100 of the Best Websites for Kids’ Activities
May 12, 2014 | in Nannies
Computers have gotten a bad reputation as of late, especially when it comes to the amount of time kids are spending in front of them playing games and wasting time. However, not all screen time is bad, and the time your kids spend on the computer can be both educational and beneficial in many different ways. You can find computer-based educational games, projects, activities, books and much more for kids of all ages, making any time they spend in front of the computer screen time that’s well spent. These 100 sites will provide an extensive list of sites that you and your kids can investigate and try out at your leisure.
Preschool Games and Activities Online
Young children have a knack for picking up on technology quickly, and can become very adept at using the computer in a relatively short amount of time. Playing online gives your child a stimulating way to learn his numbers, letters, sounds and much more simply by listening and interacting with the games. The colorful, animated qualities of these online games make them entertaining for young users, and learning to use a computer early on will prepare your child for the real world ahead of him. For plenty of preschool games, check out these 20 posts.christian louboutin sale,ralph lauren sale,louis vuitton bags outlet,cheap michael kors handbags sale,cheap wedding dresses online
- Nick Jr. This well-rounded site has educational games, animated stories and much more to entertain your non-reader.
- Disney Jr. There are tons of games available on this site, along with puzzles and online coloring pages that your child can color – no crayons necessary.
- Learning Games for Kids. On this site your child can learn and sing songs, check out constellations, put together virtual puzzles and more, all without ever leaving the computer.
- Sesame Street. Kids can discover new things with the many different games that are available on this site.
- Jumpstart. Encourage your child to get creative and play in the Art Studio or School of Dragons.
- Sheppard Software Preschool. Kids can find animals on a farm, in a forest, in the jungle, or under the sea on this site – just to name a few of the creative activities offered here.
- Sprout. Let your kids play games featuring their favorite Sprout characters, like The Wiggles, Bob the Builder, Barney, Angelina and many more.
- Fisher Price. Your preschooler can play a virtual piano and create his own songs or hunt for healthy food in a ‘seek and find’ style game.
- Fun 4 The Brain. Matching and counting games are available on this site and can help your child learn beginning math skills while having fun.
- Knowledge Adventure. Kids can play tic-tac-toe with the computer, an animated version of Go Fish and even Chinese Checkers, just to name a few of the games offered here.
- Cool Math Games. Memory games, logic games, balloon pop and many more are available for preschool through high school students.
- Turtle Diaries. From shape matching to coloring by letter, the games on this site can provide hours of fun for your preschooler.
- Duplo Lego. If your kids like playing with Duplo blocks and Legos, they will probably enjoy playing on this website.
- Boowa & Kwala. Kids can play guessing games and musical games, listen to stories and do much more when they explore what this site has to offer.
- Thup. Go to school with monkey and learn to saw and hammer things, count, have word adventures and more.
- Cookie. Let your child work on rhyming with Rhyme Time or catch some fish playing Hook the Fish on this entertaining website.
- PBS. Based on programming found on PBS, these games will help your child improve developmentally.
- Fungooms. Your child can create his own characters and dress them up as he wishes playing just one of the games found on this unique website.
- File Folder Fun. This website provides educational opportunities for your child to complete worksheets online instead of having to print them out. Each activity is colorful and may entice your child to explore and learn.
- Baby First. The developers on this site have made it very simple for young children to explore and play by using only two keys on the keyboard.
Elementary Games
When children start school they will begin rapidly learning new skills. Computer websites created just for young children provide a way for these primary students to practice what they are learning in school. Kids learn in different ways, so if your child doesn’t learn well from a book or by rote memorization, then playing math and spelling games online might be just the thing to make a concept click. These 20 sites will provide entertaining ways for your primary student to learn and play online.
- Primary Games. Kids can try cooking games, action games, dress up games, educational games and more on this website.
- Primary Games Arena. Try Grilled Cheese Please on this site, where the characters ate so much of one kind of food that they turned into that food.
- Cyber Kidz Games. Art and music games are available on this site, as well as games that cover a variety of other subjects.
- Brain Pop Junior. Kids learn by playing shark games, tree frog games and a game called Simple Machines.
- Free Rice. By playing on this site kids can improve their language skills and have rice donated to the hungry.
- Hooda Math. From pizza games to soccer games, there’s something to interest everyone when it comes to these math games.
- Math Playground. Try to solve the tricky word problems or logic puzzles on this website and you can learn while having fun.
- Kids Planet. Play an animal version of Concentration on this site or unscramble the puzzle pieces to figure out what the picture is.
- Kids Astronomy. The games on this site are all about the galaxy, making them perfect for kids who love space travel.
- Earth Rangers. There are 25 online games that kids can play on this site that will educate them about saving the environment.
- National Geographic. Build your own virtual mobile and make it balance and move once you build it.
- Star Fall. Kids can play games that will teach them how to tell time, learn the seasons, celebrate Earth Day and much more.
- Apples 4 the Teacher. Your child can play a dozen different educational Dr. Seuss inspired games here.
- Vocabulary Can Be Fun. Practice typing, spelling and vocabulary words when playing games on this site.
- Webkinz. This online world is filled with many different games to play, jobs to do and pets to care for.
- Club Penguin. Join this virtual world as a penguin avatar that allows you to play games and explore the various areas in the club safely.
- Kids Spell. Kids can play spelling or word games on this site.
- Spelling City. Use your kids’ actual spelling list to play games like Hang Man and word scramble to learn their spelling list for school.
- ABC Ya. Let the kids enjoy seasonal games like word searches or strategy games.
- Oswego. Math games like Ghost Blasters allow you to hunt ghosts while working on multiples of a particular number.
Elementary Story Sites
Kids learn to read more quickly when they hear the written word read to them aloud frequently. For families with two working parents, however, it’s often difficult to find the time to do this. That’s where some of these sites come in handy, since they provide audio files where the story is read aloud. Some sites even highlight the words while they are being read so that your child can follow along. Stories can also help to build your child’s imagination and retention of what is being read, and some offer questions to check understanding. Look through these 20 sites to see if you can find some stories to read with your child.
- Magic Keys. You’ll find audio books that can be read to children as well as stories they can read here.
- Silly Books. Kids can listen and watch an animated story and follow along with the words of the book.
- Story Nory. There are hundreds of stories to choose from on this site, with new ones added each week, and the stories are read to kids by professional actors.
- Story Time for Me. These books are like moving stories, and kids can follow the words while the pictures adjust with the storyline.
- Story Place. This site has stories, activities that go along with the stories and additional reading list suggestions.
- Between the Lions. Kids can listen to fables and folk tales on this site. Words are highlighted as they are read and the pictures change as the story does.
- Goodnight Stories. Your child can decide whether he’d like to read a story, hear a story, see a story or finish a story online.
- Aesop Fables. Kids will learn valuable lessons while listening to these stories. This site does not feature the actual words of the story for the child to follow.
- Scholastic. Click on each line of the story and select the direction that the story will turn on each page.
- Roy the Zebra. Read about Roy and then play interactive games about the story. When playing games, work on reading and comprehension.
- Reading is Fundamental. Kids can read along with many classic stories as well as listen to songs and play games.
- Reading Key. These stories are created using words at various reading levels so that as children can read books using words they have mastered.
- Story Bee. Many stories are available for children to listen to online, whether the story is read or sung. No words to follow on this site.
- Tumblebooks. This collection of children’s books is available through this library site, but you have to register before you can use it.
- Lit 2 Go. Tons of classic books can be found on this website, like Moby Dick and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and each book is broken into chapters to listen to.
- Children’s Books Online. Many classic stories can be found on this site that kids can read for themselves.
- Read Me a Story Ink. You can find interesting stories by reading the summaries that are given and choose different reading levels to cater to your child’s needs.
- Book Hive. Stories are told by a well-respected story teller and other stories are available to read online.
- Read to Me. Entertaining children’s stories read by a famous ventriloquist, an actor or storytellers using magical voices and a fun attitude are found on this site.
- Mighty Book. This is an animated site with background music and words that kids can follow as the storyteller reads them.
Middle School Games
Older children are more computer savvy than ever these days, and there are a wealth of useful games to help them learn keyboarding skills, language skills, math skills and more. As kids enter middle school they are looking for more sophisticated games online, like Minecraft that can include Skyping with players from around the world as they play the game. Skills like leading a team and setting priorities are learned in this game. Some sites provide a new and different way to appreciate artwork, historical events and space travel. Kids won’t even realize they’re learning while playing these games!
- Wacky Web Tales. Practice parts of speech while creating funny stories on this website by filling in the blanks and then reading the story.
- Physics Games. Try one of the many games available on this site that will sharpen your physics knowledge while you play.
- Minecraft. This game allows the player to build cities and battle monsters. Players can team up and work together to succeed.
- Be a Martian. NASA has put together this online site where you can play games as well as watch real tests being conducted for a Mars trip.
- Jefferson Laboratory. Play Scientific Hangman to practice and learn vocabulary words used in science.
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This site contains jokes, puzzles, riddles, songs and illusions that your child can explore and learn from.
- Professor Garfield. Use your wits to figure out the order in which to put comic strip panels and then answer questions about the final comic strip. If you like comics, this might be the game for you.
- Fun Brain. Try your hand at a game called Plural Girls where you have to determine the plural of a given word. You can make the game harder or simpler by choosing your method of answering.
- Web Adventures. If you think you might like to be a forensic scientist like the ones on CSI, you will enjoy playing CSI: The Experience.
- Nobel Prize. Play Pavlov’s Dog and figure out how to make the dog drool on command.
- Prongo. Work on your memory by playing the Matching Game or play the Mad Math game to sharpen your math skills.
- Childtopia. Learn to draw, be a detective and play several other games and activities on this interesting site.
- Scholastic. Complete puzzles, play arcade games or take polls on this entertaining site based on books.
- XP Math. Games on this site vary by skill level, so no matter where your kids are with their math skills there’s a game to play.
- Arcademic Skill Builders. Tons of games are available here, from Math to Language Arts to Typing.
- The Kidz Page. Play games like Pirate Battleship to work on strategy, word games to work on vocabulary and many other games just for fun.
- K Warp. Play Grammar Ninja to work on parts of speech while still having fun with the ninja story.
- Kinetic City. On this site the player is given different missions and he has to answer questions correctly in order to complete his mission. Some missions are based on anatomy and other scientific topics.
- Playing History. Do your kids think history is dull? Have them try these games and history will take on a whole new light when they have to create arguments and support them to win the game in Argument Wars.
- Brain Bashers. Try these Sudoku puzzles, Code Words or Popopop for some fun ways to use your brain.
Middle School Projects and Activities
There are many things your middle schoolers can do online that don’t involve playing games. These 20 sites will provide instruction on different craft projects, science experiments, sewing lessons and more. Kids can use computers as a tool to learn a new skill, then work offline. Some skills can even lead to a new hobby, like blogging or writing. Find sites in this list that will explain how to get started in these hobbies. Encourage your middle schooler to check out these sites the next time he is bored and in need of something to do.
- Surf Net Kids. Play games or learn how to fold the best paper airplane by reading about the design that set the world record.
- Wonder How To. You can create an animated flip book and discover how it relates to stop motion animation with the help of this site.
- Man Made. Learn how to create a pattern online so that you can make a Typographic string art project.
- Digu. Using just the pictures as a guide try to reproduce the snowflake that is shown online.
- Ruffled Blog. Take a look at the directions on this site to make geometric favor boxes for your friends or next party.
- Jerry’s Artarama. Watch videos to take art lessons from an expert. Learn to draw your own comic strip, then learn about perspective, water resists and more.
- Science Kids. Look through the various experiments online and learn how to perform the experiments at home.
- Crazy Little Projects. Learn to sew by watching these online tutorials that allow you to make simple projects while you learn each skill.
- Eduweb. Play art detective and compare various artworks to determine who painted a certain picture in the mystery that is told.
- Art Games. Learn how to mix colors, dissect a painting and answer questions about art.
- Star Wars. If you are a fan of the Star Wars movies you might find these craft projects an entertaining way to spend a few hours.
- Funology. From games to simple science experiments to magic tricks you can find it all on this site.
- DLTK Poems. Read poems about subjects that interest you on this website, and when you’re done try your hand at some of the online jigsaw puzzles.
- Honestly. Learn how to make a friendship bracelet with embroidery floss in a heart pattern that is perfect to give on Valentine’s Day.
- Makezine. This unique site provides instructions for projects and higher level experiments that middle schoolers might be interested in.
- Start Blogging Online. Learn how to start your own blog by reading this tutorial and then start blogging on a free site right away.
- Ditto Blog. Write a song for someone you love or just for fun by reading this article on how to write a song.
- Writer’s Digest. Get creative and write a short story and publish it online. Read how to get started on this post.
- Origami-Instructions. Try origami by looking at the pictures and online instructions on this site.
- Challenge You. Create your own mazes and video games here by using the site’s tips and suggestions.
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