The Ultimate List of Websites for Kids

The Internet can be an informative, educational tool for children from preschool age through high school. Many school curriculum's incorporate educational Internet sites into their computer education classes, both in elementary and secondary schools. If properly regulated, the Internet can help parents give their children a little added education outside the classroom.  Besides being educational, the Internet can also be fun. Games on the computer can teach kids things like hand-eye coordination, quicker reflexes, and just help them unwind after a busy school day. Children can have fun while receiving an education at the same time. Look to the following resources for great educational and fun sites for kids.

 Animals

• Animal Corner – Based in the United Kingdom, this website offers comprehensive information on all types of animals, from reptiles to insects to marine life to endangered animals. It is geared toward elementary- and middle-school aged kids.
• ASPCA's Animaland- Sponsored by the ASPCA for “kids who love animals,” this web site features music, animation, and categories on topics including Pet Care, Animal Careers, and Animal ABCs. This site is primarily for elementary-school aged kids.
• National Wildlife Federation – The web site representing the National Wildlife Foundation in the United States offers articles for elementary- and middle-school aged children in both English and Spanish. Its information is most helpful for kids doing research projects or homework.
• Sea World/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database – With video graphics and live animal cams, this web site is guaranteed to keep an elementary- and middle-school aged child's attention. The site is designed for both teachers and students, and offers a wide variety of information on animal programs, animal careers, and adventure camps.
• Animal Games – This interactive website offers kids the chance to play games about animals of the world. Included are mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, and more. Children have to correctly guess the name of the mystery animal with as few clues as possible.
• Kids Planet  – This site sponsored by Defenders of Wildlife focuses on endangered species. Kids will enjoy games, a story from a spider called Web of Life, information on wolves, and links to adopt or sponsor animals in need. Printable coloring pages are also found at this site.

Literature

• Mystery Net – This web site provides mysteries for children to solve, as well as magic tricks and riddles. Mysteries written by other kids are also presented. Cases to solve include “The Case of the Ruined Roses,” or they can play “The Darkmaster Challenge.”
• Amazing Adventure Series – A flash-animated site with music and narration that allows kids to read along with mystery stories, view poems and movies, and create their own art in the virtual Art Studio. Requires Microsoft Media Player 9.
• Kids Space – Children can write their own stories, share artwork, and even create their own picture books at this web site. Kids can also view other kids' artwork and suggest a title and story to go along with the art.
• Eric Carle's Official Website – The website of one of the best-loved children's authors and illustrators includes some of his most famous stories, such as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” printable games, and a photo and video gallery.
• The Official Bernstein Bears Website – This site, which requires Java to work properly, tells kids all about the history of the famous bears. It relates some of their stories, and presents games and activities hosted by the Bernstein Bears.

Languages

• The Translator Alligator – With four levels, this site is perfect for children who are just beginning to learn a language, through advanced learners. Various categories of words are offered, such as “words from school” and “food words.” Kids can pick whether they want to be presented with the foreign word and translate it themselves to English or vice versa.
• Digital Dialects – This flash site features interactive word games for more than 50 languages. It requires the use of the Macromedia Flash Player. Categories of words, such as days and months, numbers, and animals, are offered under each language.
• Mi Cara en Espanol – This website presents an interactive game for children (or adults) that teaches the parts of the face in Spanish. Audio files say each word as kids move each part of the face onto a blank face.
• Esperanto- This unique website includes games, vocabulary, phrases, and lessons to teach children (and adults) the international language of Esperanto through a little green creature called Zam.
• American Sign Language Browser- This website presents kids with the opportunity to click on a variety of words filed alphabetically, and then see a video presentation of the American Sign Language sign for that word.

Sciences

• Foss K-2 Modules – This interactive website focused on the K-2 audience covers many scientific topics of interest to that age group. These include air, weather, balance, motion, plants, insects, and more. Games such as Insect Hunt, What's the Weather, and Roller Coasters help illustrate scientific principles in an entertaining way.
• Wicked QuizIts – This site from New Zealand offers kids interactive quizzes on the solar system, electricity, changes of state, earth science, animals, parts of the human body, and bodily systems.
• Secrets at Sea- Targeted at children from grades four through seven, this interactive website sponsored by the Vancouver Aquarium focuses on sea life and marine ecology. It requires the Macromedia Flash plug-in to work properly. 
• Zoom: Kitchen Chemistry - Sponsored by PBS Kids, this website offers an interactive virtual kitchen for kids from grades four through six to play games, do puzzles, perform on line experiments, and earn rewards. Real recipes for the “reality kitchen” are also offered for kids to do off-line.
• Cassini-Huygens: Kids Space – This website sponsored by NASA presents games and activities hosted by Cassini, a character created to represent the Cassini-Huygens exploration mission to Saturn. Stories, facts, chances to discover Saturn in the night sky, and more are offered.

The Arts

• The Art Zone – Sponsored by the National Gallery of Art, this web site offers kids an opportunity to make their own interactive art online, from faces and places to landscapes to still life to photography. Shockwave is required.
• Bottlecaps to Brushes – This website sponsored by the Smithsonian American Art Museum features a giraffe named Cappy who leads kids through interactive activities to discover American works of art and to study their similarities and differences. Designed to help kids think differently about art.
• NGAKids Flow – This motion painting machine is sponsored by the National Gallery of Art and requires Shockwave. Kids can create their own masterpieces and learn about size, speed, shape, flow, and randomness in art.
• Albright-Knox Art Games – Sponsored by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, this web site presents art activities and games for children from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are available in English or Spanish and can be played by kids alone or with adults.
• Destination Modern Art – This web site sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art includes flash animation and audio and leads kids on an interactive trip through the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Activities geared toward specific works of art are accessible by clicking on the masterpiece.

History

• America's Story from America's Library – Sponsored by the Library of Congress, this website gives kids a chance to learn about famous Americans throughout history, explore the United States, go back in time, and watch movies and hear songs from America's past.
• At Home in the Heartland – This website sponsored by Illinois State Museum offers kids the opportunity to visit time periods in Illinois history from the 1700s to the present. Photos and short narratives are included.
• KidsPast – This website offers history games, historical quotes, and an online world history textbook for kids. Songs on historical topics are also available on this engaging site. Interactive history games such as History Galatica, Brick Busters History Game, and Kiana Orca Preserve hold kids' attention with upbeat music and graphics.
• FactFinder Kids Corner – This website presented by the US Census Bureau offers kids an interactive map of the United States. Kids can click on any state to learn facts about it. Quizzes are also available.
• US Mint Kids Web Site – Sponsored by the US Mint, this website features coins of the world, games about coins and money, cartoons, and more to educate kids about the monetary systems of the world.

Mathematics

• CoolMath4Kids  - Advertised as “an amusement park of math and more,” this website offers math games, jigsaw puzzles, and more. Requires Java to work properly. Children from preschool to age 12 are the target audience of this math website.
• Math Playground – Directed towards elementary and middle-school students, this website offers math games, word problems, math videos, math workshops, and thinking blocks to help kids solve math problems.
• Figure This! Math Challenges for Families – Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, this website teaches kids and families how to enjoy math outside the school setting through games and quizzes.
• Math Cats – This website helps children understand mathematical concepts and presents an array of math games. Requires download of a special Web Player to work properly. Glossary of math terms in astronomy, history, and sports are also included in addition to a host of math games.
• AAA Math- This website presents interactive math activities and lessons by grade and topic from kindergarten through eighth grade. While its home page may not look exciting to kids, once they click on the proper grade level or math lesson they wish to learn, the interesting graphics kick in.

Computers

• Block Corner- This online digital building tool requires Adobe Shockwave to work properly. It allows kids to move blocks around and create their own computer language. Make sure your child understands the instructions first (may require an adults help in deciphering them).
• MaMaMedia – This interactive website with audio allows kids to play games about planets, build digital creatures, and much more. Games include Set The Stage (creating a rock star), Bullseye Blast, Card Zapper, Frame that Toon, and more. Requires kids to sign up and register for the site (for free) if they want to save their work. 
• Squiglys Playhouse- This interactive website offers games, crafts, brain teasers, jokes, and more for kids of all ages. Games include printable crossword puzzles, pictures you can color online, brain teasers, riddles, and rebus.
• Julias Rainbow Corner- This site provides games, both fun and educational, for kids from preschool age through senior citizens. Games include puzzles, coloring, connect the dots, and create something cool (design your own artwork).
• Qubidraw- This website presents an array of games and activities for children. They include Memory Match, drawing and creating artwork, slide games, swapping games, games to find pairs, and much more.

Geography

• KidsGeo – This web site presents entertaining information on Geology and Geography for kids. It even links to songs about things such as lightning, and offers games on map matching, latitude and longitude, and more.
• Geography Game – Kids can play a game against the clock. A list of continents is presented along with a blank map, and kids must match the correct continent name to the correct land form.
• GeoNet Game- Offers interactive games for older children. Kids may choose between a map of the World or a map of North America, then answer questions about their selected land mass. Questions range from places to human systems.
• Barnaby Bear – This website is geared towards kids ages 4 to 11 and is sponsored by the BBC. Stories with Barnaby the Bear traveling to other lands are presented, as well as games. Features animation and sound.
• Map Zone - Kids can create their own maps here and participate in interactive mapping games. Homework help is offered in both English and Welsh on this website sponsored by the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom.

 Social Sciences

• BrainPOP: Social Studies – This website presents movies on culture, economics, government, historical figures, and more. In addition to Social Studies, other units covered on BrainPOP include English, Math, and Arts & Music.
• Panwapa – Sponsored by Sesame Workshop, this website which requires kids to register (for free) promotes cultural diversity and global education. Games include the Panwapa movie play along and a game where kids can create their own house with a flag designed by them.
• Don't Gross Out the World – An international dining etiquette quiz is presented to kids at this website. Different dining practices and manners from country to country are discussed and taught with engaging graphics and audio effects.
• City Creator- This interactive website offers younger kids the opportunity to build their own city by dragging and dropping pieces from a palette. Kids can choose the background of their city and choose from a variety of buildings, people, roads, roof styles, and much more.
• Kids News Room – This website presents current news headlines from around the world just for kids. Topics include Sports Zone, This Week in History, Music and Entertainment, US Government, and a Current Events quiz. It is targeted towards older children, as there is much to read here, but its bright colors and graphics will keep even some younger ones engaged.

Health/Safety

• BAM! Body and Mind – Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control, this website teaches kids in a fun, graphical, animated way about diseases, food and nutrition, safety, the human body, and more.
• KidsHealth- This website, sponsored by Nemours, features nutritious recipes for kids that they can make, and answers kids' questions about diseases, sicknesses, and medical terms. Movies, games, and quizzes are also offered here.
• Climate Change Kids Site – Sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this website focuses on the impact of global warming and offers games, activities, and a climate change calculator.
• Code Red Rover – Sponsored by the Home Safety Council, Code Red Rover is an interactive site on home safety for kids. Games, activities, projects, and more are offered here, as well as sections geared toward parents and teachers.
• FBI Kids Page – Targeted at kids from kindergarten through fifth grade, this site sponsored by the FBI offers games, information on working dogs, and safety tips for kids. Games include Special Agent Undercover and Most Wanted Words.

Holidays

• Billy Bear's Halloween Party – This website offers Halloween online games, crafts, food, and more for kids. Printable games for Halloween parties are also available, as well as ideas for party games, and a fun Trick or Treat game.
• Santa Claus – Santa Claus guides kids through Claus.com, “the merriest place in Cyberspace.” This interactive website features a Christmas party kids can plan, a toy workshop to visit, a holiday sing a long and much more.
• Meddybumps Ghost Walk – An interactive website for kids that offers the chance to play table tennis with skeletons, meet the Pumpkin Pirates, and help cast spooky spells. Kids can tour a Halloween pirate ship, read interactive Halloween stories, and even learn how to build their own miniature pumpkin stand.
• DLTK's Thanksgiving Games – This website offers coloring pages and online games such as memory games, tic tac toe, hangman, bingo, dominoes, word mining, word scrambles, word searches, and more.
• Ben & Jerry's Fun Halloween – Sponsored by the famous ice cream company, this interactive website including sound and animation gives kids a Halloween playground filled with games, crafts, Kids Halloween Costumes and activities.

Written by Michael S. Atwood