Top Educational Websites for Kids

Technology is pretty amazing!  There are lots of wonderful ways to help our child practice the skills they are learning in school.  Often times with some of these great educational sites our children don't even know that they are learning at the same time!

It's also a great way to motivate kids to do their homework,

have them do their reading and math first and for a reward they can play an educational game...tricky!

A friend of mine asked me for some recommendations on some other educational websites,

so you know me, I went crazy and found a bunch.

I spent many hours digging through cyberspace to find and test out the following educational game sites.  I spent about an hour a site digging and finding the best parts. Also I have spent time teaching grades K-6 so I have used my knowledge to determine the validity the games on these great sites.

Just bookmark this page, and every time you want to use a new site you can come here to find it quickly.

1. Starfall.com 

This site has lots of great language arts games. It takes a fun game like this snowman game and has words that it helps your child sound out. There are lots of seasonal games as well as early reading, phonics, as well as reading practice for 1st and 2nd graders.

2. PBSkids.org  

Hello! Don't you just love this site! There is SO much on here.  Your child can pick his/her favorite show and play a bunch of learning games for that show.  Right now M. loves playing the Curious George games, although the T.V. show is a little young for her, the games are right on her level. (I wish I would have known more about this site when I was a teacher, there are very specific games you could play and coordinate with the theme you are learning.) The game shown is called Present Time, you choose a gift, go to the store, decorate the wrapping paper, and give it away, it's great!  We also love the SuperWhy Spelling games, they are too difficult for her to do on her own, but they are well done and give lots of helps and rewards.

3. ABCya.com

Here's a wonderful site c/o one of my readers! This site is great because it's split up into grades K-5 so there's no guess work there! I spent a lot of time on this site trying to find the best games to tell you about.  I think my favorite K game would be the Pirate Marble game which is great for learning addition, and connect the dots. For 1st grade it would be the foul shot where you can practice math facts to earn basketballs to shoot a foul shot, the math can go up to a 4th or 5th grade level. There are also telling time games and learning coin games as well. For 2nd grade my favorite would be the fun typing game here too! 3rd grade fave would be Pop the Words which letters fall and you can make words out of them to pop the letters. My 4th grade fave is division drag race which you race others in dividing numbers and go faster when you answer them correctly.  My 5th grade fave is the U.S. Map and World Map puzzles.  There are also fun seasonal and holiday games for each grade level when you scroll to the bottom of each grade levels page.  Too much info?? Sorry, this site was just really fun to explore!

4. Cookie.com

Well after I posted this list on Monday I found an phenomenal site on Wednesday!  I can't believe I've never been to this site.  It has hundreds of educational games, for literacy, math and science.  It also has learning videos on subjects like the plant life cycle, frog life cycle, the 5 senses, and more with review games you can play afterward. It has lesson plans, tons of free printable worksheets, arts and crafts coloring pages, and a cute blog.  What a great resource!  My only complaint would be that the games are all narrated with a robotic voice, but other than that it's golden!

5. Scholastic.com

Wo this is another great site.  It has games from books like The Magic School Bus (which is oozing with science fun!), Clifford, WordGirl and more.  This site is has games for kids ages 3-7 and another section for kids ages 8-12.
Fun fun fun!

6. Funschool.com

There is also a lot to this site as well. Pictured here are the ABC games which are for practicing letter recognition. There are also lots of other harder games that are also educational. Check it out it's a pretty good site.


7. Sheppardsoftware.com

Thanks to Jane and the Jitterbugs for telling me about this site! I am so excited about it! This site has lots of learning games for kids of ALL ages.  It's very tutorial centered which is good for learning a new concept. I also love the Kids Corner which you can explore lots of science centered ideas, such as the Four Seasons (as shown in the picture).  You can paint using movable parts like rain clouds which are actually raining!  Fun fun fun site!

8. NationalGeographic.com

I know I'm crazy but I keep finding more and more sites! This site has a bunch of games that are all science related.  They are all pretty fun.  Some of them like Animal Jam require an e-mail address and some personal info about your child, just FYI. They also have a bunch of geography games, adventure games,  action games, puzzles and quizzes, games for young children, and all of the games really are science related.  They also have science experiments, videos, and interactive information about animals and countries. The more I kept digging, the more I found that was well done and educational. I thought this was a pretty cool site, and had tons of educational value!

9. Highlightskids.com

Here's another new great site that I found.  I feel like I'm on a treasure hunt!  Highlights is a classic magazine that has been around for years. They are very well known for their hidden puzzles in their magazines. On their site for kids they have stories that you can have read to you and tons of games, their specialty is hidden picture games which you can click and the hidden image appears.  This is another great site if you are learning a theme for the week and you would like to practice newly learned skills.


10. Funbrain.com

There are reading games on here as well as fun simple counting games. There also some difficult reading and math games on the main game page. There is a lot to choose from on this site.


11. Qubo.com

This site has a bunch of educational games that are also quite fun for kids. It has games for Babar, Jane and the Dragon, Zoola Patrol (great science games), and Vitamix.

12. Shnoozles.com 

Shnoozles has lots of fun and simple preschool games, this main page would be fun for kids to navigate on.

13. Jayzeebear.com

This site is a little old school but it is still really fun for preschoolers.

14.Weatherchannel.com

This has some puzzles, word searches, and mazes for older children. It seems like they stop putting money into this site, because it has an add for Clouding with a Chance of Meatballs in 2009. But it is an alright resource.

15. KidsKnowIt.com
This site has some good science and nature games.

16. Switchzoo.com
This site has some fun animal games that you can switch animals around to look silly.

17. Exploratorium.com
This site has some fun games that explore expressions, proportions, and emotions.

18. Juliasrainbowcorner.com  This site is is also a little old school but it has some fun games for young children.

Well I hope that gives you some new ideas! 
Do you know about a cool and educational website for kids?
Let me know and I'll add it to this growing list!
P.S. I'm not endorsed in any way by any of these websites.

Dino Days

We couldn't learn about reptiles,

and not learn about Dinosaurs!

We started out by learning how Dinosaurs com from eggs.

We read Dinosaur Babies.

It is great because it shows how the dinosaurs come from eggs.

We then got out our paper mache,

and balloons,

We made our own dinosaur eggs.

She didn't actually love getting her fingers messy,

so I had to finish making her egg.

We let them dry,

And secretly I put some of our dinosaurs inside.

Then I patched up the hole with paper mache.

Then she pretended she was a mama dinosaur,

and I was the predator.

She went and hid her eggs in the sand.

Then she pretended that they hatched,
so she could see what was inside.

Then she played in the sandbox by herself for a while.
(Isn't alone playing time the best?)

Here are the other Dinosaur Books we are reading this week:

First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Pre-historic life.

The title is a little long and boring,
but this book rocks!
It is full of facts and right on a preschoolers level.

Ten Little Dinosaurs
(with the wiggly eyes)

This book is really fun,
if you can get past pronouncing all of the names.
It is good for talking about how dinos became extinct.

No T-Rex in the Library

is nonfiction, but really fun to realize
how huge dinosaurs really were.

Dinosaur Roar!

Is really great for little boys
aka Baby H.
All of the dinosaurs dance and walk,
and most of the words in the book are different sounds a dinosaur makes.

Reptile Watching and Weekly Wrap-up

After we learned how reptiles are cold blooded,

they have leathery skin, and they hatch from an egg,

We went to the zoo to check them out.

We go to the zoo often,

So it's been fun to learn about different types of animals.

Now every time we go, we focus on one area.

We also brought Miss Sassy's Great-Grandma.

She pointed out so many fun and different things as well!

It was so fun to notice all of the heat lamps,

and how the reptiles moved.

We spent ages looking at the lizards, snakes, and turtles.

In fact, it was the only thing she even cared about.

It was a fun trip and a great way to make a memory.

Here are some other awesome reptile ideas:

The first is from My Creative Family
She created a Pond in a box

I love this idea, it is essentially a sensory box that can be put back into a shoebox.
Fun, imaginative, not messy!

The next is from Kelly at Here Comes the Sun.
She did a whole Alligator learning theme.

You can see her daughter made an alligator
out of a clothes pin.
She linked it to literature and math by singing:
5 Little Monkeys Swinging on a Tree,
Teasing Mr. Alligator, Can't Catch me!

The last idea comes from Lines Across My Face
She created Chameleon Pipe Cleaner Animals.

She read A Color All His Own,
and made several different color chameleons.
She shows you exactly how to make these cool guys.

Here are some other ideas I found on the blogs I follow,
and I pinterest.

Swimming Sea Turtles

We are moving on to the world of Reptiles!

We started by learning about turtles.

And their life cycle...

We loved the book One Tiny Turtle

By Nicola Davies

It shows beautifully how a sea turtle lives,

and eventually lays her eggs in the sand.

It's great because it doesn't start at the "beginning".

So it's perfect way to learn a life cycle differently.

We decided to make sequencing cards to learn

about the sea turtles life cycle.

We started by painting glue on for our sand.

I love how Baby H. helps out lately.

We did an egg mosaic for the turtles egg,

And did tear art for the grown turtle.

Although it is a fairly simply project,

I had to work really hard to keep her attention to the end.

I promised her she could dance afterwards.

Here she is pretending to be a turtle in an egg,

She danced while I clapped my hands

and sang about a turtle growing up.

Later she pretended to hide the turtle eggs in the sand.

Dancing is a fun way to reinforce concepts,

and it works for preschoolers through sixth graders.

Here are the reptile books we are reading this week:

The Mixed-Up Chameleons

Chameleon's Colors

Fun Facts about Turtles

Franklin Goes to the Hospital