14 Fun and Free Educational Websites for K-8th Grade Students
With kids unexpectedly home and the newfound challenge of working remotely or showing up to our "essential" jobs, working parents are faced with many unique challenges — one of the most prominent being the continued education of their child.
If you have access to a laptop or tablet and WiFi at home, leave it to these 14 education websites to do the rest of the teaching work.
1. PBS Kids
Kids can explore new and popular games on PBS Kids, or challenge themselves by selecting hard games to play. They can also choose games by topic including reading, numbers, feelings, teamwork and healthy habits, which feature character favorites like Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, Arthur and more.
2. Scholastic
Activities on Scholastic are categorized by grade including Pre-K and K, 1st and 2nd, 3rd through 5th and 6th through 9th. Each category is further organized by weeks, so children have access to up to two weeks of work, separated by day games and deep dives.
3. Sesame Street
From fun games to vibrant videos and coloring pages, children can use this flexible learning resource to sharpen their social and emotional intelligence. They can also customize their learning experience by self-selecting their favorite characters to play with.
4. Disney Junior
Creativity won't be lost on kids with Disney Junior, thanks to tons of coloring printables and activities available on the site. They can find their way through "spooky" mazes, spot the difference in side-by-side illustrations or, with your help, follow step-by-step videos to create their own headbands and piñatas.
5. Highlights Kids
Highlights Kids offers a sensory experience ranging from arts and crafts, easy recipes to try, podcasts and Hidden Pictures that range in difficulty. Kids are even encouraged to interact with the creators of the site through surveys or letter submissions they can send in to be featured in the Highlights print magazine.
6. Nick Jr.
From Bubble Guppies, to Paw Patrol to Blues Clues & You, kids can engage with a variety of games and full episodes that encourage them to make believe, interact and create using their imagination.
7. Starfall
Serving Pre-K through 3rd grade, Starfall is a reliable resource for preschoolers to learn to read, rhyme, count and identify colors and shapes. The websites also offers seasonal activities for a unique learning experience that can be customized all year-round.
8. Funbrain
With games, reading exercises and even a playground for preschoolers, children won't miss a beat of their ordinary school life on Funbrain. Kinds can flip through the virtual pages of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," solve word problems to score home runs in math baseball and more.
9. TIME for Kids
You can expect TIME for Kids to keep it real with your teenager, covering the important of social distancing in their 3rd through 6th grade virtual magazines. The website also offers an extensive digital library, fun quizzes and teacher's guides for every grade so you can also follow along.
10. National Geographic Kids
Escape the quarantine vibes with a virtual trip to outer space or crawl inside the shell of a desert tortoise with National Geographic for Kids. Especially if your child could use some cheesy fun, encourage them to check out the Party Animals tab which showcases animals doing wacky things across the world.
11. Cool Math
On Cool Math, children can follow step by step lessons on percents and decimals, slopes of lines, factoring polynomials and more. Their junior site, Coolmath4Kids, provides similar support for kids 12 and under, while this website covers an array of middle and high school level algebra.
12. BrainPOP
Does your child want to learn how stuff works? On BrainPOP, children can question the world through a variety of science, engineering, tech, english, social studies, arts, music and health topics. Each topic is further categorized by up to 15 specific subjects, which are categorized even further to offer a comprehensive variety.
13. Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution offers resources just for kids, to teach them everything from how to create an art-making robot to how to build a healthy meal with ingredients from around the world. Kids can also virtually "meet" the animals at Smithsonian's National Zoo, play games in the Smithsonian Science Education Center and create personal learning experiences in the Smithsonian Learning Lab.
14. Grammaropolis
With a specific focus on all things grammar, children can follow Nelson the Noun, Connie the Conjunction, Lil' Pete the Preposition and more through books, videos, games and quizzes that demonstrate the parts of speech and their relationship with words.
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Stephanie Nieves is the SEO & Editorial Associate on the Fairygodboss team. Her words can also be found on Medium, PayScale and The Muse.
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