Habbi is a language learning program for children that uses real books to teach.

Age Range: Preschool and early elementary-aged children (or a little older if they are new to the language)

 

Virtual Field Trips

Boston Children’s Museum

Reviews

Best for: Getting your child excited about art and creating things. Take a virtual trip to the second oldest children’s museum in the United States.

Age Range: All ages, but geared towards younger children

 

Discovery Education

Reviews

Best for: Anyone. Discovery Education has cost-free virtual field trips in many subject matter, including human rights, engineering, biology, technology, sports, agriculture, and much more.

Age Range: All ages, but geared towards older children

 

Farm Food 360

Reviews

Best for: Mimicking a classic farm field trip for children. Virtually visit a variety of Canadian farms through 360-degree videos or your virtual reality headset on Farm Food 360.

Age Range: All ages

 

The Louvre Museum

Reviews

Best for: Older children. While most virtual field trips are geared towards younger children, your middle and high school kids will love the free sources available to them on the Louvre's website.

Age Range: All ages, but geared towards older children

 

San Diego Zoo Kids

Reviews

Best for: Keeping younger children entertained. Consistently ranked as one of the best zoos in the world, now you can visit the San Diego Zoo from your home.

Age Range: All ages

 

Yellowstone National Park

Reviews

Best for: Kids who love the outdoors, or teaching your child about one of the most famous parks in the world.

Age Range: All ages

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Richard

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Now more than ever, parents need reliable at-home resources to help during social distancing.