Top Websites with Learning Games and More For Preschool and Kindergarten
Recently, on my Facebook page I asked for math and reading website recommendations for Preschool and Kindergarten aged children. I received so many great suggestions that I wanted to share them with you here.
1. Starfall
Starfall is a site to help kids learn language arts skills both at home and school. With four different areas of study, this site is great for moving children from basic letter recognition to reading comprehension. Starfall offers packages for families and classrooms and each package includes online and printable materials. Just about every educator I know has heard of Starfall! As for me, I never really got "into" using it. Sorry, but the bitmapped images really bug me! There is a free site and a paid membership site that starts at $30 for home use and $70 per year for a teacher with six students. (Who has only six students?) It's $150 per year for a teacher with the entire classroom signed up. (Ouch.)
2. PBS Kids Play
PBS Kids Play provides fun learning games featuring favorite PBS characters like Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train and Friends, Dinosaur Train and Curious George. This site has 56 educational games for reading, math, and science. Classroom passes are also available. The content of the games are aligned with the Common Core and the material increases in difficulty as children master new skills. PBS KIDS PLAY costs $9.95 a month for a family of up to four profiles.
3. ABCYA
ABCYA has math and reading games for young children. For pre-K and Kindergartners, there is a great selection of early math concept games that cover skills such as counting, patterns, and number recognition. There is a really fun monster themed game that allows students the opportunity to practice sorting vowels and consonants and spelling sight words. This site is FREE and is great for both home and school use.
4. ABCMOUSE
ABCMOUSE is a HUGE site that is great for Preschool and Kindergarten aged children. The site features complete curriculum plans that cover number recognition, colors, shapes, letters, reading, counting, and basic math skills. The site is cleverly designed like a classroom, which allows kids to walk through the room choosing different activities to engage in. The curriculum is developed to align with the Common Core Standards and allows students to progress to harder material as they master concepts. The site offers a family plan for $7.95 a month. For schools and preschools it is FREE!
5. Reading Eggs and Math Seeds
Reading Eggs and Math Seeds are sister sites offering reading and math games for 3 to 7 year olds. The games are very engaging and focus on the building blocks of math and reading that little minds need. Reading Eggs focuses their games on phonics and sight words while the Math Seeds focuses on number recognition, math terms, shapes, telling time, money, and basic addition and subtraction. Both sites offer apps that can be used on phones or tablets. Reading Eggs starts at $49.95 for six months and $69 for a year. There are options for classroom passes as well as discounts for adding additional children. Math Seeds is $49.95 for a year.
Here are a few more educational sites that you also might find helpful. These are not "gamified," entertaining sites, but they do offer other resources:
Raz-Kids costs $84.95-$99.95 or more per teacher per year subscription. District licenses are available.
Raz-Kids offers leveled readers and quizzes that are along the lines of Accelerated Reader. You need a subscription to access it, but there is a free trial. Usually, if a school has a subscription, the students can access it free.
This is an example of a customized online worksheet that can be printed from MathFactCafe.
This is an example of an online math activity that can be done at MathFactCafe.
Math Fact Cafe is a custom online worksheet generator. There is nothing special or pretty about the worksheets, but you can narrow down the questions to exactly what you need the children to work on. Kids can complete them online or in print. The site is free, but donations are gladly accepted.
This is a screenshot of a Studyladder video lesson on the sound of letter A.
This is a screenshot of a Studyladder activity or quiz that kids do after watching the video above.
Studyladder is a site that has lots of short video lessons, followed by online drills for kids and printable worksheets that teachers, homeschoolers, and parents might find useful. There is a free section and a paid section. This is not a "game" site, though; the online drills for the children seem to be a like an electronic worksheet (at first glance, not very engaging.) The child reads the question, and then the child clicks the answer. That's all.
The worksheets vary in quality and usefulness, as far as I can tell on a quick look at the site. However, I'm probably missing something, because this is what one of my Facebook fans said about the site: "Studyladder has all curriculum areas and games you can play and compete with other kids around the world like a spelling bee game, a maths basic facts race etc. The child creates their own avatar, collects points and can decorate their own room."
This is a screen shot from the Storybird website. Kids choose a picture and then write about it creatively.
Storybird is an INCREDIBLE site for helping kids learn how to write creatively! Storybird turns the writing process "upside down" by letting children first choose a piece of artwork and then write about it. This helps give the creative juices a nudge! Kids can write a poem, a little storybook, or older children can write a longer piece. With Kindergarten, the teacher could project the pictures and let the children give her ideas to write. I LOVE this!
I would love to hear about some of the websites you love! Leave them in the comments or jump on over and chat with me on Facebook!
-Heidi
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Looking for more fun ways to learn reading and math skills? Check out all our great reading and math products right here!
Look for our Jumpin' Numbers and Shakin' Shapes Vol. 1 here, and our Jumpin' Numbers Vol. 2 here as well as our newest number DVD, Number Jumble!
These DVD's help kids learn actively by encouraging them to sing and move along with the music!
You can check out our Sing and Spell the Sight Words program right here! Kids learn to read and spell by singing and moving along with the music.
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1. Starfall
Starfall is a site to help kids learn language arts skills both at home and school. With four different areas of study, this site is great for moving children from basic letter recognition to reading comprehension. Starfall offers packages for families and classrooms and each package includes online and printable materials. Just about every educator I know has heard of Starfall! As for me, I never really got "into" using it. Sorry, but the bitmapped images really bug me! There is a free site and a paid membership site that starts at $30 for home use and $70 per year for a teacher with six students. (Who has only six students?) It's $150 per year for a teacher with the entire classroom signed up. (Ouch.)
2. PBS Kids Play
PBS Kids Play provides fun learning games featuring favorite PBS characters like Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train and Friends, Dinosaur Train and Curious George. This site has 56 educational games for reading, math, and science. Classroom passes are also available. The content of the games are aligned with the Common Core and the material increases in difficulty as children master new skills. PBS KIDS PLAY costs $9.95 a month for a family of up to four profiles.
3. ABCYA
ABCYA has math and reading games for young children. For pre-K and Kindergartners, there is a great selection of early math concept games that cover skills such as counting, patterns, and number recognition. There is a really fun monster themed game that allows students the opportunity to practice sorting vowels and consonants and spelling sight words. This site is FREE and is great for both home and school use.
4. ABCMOUSE
ABCMOUSE is a HUGE site that is great for Preschool and Kindergarten aged children. The site features complete curriculum plans that cover number recognition, colors, shapes, letters, reading, counting, and basic math skills. The site is cleverly designed like a classroom, which allows kids to walk through the room choosing different activities to engage in. The curriculum is developed to align with the Common Core Standards and allows students to progress to harder material as they master concepts. The site offers a family plan for $7.95 a month. For schools and preschools it is FREE!
5. Reading Eggs and Math Seeds
Reading Eggs and Math Seeds are sister sites offering reading and math games for 3 to 7 year olds. The games are very engaging and focus on the building blocks of math and reading that little minds need. Reading Eggs focuses their games on phonics and sight words while the Math Seeds focuses on number recognition, math terms, shapes, telling time, money, and basic addition and subtraction. Both sites offer apps that can be used on phones or tablets. Reading Eggs starts at $49.95 for six months and $69 for a year. There are options for classroom passes as well as discounts for adding additional children. Math Seeds is $49.95 for a year.
Here are a few more educational sites that you also might find helpful. These are not "gamified," entertaining sites, but they do offer other resources:
Raz-Kids offers leveled readers and quizzes that are along the lines of Accelerated Reader. You need a subscription to access it, but there is a free trial. Usually, if a school has a subscription, the students can access it free.
Math Fact Cafe is a custom online worksheet generator. There is nothing special or pretty about the worksheets, but you can narrow down the questions to exactly what you need the children to work on. Kids can complete them online or in print. The site is free, but donations are gladly accepted.
Studyladder is a site that has lots of short video lessons, followed by online drills for kids and printable worksheets that teachers, homeschoolers, and parents might find useful. There is a free section and a paid section. This is not a "game" site, though; the online drills for the children seem to be a like an electronic worksheet (at first glance, not very engaging.) The child reads the question, and then the child clicks the answer. That's all.
The worksheets vary in quality and usefulness, as far as I can tell on a quick look at the site. However, I'm probably missing something, because this is what one of my Facebook fans said about the site: "Studyladder has all curriculum areas and games you can play and compete with other kids around the world like a spelling bee game, a maths basic facts race etc. The child creates their own avatar, collects points and can decorate their own room."
Storybird is an INCREDIBLE site for helping kids learn how to write creatively! Storybird turns the writing process "upside down" by letting children first choose a piece of artwork and then write about it. This helps give the creative juices a nudge! Kids can write a poem, a little storybook, or older children can write a longer piece. With Kindergarten, the teacher could project the pictures and let the children give her ideas to write. I LOVE this!
I would love to hear about some of the websites you love! Leave them in the comments or jump on over and chat with me on Facebook!
-Heidi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for more fun ways to learn reading and math skills? Check out all our great reading and math products right here!
You can check out our Sing and Spell the Sight Words program right here! Kids learn to read and spell by singing and moving along with the music.
----------------------------------
Follow me! Did you enjoy this post? Do me a favor and share it with your friends! And follow this blog by signing up for my email updates here, or follow on Bloglovin', or follow me on TPT! I'm also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube, too! Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter for special deals and promo codes that you won't find out about anywhere else.
