Ages 5–8
Early primary: phonics, number sense, first games that teach, and short videos worth sitting with.
Reading and writing 17
Khan Academy Kids
A playful, guided app for early reading, maths and social skills, with stories and drawing as well as practice.
Starfall
A long-running phonics and early-years site with games, songs and books. The public pages cover a core letter-sound path; a paid membership opens the rest.
Duolingo ABC
Short, wordless-to-words lessons that teach letter sounds and early reading on a phone or tablet.
Teach Your Monster
A phonics game in which children teach a monster to read. The organisation also makes number and writing games under the same name.
Storyline Online
Actors read children's picture books aloud, with the book on screen. Run by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
Free to watch
ReadWorks
A nonprofit library of reading passages and question sets, written for classroom use and organised by grade and topic.
Epic
A children's digital library of books, audiobooks and short videos. School hours are often free for teachers; families pay for unlimited home use.
Oxford Owl
Free e-books and expert advice from Oxford University Press, including the familiar Biff, Chip and Kipper readers.
Book Dash
Openly licensed picture books, written and illustrated in a day, that anyone can read or print.
Free to read and print
African Storybook
Open picture books in many African languages, with English and other translations, meant to be read on screen or printed.
Free to read
Unite for Literacy
Short picture books narrated in English and in many other languages, pictured with real photographs.
Free to read
Highlights Kids
Puzzles, hidden pictures, stories and simple science from the Highlights magazine, on a website children can browse.
Storynory
A long-running collection of original and traditional stories to listen to, with the text on the page.
Free to listen
Open Library
An Internet Archive project that lends digitised books, including a large children's shelf, with a free account.
Free to borrow
Global Storybooks
Open storybooks in dozens of languages, built from the African Storybook collection and related projects.
Free to read
Libby
The public-library app for borrowing e-books and audiobooks with a library card, including plenty of children's titles.
Free with a library card
ABCmouse
A large, paid early-learning path (from Age of Learning) covering letters, numbers and more, aimed at children up to about six. A trial is usually offered; the full library is a subscription.
Maths 18
Khan Academy
Free courses and practice from early maths through school and exam prep, with videos and mastery challenges. Science, computing and humanities sit here too.
Zearn
A nonprofit maths programme used in many schools, with on-screen lessons and practice. Families can also use it at home.
Prodigy Math
A fantasy game in which answering maths questions powers the battles. The game itself is free; a paid membership adds reports and extra items.
Bedtime Math
A daily maths story with questions at three difficulty levels, meant to be done together at the end of the day, plus a free app.
Free daily problems
Math Playground
Games, word problems and logic puzzles sorted by topic, widely used for short practice sessions.
XtraMath
A short daily programme for maths facts (addition through division), used at school and at home.
NRICH
Rich maths problems and articles from the University of Cambridge, for classrooms and for children who like a puzzle that doesn't give up at once.
Free problems
Youcubed
Tasks, films and advice from Stanford's Youcubed, aimed at building a more open, less fearful way of learning maths.
Free tasks
Beast Academy
A comic-book maths curriculum from Art of Problem Solving, in print and online, for children who want a harder than usual path.
ST Math
A visual, puzzle-based maths programme from MIND Education, used mainly through schools, in which ideas are shown before they are named.
SplashLearn
Games and practice for maths and reading, with a free starting tier and a paid family plan for the full library.
IXL
A large practice site covering maths and other school subjects, sold mainly as a subscription to families and schools.
Coolmath4Kids
Lessons and games for primary maths, from the same people as Coolmath. The site carries advertising.
Arcademics
Fast, multiplayer practice games for maths facts and a few language skills, often used as a classroom warm-up.
Illustrative Mathematics
A full, openly available maths curriculum and task library used by many schools, with problem-based lessons.
Toy Theater
Simple on-screen manipulatives and short games for early maths, art and literacy, useful on an interactive board or a tablet.
Free to use
Open Middle
Problems with a closed end and an open middle: many ways to reach a right answer, sorted by grade and standard.
Free problems
Which One Doesn't Belong
Sets of four pictures or numbers in which any one can be the odd one out, if you can say why. Built for talk, not for a single right answer.
Free prompts
Science and nature 10
NASA Space Place
NASA's site of games, crafts and plain-language articles about space and Earth, written for children and the adults helping them.
Free to use
NASA Kids' Club
Short games and pictures from NASA for younger children, with a light introduction to missions and spacecraft.
Free to use
National Geographic Kids
Animals, places and science stories, quizzes and videos in National Geographic's children's edition.
Mystery Science
Ready-to-teach science lessons built around a question, with video and a hands-on activity. Schools and families can open some lessons without a paid plan.
Generation Genius
Classroom science and maths videos with lesson plans, sold mainly as a school or family subscription, with some episodes open as samples.
The Kid Should See This
A carefully chosen feed of short, wonder-first videos about science, art, nature and how things are made.
Science Museum
The London Science Museum's website, with stories from the collection and things to try at home or in a classroom.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live webcams, animal guides and classroom resources from the aquarium, including a look at the kelp forest and penguins.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers
The zoo's children's site, with animal stories, games and videos. It used to live at kids.sandiegozoo.org.
National Park Service, kids
Games, Junior Ranger ideas and park stories from the U.S. National Park Service.
Free to use
Coding and computing 8
Code.org
A nonprofit that runs full computer-science courses from the first years of school upward, plus the Hour of Code / Hour of AI puzzles.
Free courses
ScratchJr
A younger sibling of Scratch for early readers: picture blocks on a tablet, used to make characters move and tell short stories.
Free app
CS Unplugged
Computer science taught with cards, string and pencil, not a screen, from the University of Canterbury.
Free activities
Hour of AI
The current home of what used to be the Hour of Code: one-hour activities that introduce computing and, now, AI ideas. Still run with Code.org.
Free one-hour activities
Tynker
A commercial coding platform with block and text courses, Minecraft and Roblox projects, and a paid path beyond the free starter activities.
Lightbot
A puzzle game about procedures, loops and conditionals, with a one-hour version and a paid full game.
Kodable
A sequence of coding games and lessons aimed at primary schools, with a free start and a classroom subscription.
LEGO Education
Official lessons and software for LEGO education kits (including SPIKE and robotics), used in clubs and classrooms.
Arts and music 6
Chrome Music Lab
A set of tiny, joyful experiments for playing with sound, rhythm and melody in a browser, from Google.
Free to play
Incredibox
A beat-boxing mixer that lets you build a groove by dressing a choir of characters. Some versions are free on the web; the full app is paid.
Tate Kids
Games, things to make, and a look at art from the Tate collections, written for children.
Free to use
Hoffman Academy
A structured piano course on video, with a large free lesson path and a paid premium plan for more songs and support.
Carnegie Hall Education
Listen-and-learn resources, classroom activities and digital music labs from Carnegie Hall.
Make Beliefs Comix
A simple comic-strip maker in the browser, used in classrooms for writing, language learning and just telling a joke in four panels.
Free to use
Languages 1
Lingokids
Games, shows and songs for young children, in English and other languages. A free starter path sits alongside a paid playplus plan.
History and the world 4
BBC Bitesize
The BBC's free study site for UK schools, covering almost every subject from early primary through GCSEs and Nationals, with short explainers and activities.
Free to use
Google Earth
A globe you can fly around, with Voyager guided tours of cities, nature and history. Works in a browser or as an app.
Free to use
Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government
A clear, official introduction to how the U.S. government works, written in three age bands: 4–8, 9–13 and 14+.
Free to use
National Geographic Education
Lesson ideas, maps and encyclopedic explainers for teachers and families, from National Geographic.
Shows and video 5
PBS KIDS
Games, videos and activities starring the public-television children's programmes, with a free website and apps.
Free games and videos
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Story-led yoga and mindfulness sessions for children, with a YouTube library and a paid app for the full catalogue.
GoNoodle
Short movement, breathing and focus videos used as classroom brain breaks, with a free set and a paid family or school plan.
CBeebies
The BBC's channel and site for preschool children, with programmes, games and songs, free to use in the UK and, for many titles, beyond.
Free to watch
BrainPOP Jr
The same idea as BrainPOP, written and drawn for younger primary children.
Typing and study skills 8
Typing.com
A full typing course with lessons, tests and games. A free path is there; schools can pay for a classroom dashboard.
TypingClub
A popular, lesson-by-lesson typing tutor that you can start without an account. The title on the site calls the basic course free.
Free typing course
Kahoot
A quiz platform used in classrooms and at home. Anyone can play; making and hosting more quizzes sits on a free or paid plan.
Wordwall
A maker of interactive classroom games and printables. Teachers can play a set number of activities for free; more is a subscription.
Book Creator
A tool for making digital books with text, audio, video and drawings, used widely in primary classrooms. A free plan lets you make a few books.
Seesaw
A classroom portfolio and activity platform in which children post work for their teacher and family. Schools usually provide the account.
ABCya
A large set of educational games for primary children, covering maths, reading and typing. The site has a free, ad-supported layer and a paid membership.
Funbrain
Games, comics and a few books for primary-age children, including the online home of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid excerpts. The site carries advertising.
For parents and teachers 2
PBS KIDS for Parents
Advice, activities and programme guides for the grown-ups sitting with PBS KIDS, organised by age and by topic.
Outschool
A marketplace of live online classes for children, covering a very wide range of subjects. Teachers set their own prices; the site's own title states ages 3–18.
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Other ages
New resources, checked
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