Interactive Children's Websites

As most of you know I was an elementary teacher for five years. Because of that experience, I learned about a few good websites for educational learning. Now that Parker is almost five, he loves to play on the computer. Sometimes I let him just play fun games, but mostly I prefer to have him learning as he plays. I've researched to find good games and there are A LOT! Here is a list of some of the websites we like. It isn't a comprehensive list and some are definitely better than others. I would check them out first before letting your kids loose with them, but here is a place to start:

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help.htm This is a site that has tons of links to games and tutorials for every grade level. Choose your level, subject and topic and you'll see a whole list of possible games. We haven't tried them all out yet, but we've been pleased so far.

http://www.starfall.com/ Starfall has lots of fun reading games for pre-K through the lower grades. It's a closed server, so there aren't any adds, which is a plus. Starfall also has some great printable worksheets too.

http://www.abcya.com/index.htm This one has lots of games for each grade level. Some are very educational and some are just for fun.

http://www.kidport.com/default.htm This one has different subjects and grade levels as well. Parker mostly does kindergarten and 1st grade math, so I can't vouch for the whole site, but it does have some great learning games.

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math.html This has a list of different educational games. This link brings to the math list, but across the top are other subjects. It has adds, but some of the games are pretty good.

http://roythezebra.com/reading-games.html This has simple games for days of the week, months of the year, blends, simple grammar, etc.

http://www.sesamestreet.org/browsegamesbysubject Some of thes games are just for fun, but I'm impressed with many of them. Parker loves this site and learns great words like "hypothesis" and "excavation". He also learns great sorting techniques and the scientific method.

http://www.learningbox.com/i_index.htm This only has a dozen games, but some are pretty good.

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/ This site doesn't have anything interactive, but it does have some good math and reading printables if you want to print them off for your child.

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/interactive.htm This has a list of links to lots more educational websites.

http://www.squidoo.com/interactivemathsites More interactive math sites that have been selected by a teacher to be good.

http://www.opencourtresources.com/teaching/index.html Another teacher-made list of educational sites.

http://www.ixl.com/ Excellent math games by topic. There is a daily limit that you can play for free. If you wanted unlimited access you would have to pay for it.

http://www.harcourtschool.com/search/ This is the mathbook brand that I used in some of my schools. A few of the games are good.

http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/math-games.html More interactive math games.

http://www.teachingistechrific.com/interactivemathgames.htm More interactive math sites.

http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic86.htm#1 Another link list to more educational websites.

http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html These games are way too hard for my kids, but if you have older kids and teenagers (or if you want to practice math yourself) this has some great games.

http://www.weeklyreader.com/subcategory/74 This doesn't really have games, but it has current events in a child-friendly way.

Here are some more sites that have fun games:

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/index.pperl

http://pbskids.org/

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/play/games/

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Like I said, there are A LOT of possibilities. Check them out if you want to find some fun educational websites. Please let me know if you have any favorite sites too.